Ralph was the fastest, bravest, strongest dog in Klickitat County.  Maybe the entire state.  Possibly the whole tri-state area.  There are those who knew Ralph who would say different, but none of them knew him like I did, and I say I’m right.  He was fast, brave, and strong.  Sometimes, he was even smart.  But not usually.

Interesting thing about Ralph is that nobody knew where he came from.  One day, I guess he just showed up, with a foot all mangled, that someone said he got stuck in a coyote trap, and the story stuck.  Roger Falter was the one found him, I think.  He farmed Spring Creek Farm, and had a softness for animals.  Later on he took home a Cocker Spaniel that had been run over and nursed it back to health.  We always talked like his girls Angie and Lisa were the animal lovers, but I think it was Roger.

Anyway, when we were getting ready to move into the house on the farm (we didn’t farm it, we just rented the house), he told us there’s a dog that sometimes comes, and he’s got a hurt foot, but that he’d been feeding him.  Didn’t have a name as far as any of us knew.  Long story short, we wound up taking Ralph to see Carl Conroy, the vet, and Carl patched up his foot, and told us he could amputate, but didn’t really see the need, but that foot would never work again.  He was right, mostly.  Eventually, Ralph took to the name we called him, and took to us boys, too.  Never took to riding in a car or coming in a house, but that’s just as well for a farm dog.

There are stories about Ralph.  Stuff I remember, and stuff I imagine he did when he would be gone for a few days, but I figured I’d introduce him first, since some people don’t know him already.  If you read comments or hear tales that don’t jive with Ralph being the fastest, bravest, strongest dog in Klickitat County, must mean they’re talking about some other Ralph than the one I knew.