The essential Ryland

Ryland is pretty much the ultimate low-key dog.  He's mature, but not old, may 5 years or so.  He's been around long enough and seen enough to know what is important and what is not.  Things not important enough to rile Ryland are stange people, dogs, birds, or anything else likely to set off the shepherds that he's been forced to associate with here at my house.  Ryland knows that the important things in life are, this order:  food, and a nice place to nap. 

The only times Ryland has been involved in an altercation with another dog it concerned food.  He will protect his food, even when common sense should tell him that he's outweighed, outnumbered, and outdogged generally.  Ryland has undoubtedly been through some very lean times, so I can't blame him about the food.  He has settled down a lot since he's been here, however, and seems to know what he's going to be fed again, even if it's not the quantity and frequency that he'd prefer.  Ryland eats in the dog yard with 2-6 other dogs and we have no problem.  He gets his food first because he is a slow eater, and everyone else just keeps their distance until Ryland has finished.
 

He has been coming into the house in the afternoons and/or nights since it got really hot this summer, and particularly since Jeremy died because they were buds and hung out together.  Ryland uses a crate without a problem but I don't think he really needs one at least if anyone is around.  He is not above rummaging through some garbage or seeing what's up on the counter, however.  If he can reach it, it's fair game.

Ryland is the low-key dog that so many people need instead of the shepherd they think they want.  Few people really have the time and space in their lives for a crazy young shepherd who needs training and  nearly constant entertainment and stimulation.  Perversely, the people who generally want that dog are people whose lives are already fully scheduled and who really only have time to pat a dog on the head when coming and going.  Ry is happy to be that dog who is just hanging around, ready for some action when it happens but content to wait for it. 

Ryland may have a little shepherd in him, but probably less than I do.  He's really a generic beagle/hound mix, a Fluvanna County special.  That hound in him gives him his focus on the two most important things in life (see above).  He also has a hound's typical aloofness and distain for obedience.  Ryland has very selective hearing; although he can hear a food dish being touched 50 yards away, he apparently can not hear me yelling for him when I want him to come.  Fortunately, he lacks that other typical hound characteristic, the desire to follow his nose to the ends of the earth.  If given the chance, Ryland will wander off when I'm moving dogs from the dog yard to the house.  He did so again last night, and it drives me crazy, but there was no real cause for concern.  I walked around looking and yelling for him in the dark, to no avail.  I came back inside and waited 30 minutes, and when I went out again he popped right up, ready to come inside. 

He slept in the bedroom last night, just curled up on a bed, a ball of happy hound.