Big A, Little A, and Momma Chae: My Hero

Last night I wasn't feeling too hot, so I went to bed at like 7:00. (yes, I'm only 28. I'm not yet in my nineties. But I was TIRED.)

Anyways, I wake sometime in the middle of the night with Ranger, my lovable dufus of a dog, barking his head off in the living room, howling like a wolf, and whining like the aliens have landed and he's about to pee his pants in fear. It was horrendous. After some banging on the wall and some hushed yells of, "Ranger, it's ok!" and "You're going to wake Addison," My husband drug himself out of bed to see if there were indeed armed assassins making their way into our fortress. Rather than Ninjas, he found that the big deal was a pack of coyotes on our turf - a major threat to Mr. Ranger. They were yipping and howling, and making their feral presence known. Our Brave Army of One was ready to take them on to defend the family.

Although Ranger can be annoying as heck sometimes, he is, in a nutshell, a perfect canine companion. It wasn't long ago that this critter made me wonder why I had ever wanted a dog, and every piece of our property was showing signs of "Apocalypse by Puppy." Ranger was into everything, clumsy to the point of appearing to have brain damage, and lacked any self control. It took longer to bond with this dog than it had ever taken with any of the cats I've had in my lifetime. I was one of those people who read Marley and Me with a sense of kinship towards Marley's poor owners. Finally, though, he worked his furry butt into my heart in a major way. And here's why:

Reasons I love Ranger:

1.) Ranger is my constant companion. He stays outside the bathroom door while I shower, relocates to whatever room I happen to be in, sits at my feet when I read, and hovered over me with worried whines when I was in labor with Little A. In short - He worships me. He is at my feet this very moment.

2.) Ranger is always the fastest dog at the dog park. I sit and proudly shrug my shoulders when people ask me, "What kind of dog is that," or "is he part greyhound?" Or, "What do you feed that thing?"

3.) Ranger would protect me from any threat. Like this dog, Ranger would not hesitate to lay down his life for me. He escorts me to and from the chicken coop every morning and night and does a perimeter check to keep me safe from any man or beast that might be lurking in the scary shadows.

4.) Every day, Ranger greets life with a wagging tail. When he sees me put on a hat, I can see him thinking, "Oh boy! We're going outside" When he sees me open the back of the car for him, "Oh boy! We're going on a ride!" Even at the vet's office, he is out of his mind with happiness and thinking such silly things like, "Yay! Needles!" And once, as we were in the laundry room, me gently washing off his bloody wounds from a vicious coyote attack, I looked in his eyes and clearly saw that he was thinking, "Yay! Attention from my mommy!"

5.) Ranger is the only dog I've ever known that I can trust completely with children. He can get his hair pulled, get tackled, or completely startled out of a dead sleep and merely respond with a confused look in my direction as he stands up and relocates to a safer spot in the room. He may be a menace at times, but he is the embodiment of love and devotion to his people.