Home › #Photography › RDP #9 – HE WAS A RAGABASH, BUT WE LOVED HIM ANYWAY – Marilyn Armstrong

RDP #9 – HE WAS A RAGABASH, BUT WE LOVED HIM ANYWAY – Marilyn Armstrong

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RDP #9 – The Ragabash Puppy

He had been raised in a truck. His owners drove a truck and that’s where he lived. At some point, they got The Duke. Who knows from where?

“What is he?” people ask and all I can say is “I have no idea.” He looks like a Border Collie crossed with some kind of Asian flat-faced dog — or maybe a Boston Terrier. Every day, I thank heaven for the availability of Prozac because, without it, he is just a wee bit difficult to control.

I’m sure his original owners were sure he was going to be a much smaller dog and he was smaller, even when we got him almost a year ago. When he got to be really difficult to handle — that Border Collie in there makes him a handful — they passed him to another owner who couldn’t manage him and put him in a crate where he was living when we took him in.

This is a dog about whom it is frequently said: “He needs a job.”

He does. He could rewire the house. Pave the driveway. Do some masonry on the roof.

He can seem to be quite the tough little scoundrel. A blatant ragamuffin, although no more idle or worthless than any other “what is he?” mutt of a dog. I suppose one could consider him disrespectful.

Photo: Garry Armstrong

He does as he pleases which can be maddening, but I think he has shaped us up pretty well and we behave much better than we did in the beginning. We tell him he’s a good boy, but really, he’s terrible and hilarious.

We are his third home and although we know we could easily rehome him, I think that would be cruel. He has had enough homes. I don’t think he would benefit from a different future. We’ve got him and he’s got us. We promised him he could stay here.

Here he will stay.

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Categories: #Photography, dogs, Pets

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36 replies

  1. swo8
    06/09/2018 • 14:23

    He’s an important part of the family now.
    Leslie

    Like

  2. Embeecee
    06/09/2018 • 13:24

    I just LOVE the RDP prompt words. I learn a new word almost every day now! And many of us have or have had at some point a ragabash doggie….Duke got very VERY lucky and I’m glad he’s in his ‘forever home!’ ❤

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 16:58

      I actually realized today that Duke acting exactly like a dog of his type would act. He is frantically herding all of us, dogs and human. He can’t stand it when anyone is out of place. And HE has decided the places.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. curioussteph
    06/09/2018 • 12:55

    How wonderful for Duke that you have become his family, despite his Ragabash ways.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 13:23

      He is a maddening dog, but he is also very endearing. Nuts and SO intense. His instinct is to keep everything and everyone where HE can find them which isn’t necessarily where they (or us) want to be found 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Taswegian1957
    06/09/2018 • 10:48

    Luckily he is not an only dog.

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  5. angloswiss
    06/09/2018 • 10:47

    I remember when he arrived and now he is really one of the family.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. cordeliasmom2012
    06/09/2018 • 10:32

    Border collie mixes are tough. Our Morgan was a mixed border collie (we think mixed with shepherd, which is good because shepherds are trainable). Morgan was very, very smart and would only follow a command if it made sense to her. Fortunately, we had children at the time, so her job was keeping track of everyone 24/7 and it kept her busy, and happy.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 10:44

      I’m pretty sure Duke would be happier if we were more active. He wants to DO something, but we don’t do a lot anymore. But he gets a lot of love and he isn’t destructive nor is he a fighter. I just think he’s bored!

      Like

      • cordeliasmom2012
        06/09/2018 • 12:02

        Put Duke in charge of “rounding up” Gerry. Every once in awhile, just say, “Duke, where’s Gerry [or Dad, of that’s what you call him]?” Then when he “finds” Gerry, he gets an extra hug or something. You could have him look for other family members or the other dogs, too. Worked with Morgan.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Garry Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 11:49

      Well, Duke keeps track of us. He is literally on my heels, where ever I go. I can feel him tromping on the bottom of my yoga pants.

      Like

  7. Fandango
    06/09/2018 • 09:47

    I know words. I have the best words. But I’d never heard of the word “ragabash” before.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 10:45

      I think it’s close to our “ragamuffin.” There used to be a lot of words that started with “rag” and continued. It’s a piece of language we seem to have lost.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Fandango
        06/09/2018 • 11:00

        I remember when my mother used to call what is now referred to as a “wash cloth” a “wash rag.”

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        • Marilyn Armstrong
          06/09/2018 • 11:18

          A lot of our most colorful language has gone out of style. I don’t know if that happens faster now than it did, but it certainly has been speeding along. I remember when I called the refrigerator the “icebox” though no one had used ice in it for 50 years. The word hung on forever, though. I sometimes still call it an icebox. But those words will vanish and new ones (which we don’t understand) will replace them.

          Liked by 1 person

      • Garry Armstrong
        06/09/2018 • 11:46

        I like its resonance. It so fits the Duke.

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      • Garry Armstrong
        06/09/2018 • 11:47

        Ragamuffin is among the terms used to describe our baseball team’s oft maligned bullpen denizens.

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    • Garry Armstrong
      06/09/2018 • 11:54

      Duke drives me nuts and, in the flash of a second, I am petting him. What a scoundrel.

      Liked by 1 person