Stories about hope

One morning when I was walking my two goofball dogs, a young lady approached running as fast as she could and pulling her little Frenchie behind her. I have seen this young lady before – her little Frenchie is full of sass & likes to let my dogs know she is the boss of us. Her behavior doesn’t bother me. She is a cute little thing, and her owner has always been gracious about her behavior. But this little Frenchie pup always likes to try to start something. 

My dogs, a Pitbull mix of 10 plus years and a Tree Walker Coon Hound that we think is around 5 are always happy to meet other dogs. They are both rescues that were socialized well with 4 legged pups. The Tree Walker is not a fan of many people, likely abused in his early years and is not a fan of tall men wearing cowboy boots and baseball hats. 

My middle son happens to fit this bill as he is quite tall, wears cowboy boots and of course a baseball hat. As he is a dog lover, it pains him that Oakley is afraid of him. He always talks sweetly to him and gives him lots of gentle pets & treats when he is home from work. 

My youngest son’s room is Oakley’s safe place. I will often find him on his floor hiding from scary noises. May bull also retreats there. I will search the house and yard for these two and she is likely found on his bed, while Oakley fits his large dog body into a tight little ball between his drum set and chair.

May loves our oldest & his wife. She often sets her head on my daughter-in-law’s feet, she loves all of our kids. And desperately wants to give kisses to our grand kids, but the littles are allergic so when they come over, out the dogs go. 

Back to the Frenchie, like times before, we pull to the side whenever we see another dog or jogger approaching us so they can pass without incident. 

That day as we “pulled over” to wait for her to pass, I could see in her face that she was very frightened.  

She and her Frenchie dog had spotted a coyote in our neighborhood, and she said the coyote had been following them. So, they ran. She was genuinely happy to see my bigger dogs as she felt they would help protect her. 

I wasn’t too sure about that. 

 It was at that moment I realized how much I missed my Mr. Ranger sir. If he was with me, I could walk without fear. 

Looking down at my two goofballs May bull & Oakley I realized I really didn’t know how they would respond to the site of a coyote. 

Although they would bark and act ferocious when there’s an intruder (squirrel) and more recently a skunk (Oakley met the skunk up close and personal) in our backyard, I didn’t really think a match up against a coyote was in their best interest. 

Oakley, for his part is quite good at his growling and barking. May bull has also barked and raised her hackles at times. 

But I’m a good dog owner and don’t like to take chances. So, we went home, away from the area where our neighbor saw the Coyote. I was reminded that I missed my favorite dog and protector. 

“Hello Mr. Ranger Sir.”

We rescued Mr. Ranger from a farm in Fallbrook. My husband found him on a rescue website and showed me his picture. Oh, was he ever beautiful.

We were told he was either a plot hound or a red bone coonhound. (His features & coloring looked like the coonhound). 

Either one has a reputation for being a hunting dog. 

Fearless.

Both the Plot hound or Coonhound would tree bears, cougar, and other bigger animals. 

The first night Ranger came home I was certain that my husband Darrell was going to kill him. 

In the adoption picture he looked quite small. 

In reality he was large. Taller & sturdier than a Labrador. 

I immediately fell in love with his handsome good looks his red fur and his big brown eyes.

We had a sweet beagle named Louisiana at the time and she had a medium sized doggy door that we locked at night because Coyotes would often come into our neighborhood from the hills. 

Ranger adapted quickly to the smaller door, manipulating his body to fit through it. That first night, we let Ranger have access to the yard as we didn’t know his bathroom habits. 

Needless to say, Ranger barked all night long. 

Racing back and forth at our block wall & barking at our neighbor’s bushes. Sniffing the air and running in and out countless numbers of times. 

It was a long night.

We argued quite a bit for the next 3 days, Darrell wanted to take him back to the rescue, I argued that he needed to figure things out. Our boys of course were on my side. They didn’t want to return him. They already were quite fond of him and so was our little beagle Louisiana. 

The second night we closed the doggy door and Ranger stayed inside. He still barked quite a bit, so I decided to sleep on the couch in the living room next to his doggy bed. I woke up feeling like my legs weighed 100 pounds. He was of course the reason. He stretched his body out on mine and seemed really comfortable with this new sleeping arrangement. 

The third night we opened the doggy door again, but Ranger had in fact figured out his new surroundings and was growing used to the new noises.  

He also really loved being in a family again. 

Ranger was less than four years old when he came to us. He had been owner surrendered 3 other times. 

We were his fourth family. 

The rescue told us he was a high energy dog and needed a high energy environment. Boy, that was an understatement. 

Thankfully we were just the type of family he needed. 

As it turned out, he became my most favorite dog in history of ever.

We had a big backyard with a high brick wall that was escape proof. 

I also took him on long walks in the hills to burn off energy after I got home from my early morning shift at work. 

He would go on walks with the boys and I around the neighborhood. Louisiana loved having a new four-legged family member. Two dogs are always better than one. 

Louisiana was the most adorable beagle ever. She always knew when you needed a hug and she loved giving them out. She was also a hound so her nose took her into some spots that she shouldn’t be.

One evening at dusk, I was sitting on the couch and happened to look out the window to observe Louisiana sniffing the air. Standing above her on our 6-foot block wall was a rather large coyote.   

This coyote was ready to attack. 

Naturally I did what any good dog mom would do, I jumped to my feet and flew out the door to run toward the threat.  

I started to shout when out of nowhere Ranger sprang into action.  He shot to the wall in seconds and was suddenly between Louisiana and the coyote. 

I called Louisiana to my side and watched Ranger in full battle mode. 

My eyes were full of tears because I feared for Ranger. But my fears were put at ease as I watched him.  

He was ready for a fight, and he was quite terrifying to watch. 

I will never forget the sound of his bark. 

I’ve never heard that kind of bark any of the dogs I have owned before. The closest was my sisters German Shepherd named Echo. 

It was the kind of bark that made my hair stand on end. 

“Don’t mess with my family”

I knew at that moment that my family and Louisiana had a fearless protector. 

On the weekends, Ranger, Louie, and I would typically get up early and go for long hikes to burn off some of his energy. 

We saw Coyotes quite often on those adventures. But Ranger would often let us know that we were going to be just fine with him at our side. 

In fact, it turned out, that I would rather face a pack of wild coyotes then face our neighborhood dogs. 

Ranger decided that he had to protect us from every type of animal. 

He was good with people and babies, great in fact. 

A gentle giant who seemed to know not to knock people or small kids down. 

He wasn’t good with strange dogs. 

I could avoid dogs that were on leash. I could cross the street or change direction before he caught their scent. 

However, if there was a dog off leash, my heart would be in my throat. 

I would give a warning shout to the owner and say “Hey! come get your dog please?”  

Usually, the owners would be apologetic and run to get their dog. However, some just didn’t heed the warning and when Ranger gave their dog a stern takin to, they would get mad.

 “Hey, my dog didn’t start it.” 

We had a couple of encounters like that when we would walk the trails by the park. 

I don’t understand how a dog owner can get mad with my dog when their dogs were the ones that were off leash and always the instigators. That’s another story. 

Ranger was also smart and knew when to worry about who was at our door. 

He even knew the sound of our Regular UPS driver & Mail Carrier.

The regular driver would get a small bark & a tail wag, one cover driver would not. I don’t know how he knew the difference, but he did. 

One of his favorite drivers would often sign Ranger’s name when it was a delivery requiring a signature and we weren’t home. 

He had a secret hiding spot in our backyard, Ranger didn’t seem to mind him at all.  

I think he knew he was doing us a favor. 

On one occasion we were walking & Ranger jumped in the cab of the UPS truck and sat down as if he wanted to go for a ride. He was such a funny dog. 

I’ve had several dogs in my life. And a lot of them good dogs. I love all my dogs, especially the two I have now who are snoring at my feet while I am sitting here. 

 I loved Mr. Ranger most of all. He was fully dedicated to our family. He endured “dress up” days, he snuggled into the boys’ beds whenever he could, he sat by their sides when they were sad.  

Ranger was very intuitive. he would jump and dance around when we were happy. And course he always knew when I was cooking and was my personal 4-legged vacuum. You couldn’t leave anything on the counter. No matter how safe you thought your meal was, you could not leave it in “Ranger range” I lost many deliciously perfect sandwiches to him. I lost many plates of food. I still to this day, check my back to see if he is behind me when I set out food on the counter. 

There were a few times when I was physically hurt, he would become my personal nurse. Checking on me to make sure I was ok. I had to have two surgeries during his time with us, and of course he would jump onto our very tall bed, sit by my side, and watch me sleep. I would wake up sensing someone was watching me. He of course, was the someone. 

He was such a comfort to me. I told him my secrets and his big brown eyes looked at me like he understood them all. 

Although he loved my husband and my boys, he was my dog through and through. 

There will never be another Mr. Ranger sir. 

He was one of a kind truly my best friend. 

Dogs are a gift. I think when God created dogs, he looked at his creation and He declared them “good”. 

But when He created Ranger, I imagine that He said, 

“Who’s the goodest boy?”

#AllDogsGoToHeaven

#MrRangerSir