The Heeler that Healed Me

They say dog is Man's best friend, but that must have been before Eve.

I had just graduated college and I was looking for an adventure.

I didn't want to start a career after graduation- so a couple weeks before, I applied to be a 'ranch hand'. The ranch was called 'Blackwater Creek' and was located just outside of Yellowstone National Park. 'What an adventure that would be!' I had thought. I grew up in a small town and lived in that same small town. I was ready to bust out of my shell and live my life a little bit. I filled out an application and hit submit.

My biggest worry at the time were my exams for college. Every second that I was not working at our small town gas station before classes was spent doing homework and studying. I was on track to be the first college graduate in my family and I was not going to let my family down. Two weeks before graduation I received a call from a number that I did not recognize.

"H'lo? Is 'tis a Miss An'la?" I could barely make the words out. His accent was heavy and slurred, but it didn't sound like my cousin's accent that lived in Georgia.

"This is Angie." I slowly said.

"Hi Angee," he dragged out the ending, "Tis is Johnee. I 'wn Bla' Wa'er Crick Ran'."

After asking him to speak a little slower and taking a moment to decipher his words after each sentence, I learned that he was the owner of the ranch that I had applied to! They wanted to hire me for a Wrangler position for the summer. I was so excited! I would be guiding guests on horseback through the mountains of the Rockies. I asked him when they would like me to start and if I would be able to drive out and park my car at the ranch. Johnee told me yes and gave me a date. I was so excited!

My family was not. In our small community, you do not run off to places that you do not know or do not know of anyone that lives there. Especially if you were a girl. My family said no, that I absolutely could not be crazy enough to think that I could go. I could be kidnapped, stolen and sold. I had to listen to the lecture of "You are small. You have blonde hair and blue eyes- someone will snatch you up!" so many times. All I could see was adventure. The mountains! I had never seen the mountains. I had never been farther west than Chicago. 'Yes, I am going.' I was determined.

I graduated college, had my graduation party with my family and the next day, I left for Cody, Wyoming. Along the way I saw so many amazing sights! I stood on the edge of a high hill and leaned over, the wind tore at my face and kept me lifted from falling down the hill. I visited the ghost town of 1880. I parked in the badlands and walked the trails.

Leaving the badlands, I was surrounded by prairies. I noticed what looked like enlarged guinea pigs poking their heads out of the ground. I parked my car and ran out into the prairie with the prairie dogs running along side me. I walked back to my car, smiling. I visited Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. Most importantly, for the first time in my life- I lived. The world wasn't as scary as everyone back home had made it seem. Everyone who had warned me against going had never been here, if they had they would have seen how wonderful it was.

The first mountain that I came to was outside of the town Greybull. The mountain range was so vast that it felt like the weight of the mountain's glare alone threatened to fall down upon you and crush you. For the first time, I felt afraid. It took my little ford focus an hour to climb and as I drove the height of the mountain, my fear grew. At the top of the mountain was a plateau and a lake was in the middle of it. I remember realizing that I did not have any cell phone service, night was falling and I still had to venture down the mountain. 'If my car were to leave me stranded, I would have to wait for someone to come this way to help me. And who knows who that someone would be.' I became aware of the danger my family spoke of.

Luckily I made it to Cody, Wyoming unscathed. A small town about the size of my hometown that was parked by the base of mountains and a river. I spent a day in the town of Cody exploring the western shops and finding my way to the major shopping centers. Then I drove out of town toward the mountains on the highway that leads to the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. I drove by the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and through the tunnel that cuts through the mountain. I parked next to the Shoshone River, the last spot before I would lose cell phone service.

When I arrived to the ranch, I turned off the highway and drove over a bridge that had been built over the Shoshone River. Another bridge allowed me to drive over another smaller river that the people here called Black Water Creek, or "crick". In Michigan we would have called it a small river for it was too fast and powerful to be a stream and we did not call them a crick. I would soon learn that the reason that the creek was moving fast was because the mountain's snow caps were melting as summer approached.

My first few weeks at the ranch immersed me in a completely different world than the one that I had been living in. Johnee was there to greet me and I found that he was much easier to understand in person. I was shown to the bunk house that consisted of a bathroom with two shower stalls and two bathroom stalls that everyone had to share. The idea didn't bother me as it did with some of the other girls. Men and women shared the bathroom and shower and many times the opposite sex would be taking showers at the same time, in their own stalls, throughout the summer. One of the smaller rooms was taken by a girl, and then a bigger room was shared by two boys, another big room shared by two girls and then I shared a smaller room with a girl. It was like staying in a college dorm. The girl that I roomed with was of a strict religion. I enjoyed talking to her and learning more about her life, which was very different from my own. We all quickly became friends.

During the weeks before guests started to stay, we went to a pasture range where the horses were kept during the winter. Once we found the horses, we brought them back to the ranch. After fitting the horses into tack that would not rub them and give them sores, we road into the mountains and learned the trails that we would be guiding the guests on. Oh the sights that I saw! I still believe part of my soul stayed in those mountains, especially on June Ridge and the Firemen's Memorial, drinking in the views.

Breathing was a new skill that I had to learn. My coworkers called me a "flat-lander". My hometown sits at five hundred eighty-seven feet above sea lever, whereas the ranch sat at about six thousand five hundred feet above sea level. The air was thinner here and after walking to the horse pasture from the bunk house and then to the lodge, I was winded. After a few weeks, I did not notice the lack of oxygen.

Although I was having fun with my newfound friends, I was a bit lonely. I had never been without a dog and a couple of ranch hands had their own dogs. I remember asking Johnee if he would care if I bought a dog. He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know why you kids come here and ya'll want to get a dog." He spoke in his accent that was becoming easier to understand. He told me that he didn't mind if I did. Just to get a boy because all of the other dogs on the ranch were boys.

I knew what breed I wanted. One of my coworkers had an Australian Cattle Dog, also known as a Heeler. I had only seen one once in Michigan when I was a kid. I was at the store with my Dad and we noticed a dog tied in the bed of a truck. My Dad pointed at the dog and said, "Angie, if you ever see a dog that looks like that- don't try to pet it." When I had asked why he said that they were very protective and may bite me. The dog was a blue Heeler. I admired the breed for its hardiness and loyalty. I never saw a Heeler that needed a leash; all were trained to stay by their owner without a leash and I planned to train my pup the same way. I saw a puppy that I like for sale but it was on the other side of Yellowstone, in Idaho. The drive to get the puppy would be able nine hours. With one day off a week, I would have to drive to pick him up and turn back around to drive to the ranch. When I was about to decide against it, my roommate informed me that she was going home to Idaho for a week and could pick the puppy up for me. So that is what we did.

Her little sisters enjoyed playing with the pup for the weekend. When she came back to the ranch we were all excited. Who doesn't love a puppy? We were down by the lodge playing corn hole when they came walking down to us. I was so surprised when the puppy came to me and would not leave my side. I bent down to great him and he licked my hand and laid on my feet. It was almost as if he knew who I was. That was when my roommate told me that she had taken one of my shirts with her and he slept with my scent all weekend. He was such a unique coloring. He was a cross of a Blue Heeler and a Red Heeler. His parents were on sight and they were both very friendly. The puppy still had a lot of grey that they are born with but the spot on the top of his head was pure white. I later learned that this is called a Bentley Mark and has significant history with Heelers. Due to the pup's coloring, I named him Sage; for he reminded me of the Sage Brush that spotted the mountainside. The boys were from Alabama and said that I should name him 'Dub-ya' which is how they pronounce the letter W. I told them that would not be a good name because when I moved back to Michigan people would call him 'Double Yew' which is how we pronounce the letter W in the Midwest. So we all decided that the pup's first name would be Sage, his middle name would be W and because of his coloring and because of what he was named after- his last name would be bush. Sage W. Bush. We all laughed at this every time the Alabama boys spoke it because it reminded us of a past President of the United States.

Everyone on the ranch helped raise Sage. Even the guests that stayed weeks at a time. There two boys that always asked to play with Sage. I would allow them to play and when I had to take guide horseback trail rides, a coworker would put Sage in my room when the boys were done playing. It was a good life for a puppy. Sage wasn't big enough to go on the trail rides with me, he couldn't cross the creek and I worried that he would fall behind or become tired. So on my days off we would go into Cody and visit the dog park. Sage first learned to swim there. He thought he could walk on the surface of the lake that was included in the park. He barreled toward it and fell through. He came back up and swam to the shore. He wouldn't go into the water again and instead barked at the waves. I warned him that we lived in the Great Lakes region so he would have to overcome his fear of the water. Eventually he did- although it was not during our life in Wyoming.

On one day off, Sage and I decided to venture into Yellowstone Nation Park. I had lived about fifteen minutes outside of the park but I had only been as close as Pahaska Tepee Resort. All of the ranch hands went there to eat together one night. I remember the food was very good and found the history of the resort interesting as it was said to be Buffalo Bill's home. Now, Sage and I were going to venture into Yellowstone and what an amazing adventure it ended up being. I woke up at three in the morning and we set off. I wanted to be in Lamar Valley when the sun rose. The drive through Yellowstone at night was amazing. Since it was still dark, Sage quickly fell asleep while we drove. That was alright, his company was still appreciated. The park is alive at night. I saw an elk cross the road and an owl even swooped down, bigger than my windshield- giving me a fright. When I reached Lamar valley, I parked at a viewing area. It was still about an hour before the sun would come up and no other people were in sight. I was tired so I locked my doors and crawled into the back seat with Sage to take a nap.

When I awoke, I was quite surprised to see cars park all alongside me and people standing every where with binoculars and telescopes set up on the bank. They were watching for the wolves. I sheepishly got out of the car and visited with some people. Thankfully no one had seemed to even notice that I was in the car sleeping. I was thankful for that, I slept with my mouth open sometimes. We continued our journey and before we left Lamar Valley, Sage and I found ourselves in the middle of a migrating buffalo herd. Thousands of bison were moving from the middle of the mountains down to the valley to drink from the river. I could only move a couple feet every couple minutes. The bison had their babies with them and if my car came too close, the protective mothers would ram my car. Cars can be built 'Ford tough' all day long, but they do not compare to bison tough. Sage was not impressed with the bison. He crawled up to the back window and growled at them as he peered around. It was such a pitiful non-threatening growl, but I dared not laugh, caring for his ego.

Sage and I experienced many wonders that day. We spent the entire day in the park and without cell phone service, we were able to enjoy all of it. Out of all the natural wonders of Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Canyon and Lamar Valley were my favorite and are experiences that I will never forget.

Often, during our stay on the ranch, I would fall asleep holding Sage. When I would wake in the morning Sage's head would be resting on my pillow with his body laying next to mine. We would wake up at five in the morning to feed horses, Sage alongside us. There was an old pickup truck that we threw hay in the bed and would drive through the horse pasture. Driving along the troughs, we pushed the stick into second gear so that whoever was in the back could have enough time to throw hay into the troughs for the horses. Every morning, Sage would sit next to whomever was driving. We called him our Supervisor and it was comical. We spent many days up by the horse pasture and riding. I even was able to get Sage to ride one of my favorite horses, named Hollywood, with me- although he would never do it again after. Even in the picture he is looking at the horse suspiciously.

Our stay in Wyoming was an experience of a lifetime. Looking back now, I am forever grateful to my younger self for having the courage to travel there. My life was better afterwards for it. Moving away from home and experiencing another way of life opened a gateway for healing that I didn't realize I needed. Sage was the one who gave me that chance to heal. I would often become homesick and I had many people asking me to come home because they missed me. When doubt would creep into my mind, Sage and I would have a new experience to make us want to stay a bit longer. If not for Sage, I would not have stayed; he gave me the strength I needed. Without Sage, I would not have given myself the opportunity to heal and grow.

Sage discovered the wild west with me and now that we are both older, we look back on those memories with complete heartfelt fondness. Sage is four now and although it's harder to sleep with him taking up most of my bed, I still wake with his head on my pillow.

He's my best boy.

Thank you for reading about our journey.