[LordRanger]

I am LordRanger's human, and it is with a crushed heart that I must share that we lost Ranger. Ranger was the greatest creature ever to walk the face of this earth on four legs. When I moved to Canada, I had no marriage, no friends there—I didn’t even know where I was going to stay. Ranger was all that I had. It was a fun road trip for just the two of us, to see Niagara Falls, Toronto, crossing the Canadian border for the first time… He swam into Lake Ontario just to say hi to a duck. I was there when he learned to swim for the very first time. He was my friend, my son. I guess with kids, you get 18 years with them, and then they move out. With dogs, you get 15 years with them and they move on. I dreaded this day for a long, long time, and now here it is.

At least I can say that I have no regrets. He was definitely NOT neglected! He was a seriously spoiled dog, with the attitude of a spoiled dog. Whenever we went on walks, he was the one walking me. He had a dog chiropractor, a dogsitter, and he took over my Facebook page. I got all the quality time with him I could reasonably ask for, and he got to die of old age. I always promised him (even though he couldn’t understand me) that I would be with him to the end; and that I did. Throughout his life, I told him I loved him with all my heart. Maybe he didn’t know English that well, but he knew. Now, I guess I will have to wait for another 15 years before it comes my time and I can see him again. If Heaven is anything like when I come home every day, no doubt Ranger will be anxiously waiting behind the pearly gate, jumping up and down, waiting for someone to open the gate. And he will be the first to run out. The guy can run: he is a mighty, powerful chaser of Canadian geese. He would strike terror in any squirrel he saw (he just never actually caught one). He did, however, manage to terrorize a baby rabbit in his rabbit hole, get sprayed by a skunk, and he murdered more dog toys than I can count. As a puppy, he couldn’t stop running around the couch or barking for two seconds.

His final years were at home with me, while I worked remotely from home through the Covid outbreak. He had all kinds of health problems closing in on him at the end: dental, kidneys, respiratory, blind and deaf. A combination of kidney failure and a pulmonary embolism (and the complications from having them both) is what got him in the end. Oh, how I fought to save him.

Yes, I am completely devastated. I don’t know what lies ahead or how I’m going to handle it, but I always knew this day was coming. Right now, I just look at his bed. I can’t begin to tell you the joy it was simply to have that little corner in the house where he sleeps. Just his bed; that’s it. And now, that is gone. This is probably payback for me leaving him behind at the house while I went off to work, to run errands, or whatever. He always wanted to go—wherever I went, there he wanted to go, too. Now, I’m the one staying home. And he’s the one going out.

Behave yourself, friend. Now, Heaven is going to be place with a lot of angel music—and one really rowdy, raucous dog. Probably barking at all the angels nonstop and telling them to play laser pointer. And again, I love you.