We were wondering where the ranch dogs went. Several years have passed since Sam and I last saw the two big, white dogs at a Colorado lake we sometimes fish. They always seemed old, so we suspected the ranch dogs might have passed on to whatever heaven it is that dogs deserve.
The ranch dogs are legendary creatures to us. They first achieved that status thanks to a drunken loudmouth who told a nervous couple at the lower lake that the approaching ranch dogs were nothing to worry about, and they "keep the wolves away."
Apparently, the ranch dogs do a helluva job since there hadn't been any wolves seen in Colorado for over 100 years.
The dogs live at a ranch in a creek bottom between two popular fishing lakes. They like to visit the lakes occasionally to beg for handouts and snacks. Presumably, they also are patrolling for wolves.
There's a second story in their legend. I was fishing at the upper lake one day when the ranch dogs showed up. A woman with a foo-foo poodle was afraid to let her precious out of the SUV with the wolf-killers lingering outside her car door, waiting for a piece of sandwich or some Tostitos.
She finally drove off angrily, flipped me the bird, and cursed at me to keep my damn dogs on a leash.
I tried in vain to explain they weren't my dogs, but she would hear none of it.
I was glad to see the ranch dogs today, as well-fed and unkempt as ever. They are part of the total experience when fishing these two lakes. In a way, they seem partly like my dogs.
And, come to think of it, I had no problem with wolves today.
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