Song 008 / Released 8 November 2025

The Ballad of Ned

You don’t choose your dog. Your dog chooses you.

Sound

FolkSinger/SongwriterBlues

Mood & themes

LoyaltyProtectionCourageLoveTrustLegacy

The Ballad of Ned cover artwork

01 / Hear

Hear the Song

02 / Know

Know the Story

We went to rescue a dog. Ned chose the man he intended to rescue.

I wrote The Ballad of Ned about the rescue dog who chose me, became my shadow, guarded Sharna while I served overseas and left me trying to become the man he always believed I was.

Ned the Red Heeler sitting in the yard and looking upward at Martin — That look—the portrait I carry on my arm and the man Ned still reminds me to be.

Martin in uniform beside Ned as Ned looks up at him — I want to be the man my dog thinks I am.

Ned the Red Heeler standing among yellow wildflowers in an open field — Ned in his element—free, watchful and entirely his own.

Martin’s tattoo portrait of Ned looking upward — Not only his name. Ned looking up at me, reminding me of the man I need to be.

You don’t choose your dog. Your dog chooses you.

The dog chose the man

Sharna and I went to the pound ready to give a dog a home. We thought we knew the breed and personality we wanted. Then she pointed toward me and told a guarded, scarred Red Heeler called Ketch, ‘This one’s for you.’ I thought she was talking to me about him. She was talking to him about me.

Ned walked out, stood in front of me and looked straight into my eyes. He had been knocked around and given up for lost, but the fire remained. Nothing else needed saying. Ketch became Ned and we went home together.

The legend of Ol’ Blue

I called him Shadow because wherever I went, there he was. He was no lap dog or yes-man; he chose where to sit and who deserved his trust. He jumped fences, climbed into work utes and sometimes guarded other people’s tools so seriously that they had to call me for help. He was the best damn Red.

Duty called

When duty called me overseas, Ned and I had a private conversation. I promised I would return and gave him one job until then: protect Sharna. I could leave knowing she would not be alone. Ned would be standing guard.

The man he saw

He stayed strong until the end. His portrait on my arm shows him looking upward at me—not merely his name, but the expression that reminds me of the man I still need to be.

Ned taught me courage, loyalty and protection. We went to the pound believing we would rescue a dog. Ned chose me, guarded the people I loved and became the standard I still try to live up to.

03 / Feel

Feel the Soul

What it leaves behind

I want you to feel the privilege of being chosen by an animal who sees something in you before you can see it yourself. Ned’s trust was not automatic; it was something worth earning. His upward look still reminds me to protect what matters and become the man he already thought I was.

Keep listening

Choose where to go next.

Recommended · Play nextRusty’s Got the GrooveComplete the circle with a light-hearted story of loyalty, instinct and current life.

Or choose another route

Same soundThe Grizzly and the Fire SpiritFollow a similar musical lane →Shared centerHomies Till the EndFollow the story’s common heart →

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