After my previous fox terrier Oliver died, I had said that I would let fate find another four legged friend for me. 5 years later, enter a little 4 month old terrier wandering alone in the Normandy village where my family in law had a country home. It was Easter Sunday, and I spotted him coming down a dirt path, I rushed out of the gates and swooped him up. He was filthy, matted, skinny and had poo smeared on his behind. A neighbour poked his head out of a window and said the dog had spent the night sheltered next to a wood pile, it had been a very stormy night with thunder and lightning. I initially had to battle against an unwilling husband and a mother in law who did not want to let the little dog into the house. I replied that the puppy was staying because I wasn't going to let him get run over. To gain time, I left him in the garden while we had lunch. His little face would come to the French windows to look in. My 3 year old twins went outside to play with him, I called my husband to look out the window: the three of them sere sitting on the grass, side by side, grinning. That sold my husband who then took Ralph to the vet to have him checked over.
Little Ralph got used to living in Paris during the week and spending weekends in Normandy. He would be part of every vacation. I started running, and when he was old enough, he became my running partner. We would run around and around the Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower. This feisty little dog loooooved to run. When he sensed we were about to be overtaken, he would look up at me and bark, all the while accelerating and pulling on his leash, urging me to go faster! Later, when we moved to England, with the addition of another rescue dog, my Labrador Ursen, we eagerly took to the fields in beautiful Hertfordshire. I had picked the name Ralph because it means protector in old English . What a wonderful little terrier he was and I can say that he sparked my idea for my dog exercising service Paws To Run, when I saw with what glee he ran and frolicked through our lovely countryside. God speed my little one.
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