Ranch Co-Manager

Carolyn Cothran

“Let’s get a dog,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he said. That is what my husband, Michael, said to me three months after we married 27 years ago. Prior to that, I had only had cats. I was terrified! I knew nothing about dogs and was quite afraid of them. Prior to that, I only really remember being bitten by one as a kid. So what does everyone in this position do? I hit the internet and learned all I could possibly learn about dogs.

Our first dog was a rescue Chow Chow named Magnolia. Talk about jumping right in! She was beautiful, and smart and sweet and very stubborn. We went to obedience school and flunked out not once, but twice. Luckily she loved other dogs and she was fond of us and liked other people. After years of work and lots of research, we had a pretty wonderful dog.

Then came Danny dog, our rescue Cocker Spaniel. Sweet and easy and just a terrific dog. He and Magnolia were good friends and I loved having them both.

While in my career I traveled a lot. I always knew at retirement I would do something with dogs. We were lucky enough to end up here. I was 52 and ready to do what it took to be of service. I worked at another rescue in the area for about 3 years. Then along came The Ranch. I started volunteering at both organizations so I would know all the dogs who needed help. Syd welcomed me with open arms and soon I realized that my passion was located at The Ranch.

Eventually, Syd asked me to help her manage The Ranch. Four years later, we are sending 300 plus dogs North of the Border and adopting over 100 locally. None of this could be done without the help of many other dog loving angels in this town.