And then along came Ranger.

I’m not exactly a dog person. I mean, I have three children, and that’s all the animal I need in my house. I’m more of an intact-leather-sofa, clean-smelling-home-type person.

But it’s really incredible the things you’ll do for those wild animals, isn’t it? Especially when they have their daddy’s smile.

One minute you’re relishing your freedom to go and do wherever and whatever you please and then come home to a nice-smelling, non-chewed up residence, and the next minute you’re fanatically and systematically refreshing the website of a local animal shelter trying to get first pick of the newest drop-offs when their profiles go live that evening.

Our kids have been absolute champs over the past few years. They enthusiastically jumped on board with the notion of leaving family and moving across the country to Portland, where we began a completely different life surrounded by completely new people. After a year of adjusting to private school and two full-time working parents and doing their best to make friends out here in a completely new environment—COVID came rolling in like a mack truck, and overnight, the kids and I were working and schooling from home. Alone. 

It’s not surprising that pet adoptions skyrocketed in 2020.

Still, Kelley and I really didn’t want a dog. I mean, we’d managed to make it 18 years of marriage without one. We knew the hard work that would go into caring for a pet, and honestly, we just didn’t want the inconvenience. Or the additional expense. Or the responsibility. Or the smells.

But you don’t really get a dog for the convenience, do you?

So, two months ago, our family grew by four feet—er, paws.

Meet Ranger the Peacemaker (as his AKC papers refer to him). Ranger, a Rhodesian ridgeback, joined our family in mid-March, and we’ve been acclimating to the pet life ever since.

But we can’t really talk about Ranger without mentioning Rosie, his littermate—our first puppy.

When the Rhodesian ridgebacks from the local animal shelter were adopted ahead of us, we brought Rosie home from an Oregon breeder a few weeks later, before we met Ranger. Though we loved her immediately, she brought a whirlwind of chaos with her. We were exhausted from the constant movement and energy and nipping and biting. The only time we were able to enjoy her was, well, when she was sleeping. I experienced the emotional rollercoaster of post-puppy depression. (Somehow I’d missed the fact that puppies don’t sleep through the night. Why didn’t anyone tell me this??) I’d sit in our bathroom floor and sob, sleep-deprived, sweating from huffing a 20-lb puppy up and down a flight of apartment stairs 12 times a day, and absolutely convinced our life was over. How many more years do we have with her? I’d ask Kelley. At eight weeks old, I was already counting down the days until our life could return to normal.

We’d actually wanted two ridgebacks ever since we read a book about two former CIA operatives-turned-parents who had them (find the book here) and subsequently researched the breed, and I told Kelley I never wanted to go through the puppy phase again, so if the goal was to have two, we would have two NOW. Rip the puppy bandaid off all at once, and then never re-adhere it. Plus, an extra pup would hopefully teach Rosie some bite inhibition and basic manners—and give us all a little break from the gashes and scratches covering our extremities. (Think Rachel Green in the Friends episode where she buys a hairless cat.) The vet agreed, so we contacted the breeder.

Rosie’s breeder had sent us a picture of a male puppy she still had available, and we immediately felt that he needed to be part of our family. Friends told us we were crazy to even consider getting two puppies, and we knew they were right, but we were drawn to him in a way that felt more than just a whim or irresponsible decision. So Kelley and the boys drove the four hours to the breeder’s house one Saturday in Grants Pass and brought him straight home.

Ranger is such a sweet, laid-back, happy puppy. He just wanted to cuddle and rarely nipped at us. He brought with him a sense of calm and peace to our home. Meanwhile, Rosie continued to become more fearful and fear-aggressive, to the point where she would growl and lunge to bite us anytime we tried to handle her. We were constantly walking on eggshells around her, trying our darnedest to keep her calm. We had two different veterinarians and an animal behaviorist express concerns about her being in a home with children, especially one with autism who paced around the apartment several times a day lost in his own imagination. We weren’t even able to allow the kids to interact with her.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that this wasn’t the right home for Rosie, and the most loving thing we could do for her was to help find her a home in which she could thrive. As painful as it was to say goodbye to our first family pet, we coordinated with the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue of Oregon to rehome her. (The breeder wouldn’t take her back, unfortunately.) She is now enjoying a loving home, without children, with an owner who’s owned three ridgebacks before her.

Immediately our home was peaceful again. We still miss Rosie, but Ranger has been the best little (er, quickly becoming massive) companion for our family.

Rhodesian ridgebacks are an incredible breed. Originally bred to track down and bay lions in South Africa, they are a blend of greyhound, bloodhound, mastiff, African khoikhoi, and Great Dane. They have a signature ridge of hair down their spine that grows in the opposite direction and looks much like a faux-hawk. They are independent, naturally protective, affectionate, intelligent, and athletic, but not hyper like Labradors and boxers or threatening like pit bulls.

Ranger has already doubled in size and weight, and he will grow to likely be close to 100 pounds when fully grown. Despite his size, he is a loving little snuggler. He is our Ferdinand the bull—his favorite activity is sitting in the sunshine smelling the grass and wildflowers. He is friendly and well-adjusted and is responding surprisingly well to training. Our hope is to one day certify him as a service dog. (Though Rhodesian ridgebacks aren’t typically trained as service dogs, he has the right temperament and has been very responsive to cues already.) We just recently certified him as an emotional support animal for Riley, but he really has been just that for all of us. He is exactly what our family didn’t even know we needed, and we are so excited for him to join us in all our future adventures!