Hey! This page is all about my old dog, Ranger. It includes pictures, and the story that tells about his difficult life. Below is the picture of Sammers dressed as Ranger for the FAoF Masquerade Ball.
Here's the story of an animal who changed my life.
Ranger was born on December 28th (Yes, the FAoF's Masquerade date) 1989-1990 (It's hard to keep track of these things!). I was only a baby when we got him. I was probably a year or two of age. It happened that my parents decided we needed a pet that was better than stinky old cats and stinky old goldfish. So we went to a nearby town and found a place where they were selling puppies. They had about 5 purebred golden labrador puppies for sale, all 50$ each. My parents were going to pick one out, when, a small black and yellow German Shephard/Siberian Husky trotted over and jumped around. To this day, my parents believe that Ranger picked -us- out.
We took the blue and brown eyed puppy home and cared for him more than your every-day family would care for their new puppy. I was still young, so I was rather attatched to him. I don't remember much of my childhood, so I can't really tell you about when he was a puppy. But I can tell you this- at about the age of 6 or 7, we got Ranger neutered because he was running around the neighborhood inpregnating all the female dogs he could find. That's when it all happened.
Shortly after Ranger was neutered, he became overweight. No matter what we tried, he would not lose any weight. We took him in to the vet's and he was diagnosed with Diabetes- and weighed in at over 200 pounds. Shortly after his diagnosis, Ranger became partially blind. We moved to another neighborhood where my mother's family lived.
Fortunately, Ranger's blindness only got better and he got used to his surroundings. My father built a railing on the steps so he wouldn't fall off the sides. I don't know why he didn't build a ramp- of course, he would do anything for Ranger at this point.
At the age of 8 or 9, Ranger got Arthritus. He lost a lot of weight, though, which was good. He weighed in at a little over 150 pounds- 157, if I recall correctly. Well, a couple of years passed (Or maybe it was only one) and Ranger was doing great! He was at the point where he could run and chase balls and play again. But as the months passed, something was slowing Ranger down. He stopped eating and collapsed a lot. I'll never forget the time he couldn't get up off the floor and wet himself. I felt so bad, but there was nothing I could do. No one could do anything at this point.
Ranger was 10 years old now, and it was time my dad fought to get him into the car. It was time for a visit to the vet. After waiting a while in the waiting room at the vet's office, we finally got let in. I didn't think anything bad was going to happen. But boy, was I wrong. The vet took blood tests and when he was in the other room my dad remembered to tell him something. He yelled the vet's name and he came into the room we were waiting patiently in. My dad told him about the lumps under his chin he had noticed only weeks before. The vet frowned and went to talk to his co-workers. He came back and explained that Ranger had cancer of the lyphnodes (Spelling? I'm not sure.) and had to be put to sleep. I was already crying long before that, and I had used about half of the vet's Kleenex,but now I was crying even harder and I fell into my dad's arms.
We had to call my mother, of course, and when we told her about Ranger she started crying too. We went back to the room where Ranger lay on the floor and my dad told me to go sit in the car. I insisted on staying; I wanted to be with Ranger until the end. I bent down on the floor and wrapped my arms around Ranger, though he didn't have the strength to look up. I hugged him tight and repeated "I love you, Ranger." and "Goodbye." As they injected the blue liquid into his leg, I could hear, feel his heart slowing down. Ranger died in my arms. I didn't go to school the next few days for fear of bursting out crying in the middle of class.
Ranger was the best pet I ever had, and I will never forget him. Despite all his deseases, Ranger lived a pretty good life, and so did I, because I lived my life with Ranger. Ranger was a great dog. We didn't take him to obedience school or anything; and he knew a lot of tricks.
The vet said that none of his deseases were related; they were all by chance. Ranger wasn't a very lucky pooch. But I don't cry anymore, because I know Ranger is gone to a better place, and he'll always be in my heart. I know, that someday we will be reunited. I love you Ranger! *cries*
I keep his picture on my computer, in my necklace, on my mousepad, in my album, in my heart,
More pictures will be added soon, I hope. I've got a whole album of baby pictures of him!