Goodbye Ranger

We lost Ranger two days before Christmas. He had developed a radial nerve issue over the last year, likely caused by a nerve root tumor. We kept him as comfortable as possible, and then it was time to let him go.

I pulled Ranger from our local municipal shelter ten years ago. He had been in the system for months, and was even pulled and then returned by a local "no kill" shelter. I placed him with friends who had been looking for a cattledog of their own. They owned a small shop, and Ranger got to go to work everyday with his people.

 A few years ago his people had babies, and it took some time to balance everything out. Ranger was extremely noise sensitive, and kids are noisy. Eventually everyone got along, Ranger learned to handle a certain amount of kid noise, and the children learned a wonderful lesson in empathy.

Having kids means there will be less time for your dogs, but it's important to remember that the lack of time is temporary. Kids grow up, and eventually they become people who will also pay attention to the dogs. You'll need to take precautions to keep everyone safe while your kids learn how to treat animals with respect, but it's an incredibly valuable lesson for them.

Pets help children to learn empathy, and I think Ranger was particularly gifted there. I'm so glad I helped him get out of the shelter, and delighted that I could be a part of his life up until the end. Rest well, buddy. You earned it.

Taking Treats Gently

Ranger and Annie are our part-time dogs. They come to visit and herd sheep and hike and join us on our adventures periodically. Ranger was my first foster dog nine years ago, and Annie is his little sister that their family adopted a year later. I'm pretty sure Ranger is actually an Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog based on the shape of his head and his coloring.

Paws up!

As adult rescue dogs, Ranger and Annie both tend to take treats roughly. Taking treats gently can be a difficult skill to learn as an adult, and is something that needs to be reinforced perpetually. Ranger is eleven years old, and Annie is nine, so I'm not expecting to undo a lifetime of finger-chomping.

There are a number of ways to give treats to a dog that doesn't mind grabbing a finger or two. One way is to use soft, lickable treats like peanut butter, spray cheese, or LeanLix.

Another way to save your fingers is to toss treats instead of handing them. I do this with Ranger and Annie when I want to reward them very quickly, but it has the side effect of reinforcing treat chomping. Tossing treats also doesn't work very well when attempting to teach a new trick using a food lure. Essentially, I need a way to hold food while my hand is in range of their jaws.

I took classes at a teaching zoo years ago, and one of the things I learned was to give food rewards by shoving my entire hand in the animal's mouth. This works surprisingly well, much better than timidly offering a treat that they could just as easily knock out of my hand as they reach for it. With time and repetition, the animal learns to wait for the food to come to them, rather than rushing toward me to get it.