Man's Best Friend

A month ago we saw an ad on Craigslist for two free beagle puppies (11 months old). The owners were going to start traveling alot with their jobs and wanted the dogs to go to new homes. We went to see these sisters, Sophie and Irie, and took Wriley along to see if it would be a right fit. Sophie was very skiddish, they thought maybe she was neglected before they got her. Irie was very smart and could be walked without a leash. After ALOT of sniffing they all three seemed fine with each other. We thought we'd give it a try and the owners said if it didn't work out they'd take them back. We got home and slowly introduced the girls to Ranger. They were very sweet, but jumped ALOT. Ranger sniffed and they seemed okay, so we went to bed, separating Sophie and Irie from Ranger and Wriley. The morning went fine until Hallister and Preston were up. As I fed Preston in the chair and Hallister played Ranger sat at my feet. Anytime the girls came close to Preston or Hallister, Ranger would growl and then bark at them until they backed away. It was surprising, but also very sweet, to see Ranger so protective of the boys. Wriley played okay with the girls outside but Ranger stayed close to us. They would never intentionally hurt Hallister, or we wouldn't have gotten them, but they did jump a lot and Ranger didn't like it. He started a lot of fights so we decided it was too much for us.

To make a long story short we called the owners and gave the girls to the person that had called after us. If anything though, the experience made us appreciate our dogs so much more.

Wriley is a sweet girl. She loves to play fetch or chase after us running, and curl up on the couch next to us. She does not get to play fetch much since Ranger usually takes the toy from her. She does not like to be suddenly moved or stepped on while sleeping, and has snapped at Hallister before for doing that, but she'd never bite. She is 4 years old. Ranger is a big, cuddly bear. You can do anything to him and he will whimper but never retaliate. He has brought us 4 bunny rabbits, so we know despite him being bigger he is quick. He will be 3 March 17th. He sleeps in funny positions, as you see in the picture. His markings are called "saddleback" because his back is all black. He loves ice cubes and can even catch them in his mouth when you throw them. He now sleeps with Hallister, and that has helped Hallister sleep until 7am in the mornings. He is definitely our guard dog. One night around midnight he was growling and barking at the back door and would not go out the dog flap. He is able to open it with his nose, and usually does this when he has to go potty. Since he would not go out Jonathan got his gun out and turned the light on. We will never know if someone was out there, but we felt protected. Wriley and Ranger have been neglected since the boys arrived but I am so thankful we have "man's best friends" and they want to protect us.