In Rescue on the Oregon Trail, Ranger is a golden retriever dog and the protagonist of the story. Ranger is a companion pet to Luke and his family, but they trained him in a search-and-rescue course. Unfortunately, the instructor considered Ranger too prone to distraction to pass the course and work as a real search-and-rescue dog. Nevertheless, Ranger possesses all the skills of a search-and-rescue dog and can do scent work and water rescues.

Ranger is a highly intelligent dog who wants to use his skills to help people: “Once Ranger knew that person smell, he could find it anywhere. Even if there were a thousand other smells to sort through, Ranger could pick out the important one and follow it until he found the person” (18). While he’s easily distracted, he feels that he can focus and succeed at his missions when he wants to: “Ranger would never go chasing after squirrels if a real, live person needed his help. But the man who worked with Luke and Dad couldn’t seem to understand. ‘I’m sorry,’ he told them. ‘I just can’t pass him.’

In addition to having rescue skills, Ranger is a highly intuitive and caring dog who wants to bring comfort to the humans around him.