Big Paws

Tomorrow we get a new companion, a new dog. I will of course fill you in on that, but tonight I am full of reflection of the friend we leave behind, Ranger, 1993 -2008.

It's been just over 5 months.

I found Ranger at the animal shelter on the west side of Jacksonville, Fl. The LTR and I were split up, he was living on his family's farm in eastern Ohio and I had just moved to Florida to start a new aspect of my career with corporate America.

(The LTR and I would of course reunite in Jacksonville, but that's a story for another post).

I was lonely, did some desperate things, then decided to get a dog so I would have someone to care for.

Of the three dogs I have had as an adult, Ranger was the most destructive initially but ultimately the most obedient. She loved to chew. Pens, especially. She turned my apartment carpet into a Rorschach test. My kitchen pantry didn't have a door, and once she pulled out an entire bag of instant mashed potatoes and went running through the apartment making it look like it had snowed. If I had had a leaky pipe that day I could have set a world record for the largest mashed potato.

She loved to run and jump. She stood about half a foot high and could jump as high as my shoulders. In Florida, there is a weed that grows in grass that produces a sharp spur. It hurts when stepped on by human or canine. When she would step on it she would levitate straight up in the air, all four legs pressed together. I'm sure it was painful to her, but it sure was funny to see.

She always had to be a part of everything. The LTR would say, "you've got a nose problem, girl" because she was always sticking her nose into everything, be it a social gathering or those two hornet's nests she found during our hikes (and we all got stung. Both times).

Of Golden Retriever mix, she played against type and hated the water. We almost lost her to water, twice. Once, on our boat, I saw her walking the gunwale as we were leaving the dock. I looked back a second later and she was gone. I jumped down from the bridge, and she was in the water, panicked, and I quickly fished her out. I have shuddered many times thinking what would have happened had I not looked back that second time as we were leaving the dock.

She was finicky when it came to food and was not a dog who begged. But one time on the boat the LTR was about to grill and set a huge steak out. She was able to reach it and the LTR caught her with the raw steak in her mouth, weighing almost half her weight and she had a "oh, I don't have a steak in my mouth" look to her. Ignore the dog behind the curtain.

She had a stage debut in Florida...she played Max, the Grinch's dog. The LTR was the Grinch. She looked like Max, and was brilliant in the role.

There's much more I could tell you about my friend Ranger. She was a loving, loyal companion. I don't expect the new dog to fill her paws. The new dog will create her own space in my heart.

It's just hard not to feel the absence of those beloved paws as we eagerly await the sound of new ones in our home.

Goodnight, girl. We miss you.