Before Trixie was a storybook dog, she was one of the first ones I met at the ranch.
I remember pulling in with Al that first time, not at all sure how this was going to work out! Trixie knew right away. She planted herself beside me and stayed there. She was a friend to me from the very start, a tan Black Mouth Cur with a dark muzzle and a steady way of watching everything. If anything came too close too fast (like that bull that tried to jump into the barn!), she noticed and placed herself right in front of me. I don’t think she ever stopped noticing.
That’s the Trixie in the books. Calm. Watchful. The one who stays.
I never got to meet Puck. He was a black Lab, smaller and quicker, always into something. But I know him through Al’s stories, and Al has some good ones.
Back then Mike Redmond was the cow boss, and he had a Catahoula named Buster. Buster was a cow dog through and through, and Mike was proud of a dog who could hold his own. Buster loved Trixie. Buster did not love Puck.
Every chance he got, Buster went for Puck’s neck. Al hates a dog fight, so he’d wade right into the middle and pull them apart. After enough of that, Al decided Puck needed some help. He bought him a thick leather collar with one-inch spikes all the way around.
The next time Buster went for Puck’s neck, Buster came away with a sore mouth. And that was the end of that.
I laugh every time Al tells it. Of course the dog in my books who already has a collar on page one is Puck. Some collars are about belonging. Some are about protection. Puck’s was a little of both.
In those days, Al and Teresa kept their house in Monument splitting time between there and the ranch. The youngest Snyder, Tommy was finishing school in Monument, and was with Puck when he passed about 2013. Trixie was a ranch dog for many years. She passed in the spring of 2024, right here at home, in Al’s arms.
That’s why the books exist. When you love animals like that, you want them to keep running somewhere. So on the page, they do. They still trot the hay meadows and nap by the log barn. Trixie still watches the gate. Puck still finds trouble. And in Trixie Gets a Collar, Trixie finally gets her own star to wear, a sign that she belongs.
She always did.
If you have a dog like that, one who chose you or watched over you or got into more trouble than they were worth, I’d love to hear about them. Tell me in the comments.
All proceeds from the Trixie & Puck books go to Outfitters for Christ.
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