Ray the Rhodesian Ridgeback is big and happy — and did I mention BIG?
Our neighbors own a Rhodesian Ridgeback hound. Old Ray -- the dog, not the neighbor -- is a fearsome looking dog, with a heart that melts at the least bit of attention. He has quite a bark, but never bites.
Unfortunately, Ray is a clever hound and does his best to stay one ahead of Matt -- the neighbor, not the dog -- when it comes to breaking out of their back yard. Frequently. Also unfortunately, Ray has a little bit of a reputation in the neighborhood. Namely, he's such a large dog with an awesome bark that many in the neighborhood fear his bite. But Ray, as I said, has never bitten anyone.
I know the sad stories that start with something like, "Officer, I don't understand what happened. I'm telling you this lovable dog has NEVER bitten ...," and end with an injured child and a dog being put to sleep. So far, this has not been one of those stories.
We value having Ray (and his black Lab companion, Ebbie) as neighbors -- along with Matt and Samantha, the "human neighbors." I'm convinced we have less likelihood of prowlers in the neighborhood with Ray and Ebbie on the job. But the problem is Ray's adventuresome nature. He loves to find ways out of the yard and to roam the immediate neighborhood.
Try as he might, Matt has been unable to seal all of Ray's "hidey holes," the hound's always been able to find a way to get out. Just awhile ago, he was sitting calmly on his front porch -- Ray the dog, not Matt the neighbor -- wagging happily to see me as we drove up to our house. Shirley -- my wife, who's neither the neighbor nor one of the neighbor's dogs -- noticed him and remarked, "Looks like Matt missed another hole." Matt had just been working his way slowly around the backyard fence doing patch work and putting up various barricades as we were leaving for the store a few hours earlier.
Rhodesian Ridgebacks are beautiful dogs. They seem to be genial and loving, they certainly make striking neighbors. Good luck with that fence, Matt. It would be a loss to us all for Ray to get out and lose him to a car wreck or the dog pound.
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