Good Dog....Gone

Ole Ring died today.

He was under the deck and wouldn't come out when Cole called so Cole started up the 4 wheeler. Ring didn't come out then either so Cole knew he was dead. Ring would have to be dead to ignore the 4 wheeler. He would spin and bark like a young pup when anyone started it up.

Ring was Cole's dog. He was born the Fall after we moved up here in 1998. Ring was the product of Ole Jack, a purebred Australian Shepherd(our old dog - long since gone....interestingly enough Jack had to be put down one afternoon when he either went into seizures or had been hit by a car or got into some poison or something.....unfortunately John wasn't here to do it and my little brother Jim had to do it....what a deal) and Sage, a purebred Border Collie.

Their romance was swift and secretive. Soon after we moved here Jack, new to the area, somehow knew Sage was ummm....available.....and he trotted 5 miles down the road to court her. Sage had never had puppies and was actually planning on having purebred Border Collie puppies at a later date with....well.....a purebred Bordie Collie. But she didn't count on handsome Jack coming to visit.

It must have been love but it would have painful results for them both. Sage found herself in the family way in a big way. I think she had 10 pups. She had to have a Cesarean section and was "fixed" at the same time. The vet said she could have died trying to have those pups and that there was a high chance that she would have the same result another time around.

Jack was also "fixed" as a result of his procreative ways. We bought some dog food for the owners of Sage to try to support Jack's offspring and John promised to take a pup if they couldn't find homes for all of them.

Cole was 4 years old and one November day he and John went to the south place to "check things" and came home with Ringer. He was a cute little fella. It was cold and Ring was sad so John and Cole made him a place in the mud room for a few nights.

Ring was a "digger" from the get-go and never grew out of it. He and I would buck each other every spring when I would try to beautify an area with flowers and Ring would dig them up. One year I decided to "relocate" Ring. I put a nice rug under the front steps for him to lie on and proceeded to plant flowers in his usual resting spot. I even put a bunch of big rocks around there so he would know I meant business.

Ring dug up those rocks, the flowers and ignored the nice rug. He was a dog that knew what he wanted. This spring I decided to plant some flowers along the south side of the house. John said "You know Ring likes to lay there....and he will just destroy them." But Ring had gotten old over the last year and I really thought he would be ok with some nice big Black-Eyed Susans there. Wrong again.

Ringer lived a good long life. He would be in his 70's in dog years and every one of those years were lived in relative freedom and fun here. He loved to ride on the 4 wheeler or to run along side and try to bite the tires, he loved to ride in the back of the pickup, he loved to work cows and was a good hand, and he loved being the head of night security. We have never lost a chicken to skunks or fox or coyote or other predator. Sometimes Ring would bark all night and sleep all day but he was on duty and he took it seriously.

Rex has been laying next to Ring most of the day. When Rex came here as a newly weaned pup a few years ago....John kept him penned so he would not run off. Rex would cry and cry and Ole Ring would go lay right up beside him on the outside of the pen.

John is gone for the day helping some neighbors so when he gets home he will learn that his right hand dog has died....and also that he is laying in the farthest possible corner under the deck and needs buried. Even though Ring was officially Cole's dog....unofficially, all of Ring's allegiance and respect was given to the guy in the cowboy hat.

We will all miss Ringer. Cole is pretty sad. He said "He was a good friend" after finding him this afternoon.

It's true.

Ring was a good friend.