Droop-a-Long Coyote

### Nationality

Texan-American (also has some French/Creole ancestry due to his great-grandfather, Olivier)

### Family

* Coyote Family
* Falconeri Family ( through marriage to Denise Falconeri)
* Starkweather Family ( through marriage to Melissa Starkweather)
* Steelclaw Family ( through marriage to Diane Steelclaw)

### Spouse

* Denise Falconeri (main timeline)
* Melissa Starkweather ( *Blazin' Trails Alter*)
* Diane Steelclaw ( *Blazin' Trails Alter*)
* Cherise Steelclaw (*Blazin' Trails Alter*)

### Children

With Denise Falconeri:* Chance Falconeri-Coyote
* Rose Falconeri-Coyote
* Serenity Falconeri-Coyote
* Trevor Falconeri-Coyote
* Taylor Falconeri-Coyote
* Ricky Falconeri-Coyote
* Felicia Falconeri-Coyote

With Melissa Starkweather (*Alter*):

* Billy Starkweather-Coyote
* June Starkweather-Coyote

With Diane Steelclaw (*Alter*):

* Alicia Steelclaw-Coyote
* Alex Steelclaw-Coyote
* Vivian Steelclaw-Coyote
* Olivier Steelclaw-Coyote
* Sidney Steelclaw-Coyote

### Affiliation

* Texas Sheriffs Association (as deputy to Ricochet Rabbit from 1855-1867)
* California Sheriffs League (from 1867-1879)

### Occupation

* Storekeeper/Odd Job Worker
* Senior deputy of Ricochet Rabbit ( 1855-1867; his departure)
* Sheriff of Two-Bit (1867-1879; his retirement)
* Sheriff of Shadybrook (1879)
* Sheriff of Havenport ( *Alter*)

### Alignment

Lawful Good ( sometimes swings to neutral territory)

## Chronology

### First Appearance

* *No One's Perfect* (*Blazin' Trails* chapter 1)
* *Breaker of Barriers*(*Blazin' Trails Redux* season 1, episode 1)
* *Down but Not Out* (*The Life and Times of Droop-a-Long Coyote* episode 1)
* *Reaper, Where Art Thou?* (*Blazin' Trails Alter*)

### Last Appearance

* *So Long, Droopy* (*Blazin' Trails chapter 31)*
* *Happy Trails, Sheriff* ( *Blazin' Trails Redux* season 7, episode 32)

**Droop-a-Long Coyote** is a pink furred coyote hailing from Shadybrook, Texas. Coming from a modest family who had some ties to law and order, he worked numerous odd jobs while holding onto his lifelong dream of becoming a sheriff. His dream would start to take off when a chance meeting with Sheriff Ricochet Rabbit led to him being hired as his deputy. He would become the rabbit's closest confidant, ally and longest-serving deputy, and his role in the case with the Dalton Gang would see him finally achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a sheriff. His role as senior deputy was succeeded by Jeb Forrest.

He is one of the main protagonists in the original *Blazin' Trails* series and its remake, *Blazin’ Trails Redux*, is the main character of two of its connecting miniseries, and is an integral character in much of the series’ related material.

## Personality

Often known as Ricochet's polar opposite, Droop-a-Long is slow in movement and wits, and is known for his faults first, and virtues second. He's prone to many a misunderstanding and is extremely clumsy; it's often said to never leave anything, cheap or expensive, around him, for it'll be broken later that day. His gun draw is known for being so slow that sometimes he has to push the bullet to get it to move, or he ends up injuring himself with his own bullets. His coffee-making skills are infamous for being so bad that he has to chop it with an axe when it's thick (as Droop-a-Long claims that he's gotta stop using that "hard water") or cut it with scissors before it's served, although Ricochet's coffee-making skills are worse than his. He is also more cowardly than Ricochet, sometimes sitting out on the sidelines while the sheriff handles everything, and often being worried when A-list criminals come to town. Because of this, he's often known by the nicknames "knucklehead" and "dumb deputy" among others, and many believe that he doesn't deserve the position of deputy due to his incompetence. Even his best friend, Ricochet, makes jabs at Droop-a-Long's failures on occasion, and is often the coyote's harshest critic.

What people don't know, however, is that Droop-a-Long's own harshest critic is himself. Having been told his whole life that he'll never amount to anything worth a hill of beans, he suffers from low bouts of self-esteem and depression, which also contributes to his slowness. Unlike Ricochet, he cares a lot about what people think about him, and on his worst days, he has contemplated suicide. He never disclosed his inner turmoil to anybody out of fear that they'd mock him like his brother Drag-a-Long and a few of his uncles and aunts did years back. When he's eventually diagnosed with it, however, he found that many in his inner circle weren't going to leave him alone to deal with it, which helped him a lot on his worse days.

When one gets to know him personally, and disregard the rumors in town, they'll get to see that Droop-a-Long is one of the nicest and most compassionate people around town. It's pointed out by many of his closest friends that his politeness makes it hard for one to remain angry at him for a while. He has a habit of attaching titles to peoples' names regardless of how close he is to them (ie. in his friendship with Ricochet) or if they're enemies  due to both politeness and his grandmother’s influence, as he’ll only call people by their name if he truly regards them as a close friend. To this end, his closest friends have tried to get him to stop it, but with little success. Touché Turtle, Ricochet’s professional rival, even had to threaten Droop-a-Long to make him stop calling him “Mr. Turtle” since that was what they called his father. That being said, however, the coyote will nickname those whom he’s close to—Denise is “Deni”, Melissa is “Mellie” (and he is the only one who’s allowed to call her this), and will occasionally nickname Ricochet “Ricky”.

Droop-a-Long has a motto of treating those he meets with kindness and judging them off of character rather than appearance, and this motto has not only earned him friends, respect and a romance, but has saved his life several times, and once, it helped one criminal turn himself in. Droop-a-Long is often loyal to those who show him kindness or whom he can trust. He is loyal to a fault, though, and sometimes will refuse to see the bad about a person no matter how many times he's warned, often getting burned the hard way and being reluctant to trust that person again.

Despite what he believes about himself, Droop-a-Long possesses several key strengths. While his slowness is often his greatest hindrance, he’s used it to his advantage in many situations, both casual and tense. He's a keen listener and observer, and he’ll often pick up on things that others miss, hence why Ricochet will often gather his intel from Droop-a-Long. Because of this, and his empathetic nature, he’s able to get complete strangers to tell him things, which makes him a very good interrogator; the coyote didn’t think himself as one for years, however, and it took Ricochet literally knocking him in the head to get him to see it. While he gets on Ricochet for his stubbornness, Droop-a-Long himself has a stubborn streak. It's why he's held onto his position as deputy for so long, for he wants to get better at being a lawman and finally nab criminals of his own. Fear and indecisiveness can drive many of Droop-a-Long’s decisions, but if he’s given something that he believes in or strives to achieve, absolutely nothing in the world will keep him from it. Ricochet, who is his closest friend, notes that whenever Droop-a-Long gets a hold of something, he's like a bulldog with a bone, in that he won't let go. This is reflected during his tenure with Ricochet; while he enjoyed working with the sheriff, his end goal was always to become a sheriff himself, and he never stopped striving to improve to get it.

Droop-a-Long is often the anchor in many of his relationships, providing emotional stability and comfort to those who need it. Despite being known as the town knucklehead, he's not as stupid as people claim to be; in addition to his strong observational skills, he has shown surprising insight on serious matters such as the stigmas against intermixing and his own species, which are some of the few subjects he gets vocal about. He's also quick to pick up new habits if he sticks to them for a while. Though he often holds his tongue and rarely speaks a cross word, he can be blunt when he's finally reached his limit, and some of the things he says when he's frustrated have shocked his closest friends. He is fiercely devoted to his friends, family, allies and loved ones, as well as the cause of justice, probably more so than Ricochet, although he doesn’t wear it on his sleeve like the rabbit. His dream to become a sheriff came about as a pledge to bring order to his hometown and to never lose those he loves to crime, namely because a friend of his was murdered. While he can be more worrisome than Ricochet, he usually keeps his wits about him when they're after criminals, though even he has his impulsive moments.  Though he possesses a long fuse, Droop-a-Long's fury is more dangerous than Ricochet's when it’s finally unleashed. When truly angry, he is quick to violence and won’t hesitate to kill somebody, a fact that has surprised and scared many who know him, especially Ricochet.

Although mostly reserved, he possesses a mischievous streak and an occasional biting sense of humor that will catch his friends off-guard. Similar to Dum-Dum, he will engage in “malicious compliance” if he feels that the other person needs to be taken down a peg, and finds it hard to contain his glee when he does. In some cases, he can be just as mischievous as Ricochet, although he admits that his sense of humor is more childish than the rabbit’s. He doesn't possess a naughty sense of humor like Ricochet, Serena or Denise, and has to have certain jokes explained to him.  If his writing is anything to go by, however, Droop-a-Long does have a good grasp on “matters between a man and a woman”, or at least, more than what the townspeople think he does, which shocked Ricochet when he first discovered the coyote’s hobby. He is the frequent target of Ricochet's sly but good-natured banter on his love life with Denise, though in later installments Droop-a-Long is quick to turn the tables on Ricochet in revenge. He would later grow out of his shyness when he and Denise marry, and occasionally turns the tables on the sheriff. Unlike Ricochet, he has a few female friends, and as usual is very polite with them. Due to his earnestness, comments come off as flirting, which has earned him a fair share of female admirers--something that has embarrassed Droop-a-Long to no end.

Droop-a-Long does possess a few hobbies outside his duties as deputy. Though he is not good at most sports (in fact he's banned from playing ping pong and darts by Ricochet), he is a surprisingly good swimmer; this skill is what allowed him to save Jeb Forrest from drowning. He is also a voracious reader, and aside from the romance novels that Denise sends to him, he is said to like reading drama, swashbuckling heroes (something that he and Touché share in common) and the occasional detective story, though it takes him a while to solve the mystery. He enjoys creating things, and has a fondness for model kits of vehicles. He also enjoys glassmaking, although due to his clumsiness is often relegated to “watching” duty.

His main hobby outside of work is writing, and it’s hinted that had fate dealt him a better hand, he would’ve pursued writing rather than being a sheriff. His grandmother wrote, and his talent for writing manifested at a young age, where he’d tell stories to his younger siblings. Before he left Shadybrook, one of his bosses told him to send his material to the town paper. While Droop never did, as he met Ricochet Rabbit shortly thereafter, he would eventually start publishing stories in both Gopher Gulch and Hoop ‘n Holler under the pseudonym “D.C. Olivier” (D.C. being the initials of his name, and Olivier referring to Olivier Coyote, his great-grandfather). As D.C. Olivier, he writes mostly romance and drama, and his stories always run for only six chapters, often ending on cliffhangers that rile up the readers. His work often delves into topics he’s passionate about (the stigmas against certain predators and people) and scenarios he enjoys (ie. Forbidden romances and friendships, innocent people getting caught in crime, and unlikely heroes, such as a pallbearer who solves murders), and occasionally dips into “spicy” territory, hence his tendency to hide his work. In Gopher Gulch, where the stories were published on Sundays, works such as his were labeled as “guilty pleasures”. Because his work was more intense than normally published, it was ravaged by several hyper religious citizens, which discouraged him from ever revealing to Ricochet that he wrote. Melissa, who knew of his pseudonym, encouraged the coyote to keep writing and that he’d find an audience, which the coyote did. During his tenure in Hoop n’ Holler, Droop-a-Long penned two series, one a swashbuckling series inspired by Touché’s adventures, and the other a romance drama between a prey and predator couple, the latter of which Ricochet ended up getting hooked on. When this inevitably lead to Ricochet discovering D.C. Olivier’s true identity, the coyote attempted to discontinue the story out of embarrassment. Droop-a-Long changed his tune, however, when he learned that many people were reading the story, including Baba Looey, Mushmouse, Punkin’ Puss, and Touché, and had received a host of impassioned pleas begging him to finish it. What ultimately drove him to finish it, however, was Touché’s offer to pay him two months’ of his own salary (which was over several thousand dollars) if he gave the story a complete ending, noting that he “has a lotta get up an’ go when I’m motivated”. He would use the money to plan an elaborate vacation for himself and Denise. Later in life, while his job as sheriff would force him to retire the D.C. Olivier name, his son Trevor would stumble upon his works and decided to take up where his father left off.

Another skill that Droop-a-Long possesses is his extraordinary cooking, which was taught to him by his parents. According to many people, his cooking is why his friends can never stay on a diet, as they love it too much to do so. This is one of his few skills that he's very proud of, and on one occasion he boasted that he was the "best jailhouse cook west of the Pecos", although he came to later regret it due to some people literally putting themselves in prison to eat his food. He's skilled at making vegetarian dishes as well as meats, as his mother taught him how to make them. He doesn't have a sweet tooth like Ricochet, and actually prefers bitter foods over sweets, though Ricochet mentions that lemon cake, red velvet and devil's food are his favorites. His absolute favorite sweet is ice cream, namely mint chocolate chip, which he can eat nonstop if someone offered it to him. His favorite food is roast beef, and like Ricochet, hates licorice, believing it to taste like Ricochet's coffee in candy form.

## History

### Early Life

Droop-a-Long was born in the small town of Shadybrook, a town with a heavy coyote population. He was the third of the Coyote family’s five children, and according to his mother, his birth took three days , lasting the longest of his siblings. He almost didn't survive, but his father managed to save his life. He grew up along with his older brothers, Hop-a-Long and Drag-a-Long. He received his name due to his slow moving nature and his "drooping head". Unlike Hop-a-Long, he was a relatively healthy child.

Growing up, Droop-a-Long was raised in a loving home, with his father and grandfather in particular making sure to never forget where they came from. The senior Drag-a-Long would often tell his sons about their great-grandfather, Olivier Coyote, who escaped the animal trade and served as senior deputy to a renowned sheriff, though sadly his career was cut short by his murder. Though the sheriff would avenge him and he and Olivier's widow fought to preserve his memory, the racist sheriff and mayor that followed his departure would erase Olivier's contribution to law enforcement, leading him to be unknown. Drag’s father, Leroy Coyote, had also served as sheriff of another community, and decided to honor his father's memory by ensuring it would be told to his children and the generations that followed. Though Hop and the younger Drag-a-Long thought the story was pointless, Droop-a-Long was inspired, and this would be the spark that started his dream of becoming a lawman; during his childhood, coyotes only had hopes of becoming dirt poor workers, turning to the oldest trade in the world, or falling victim to the animal trade, so hearing of his great-grandfather's stories gave him some hope outside of his dreary life.

When he was five, his father took over the town's general store after its previous owner died. Although his parents wanted their children to have a career there, neither of the brothers wanted this. Drag-a-Long was starting to create his own brand of mischief, while Hop-a-Long wanted to become a musician. For Droop-a-Long, his reasons were noble. Although he loved Shadybrook, the town had a high crime rate, with animal/human conflict and gang violence being the top reasons, and the sheriffs were unable to contain it as many were killed in the line of duty. Inspired by his great-grandfather, he dreamed of becoming a sheriff so that he could make his home a safer place for people of all species to live. His desire to follow through with it strengthened when his best friend, Jacob Einzbern, was murdered by a gang (later revealed to be Red Scorpion) when he was in the second grade. Nobody supported him, not even his father, who’d served as sheriff previously and quit as he didn’t want to end up like Olivier, who died leaving a large family to fend for themselves. Though discouraged by the lack of support, Droop-a-Long still dreamed of leaving town. Although he had high marks in reading in school, frequent bullying led him to drop out in the third grade, much to his mother's chagrin.

Years later, Droop-a-Long became an older brother: Sing-a-Long Coyote was born when he was fifteen. When he was sixteen, his oldest brother Drag-a-Long started stirring up trouble in town, from robbing to vandalizing with his friends. After an incident where he injured the sheriff, his father disowned him and the mayor exiled him from the townl, calling him a threat. Drag-a-Long told Droop-a-Long that one day they would meet again, but it wouldn't be pretty.

After Drag-a-Long's exile, Droop-a-Long later decided to take up Hop-a-Long's position at his father's store, since his older brother left to get married not long afterwards.  The arrival of his only sister Betty drove him to take on other jobs, though these offered less pay than his job at his father's store. This led to him earning a reputation as a slow, but ultimately kind and hard worker.

### Meeting Ricochet Rabbit

The sheriff of Gopher Gulch, Ricochet Rabbit, eventually came to Shadybrook seeking a deputy as his previous deputy had left due to stress and there was nobody in Gopher Gulch who was eligible for the job. Since the town was so small, and since rabbits were a rarity, word of this traveled fast, although Droop-a-Long didn't hear of it until later.

By a stroke of luck, he met the sheriff by literally crashing into him while he was working in the street. Although he apologized for doing so, Ricochet paid him no mind, interested in finding a non-coyote section of town. The only one he found was Carrot Top Taverns, but it was known as a bad area of town; deciding to get directions, Ricochet asked Droop-a-Long for them, as he used to be a guide there. Droop-a-Long told Ricochet that it was far too dangerous to go alone due to bandits, but Ricochet was determined to go anyway; however, he decided to take Droop-a-Long with him so he could leave him alone.They agreed to set out after Droop-a-Long's shift, which was late that night.

Ricochet and Droop-a-Long were ambushed a few miles outside of Carrot Top Taverns by outlaws. Ricochet attempted to fight back, but he was slashed across the throat and left to die. Droop-a-Long used one of his guns to send the outlaws running, and then he got Ricochet to a doctor, stating that he wanted the sheriff to know just who saved his life.

Ricochet awoke three days later and discovered that Droop-a-Long had not only saved his life, but had come to visit him while he was recovering. They talked for a while, with Ricochet on much friendlier terms than he'd been before, and he also encouraged Droop-a-Long to follow his dream of being a sheriff. After Ricochet got out of the hospital, Droop-a-Long invited him to spend a time recovering at his family's house.

Over the course of a few weeks, Ricochet and Droop-a-Long quickly became the best of friends. Droop-a-Long believed that Ricochet had already chosen a deputy, and although he was disappointed, he wished Ricochet the best of luck with his new duties. A week later, however, he received a letter in the mail stating that Ricochet had selected him to be his new deputy, along with a personal letter on the back from Ricochet explaining why he chose him. Thrilled and overcome with emotion, Droop-a-Long quickly packed up his things and headed to Gopher Gulch to take up his new position as Ricochet's deputy.

### Tenure in Gopher Gulch

   In addition to having to live under the same roof as his new boss and best friend , Droop-a-Long had to learn about the deputy's duties--and quickly, as well, since Ricochet wasn't always a patient teacher. Within weeks, he became known as the oddball deputy, although most people (and even Ricochet when he was angry) called him the "dumb deputy" and "knucklehead". Already having low self-esteem from his childhood, the people's opinions of him got to Droop-a-Long and often he felt depressed, but he hid his problems from Ricochet, as he didn't want his new friend to worry. Often, Ricochet didn't notice the abuse from the townspeople, but the few times he asked Droop-a-Long about his problems, Droop-a-Long would say that he was fine and it was manageable to keep him from worrying, a habit he would later develop during their tenure in Hoop 'n Holler.

Droop-a-Long later made several arrests of his own during his tenure in Gopher Gulch, although all of them were B-level criminals in contrast to the A-list criminals that Ricochet captured. In his first two years as deputy, Droop-a-Long eventually caught nine criminals,which helped him earn the respect of the townspeople. It would be several more years before they truly accepted him as their deputy, although there were sitll some naysayers here and there. He also proved to be a trustworthy friend of Ricochet's, such as helping Ricochet in his relationship with Melissa Starkweather (who he became good friends with) and helping Ricochet deal with one of his friends: Wyatt Teal , a sheriff who had started using underhanded methods to deal with crime. Droop-a-Long stopped him from murdering Wyatt after he killed his deputy for going against him, which Ricochet was grateful for.

### Tenure in Hoop 'n Holler

Droop-a-Long accompanied Ricochet to the town of Hoop 'n Holler due to an emergency situation, as the previous sheriff had left and crime was quickly taking over the town. After the two had restored order to the town, they were asked to come to the town immediately and serve as its sheriff and deputy. Not wanting to leave the town lawless for long, Ricochet and Droop-a-Long quickly left Glower Gulch after giving the town's mayor, J.P. Nuggets, a week's notice that they were leaving. Glower Gulch was quickly overrun by crime not long afterwards, but the town was brought back to stability by Jasper Jackal, a simple window cleaner who acted on impulse, and was hired to be the new sheriff.

#### Harassment from Humans

Droop-a-Long faced a lot more problems than Ricochet did upon first coming to Hoop 'n Holler. Due to being a coyote and the stigma against them, he was harrassed by many of the human population. One notable incident during his first week there would haunt him for years to come.
He was lured into letting his guard down by two men named Dave Reeves and Chuck Carstairs, who said they could help him get used to the town. They took him to back alley and they as well as Dave's gang savagely beat him. They told him that not only was he worthless, but that Ricochet would never defend him because he has nothing to his name. They blackmailed Droop-a-Long into silence by saying that if he told Ricochet, they would kill them both. When Ricochet asked what happened, Droop-a-Long lied and told him an outlaw had beat him up; for a week, he didn't take off his hat to reveal the black eye he'd gotten from the beating. Fearing for his life and his best friend's safety, he kept quiet about the abuse that he suffered at the hands of the townspeople, although their words slowly began to eat away at his self-esteem, despite the few friendships he made.

#### A Chance at Romance

While returning to Gopher Gulch after dealing with A.T. Sam Jose in Glower Gulch, Droop-a-Long met a female rabbit making jam deliveries by herself--and like him, she is also injured, due to having cut herself with the shattered glass. Despite her being snappy to him at first, he insists on helping her make her way back, and accompanies her back to town. He learns on their journey that Denise Falconeri was Ricochet Rabbit's old girlfriend and fiancée that he abandoned at the altar for his job. As a thanks to him for helping her get to the doctor's and delivering her packages, she decides to treat him to dinner, although she asked him to not tell Ricochet who she was or that she was in town. Droop-a-Long did, but found himself developing strange feelings for the female rabbit he'd helped.

The night of the dinner proved to be a turning point for both of them: he took a liking to her kind nature and noted that she was an adventurous girl, while he ended up surprising her with his knowledge about certain issues. Although they'd decided that they'd be great friends, Droop-a-Long began developing confusing feelings for her: he wanted to be her friend, but a part of him wanted to be more than than with her. When he asked Ricochet about it, Ricochet flat out told him that he was in love, and told him to go after her and tell her how he felt. Droop-a-Long did, catching Denise as she was leaving for the stagecoach. Her answer shocked him: since she believed that the societal and racial standards would break them apart, she tried to end their budding friendship. Although she was touched by Droop-a-Long's confession, she didn't want to pursue a relationship with him, feeling that it was risky. Droop-a-Long was disappointed, but he asked if they could still be friends instead, and she agreed on the condition that he doesn't continue to bring up his feelings for her. Over the next few months, Droop-a-Long pondered on whether or not he was actually in love with her, or if he was just infatuated with her appearance.  Ricochet tried to get him to forget his "mystery woman", but Droop-a-Long couldn't.

Several months after heir first meeting, Droop-a-Long receives an unexpected letter from Denise, who tells him that she is planning to return for a day in order to get supplies. This information stirs up the feelings he'd been holding back, and the day of her arrival, he decides that he can't hold back his feelings anymore and he might as well admit that he's in love with Denise. His promise to keep his end of the agreement, however, kept him from acting on them and he retained his friendship with Denise despite his feelings.

Over the span of several months, the two met whenever they could, often out of sight from Ricochet or Denise's brother Al, who had decided to come with her on her trips to keep an eye on her. Her mother also tried to make her keep in contact with a boy she'd picked named Lane Saunders; when Droop-a-Long found out about Lane, he was jealous at first, but Denise told him that nothing came of it and that she dumped him on Al's advice. Their secret escapes made him happy, although he was pained due to not being able to express his love for her; despite this, he remained loyal to her.

When Ricochet went back to Carrottop Canyon for a family reunion, Droop-a-Long invited Denise to a masquerade dance in Shadybrook. Despite his parents being happy that he had a date to the dance, the rest of the coyote population sneered at and harrassed Denise, driving her to tears. Incensed, Droop-a-Long challenged the people and fought with them outside of the party; he got a black eye and a busted lip for his trouble, but as he tells Denise, he likes and respects her and that she should be happy to have friends and family who do the same. They shared a private dance later that evening, and he carried her back to her hotel room, after which he went home, feeling that he'd never get that close to her again. Unbeknownst to him, his words to her had made Denise realize that she was in love with him, something she'd feared would happen eventually.
On one of Denise's trips to Texas, he learned that her father was opening up a hotel chain complete with restaurants, and he wanted both of his children to help him on his new venture. When he came to say goodbye to her, he found her in a crisis. She started off by saying that she had wanted to end everything again, but when Droop-a-Long wanted to know what was going on, she broke down and confessed that she'd fallen in love with him and she'd agonized over what to tell him, as she didn't want to remain friends but also didn't want to break either of their hearts. Droop-a-Long didn't want to end their relationship either, but due to her mother's dislike of coyotes, the intermixing status in Hoop 'n Holler and Droop-a-Long's social status, they couldn't go public with their relationship. Droop-a-Long's suggestion was to pursue a secret relationship, which was kept up by letter while she was in California.

#### Assassination Attempts

Droop-a-Long became aware of the fact that he and Ricochet were attracting fame and a lot of enemies, namely people who Ricochet had arrested. Some of these criminals took their arrests personally and tried to assassinate Ricochet. Often, Ricochet would stop them himself, but in one notorious case, Droop-a-Long got involved in order to save Ricochet's life, although it almost cost him his own.

While at a party in Hoop 'n Holler, Droop-a-Long envied Ricochet's popularity and skills as sheriff, and lamented that he'll never be as popular as Ricochet. The arrival of A.T. Sam Jose shook him out of his thoughts, as the criminal planned to shoot  Ricochet while he's distracted. Deciding to place more value over his friend's life over his desire for fame, Droop-a-Long rushes in and shoves Ricochet out of the way just in time, only to end up being shot instead. A.T. Sam Jose takes off, and Droop-a-Long urges Ricochet to run, but the sheriff refuses, instead giving chase after Sam Jose. Droop-a-Long soon passes out, but his actions were not in vain: Ricochet finally catches up to Sam Jose and then calls in Quick Draw McGraw and his deputy Baba Looey to keep an eye on him. Miraculously, Droop-a-Long survived his injury, although unbeknownst to him Ricochet felt incredible guilt over what happened, feeling that he would've been fine if he'd paid attention to his surroundings.

Droop-a-Long aawakens the next morning to find Ricochet sleeping next to his bed, having stayed there all night to check on him. After a bit of playful banter, Ricochet tells Droop-a-Long what happened to Sam Jose, and Droop-a-Long thanks him for saving him. Ricochet loses his composure and gives the coyote a hug, telling him how worried he was and how upset he'd been; unbeknownst to Droop-a-Long, Ricochet had threatened to kill Sam Jose for shooting and mocking him. Droop-a-Long does the best he can to comfort the shaken sheriff.

Weeks later, Droop-a-Long is released from the hospital and returns to work, despite Ricochet wanting him to take it easy. Droop-a-Long complains of having been restless, and Ricochet blurts out that if he hadn't jumped in to save his life, he wouldn't have had to get put in the hospital. When Droop-a-Long asks Ricochet if he should've left him to die, Ricochet lashes out at Droop-a-Long because of all the worry and anger that had been gnawing at him for weeks--not only was he angry at Droop-a-Long for running out to save the day, but he was also angry at himself. Droop-a-Long then explains that he did it because he would never forgive himself if Ricochet died because he was too slow to stop the assassin, and that he'd take a bullet for him because Ricochet's his best friend. Ricochet is so moved by this, he becomes teary and he apologizes for blowing up at Droop-a-Long. Droop-a-Long apologizes as well for making Ricochet so worried, and resolves to never run out without his friend again.

#### Unexpected Protector

Another incident that Droop-a-Long was highly involved in was what became known as the "Protector" case.

During a break from a recent case, Ricochet notices something odd with his deputy, and questions him about why he won't let him help him when he's obviously in trouble. An obviously nervous Droop-a-Long walks out of the saloon, prompting Ricochet to chase him and demand what's going on. Before Ricochet can get an explanation, two men make themselves known: Dave Reeves and Chuck Carstairs, who proceed to mock Droop-a-Long and degrade him to the point of making him cry. An enraged Ricochet tackles the two through the window of the bank and beats them both up, and has to be pulled away by his deputy before he can cause further damage to Dave. As he's dragged away to the jail, he vows to get revenge on Ricochet. The townspeople are shocked by this, but nobody moreso than Droop-a-Long, who is oddly terrified of Dave.

When they return to the office, Droop-a-Long cracks and begins telling Ricochet that he shouldn't have attacked Dave, as well as apologizing for bringing him into his problems. Ricochet calms his deputy down and tells him that he can tell him anything that's on his mind, and that he wants to help him. After Droop-a-Long swears him to secrecy, he tells him the story of how he'd met Dave and Chuck not long after they'd come to Hoop 'n Holler, and how they'd tricked him into following them before they and Dave's gang savagely beat him. They also told him that not only was he worthless, but that Ricochet would never defend him because he has nothing to his name. They blackmailed Droop-a-Long into silence by saying that if he told Ricochet, they would kill them both; he hid this incident for years but all of the abuse that he got from the townspeople has been eating away at him.

Ricochet makes Droop-a-Long promise that he'll never hide things like that from him again, and says that he'll handle whoever tries to hurt him. His talk with Droop-a-Long, however, brings up another incident when he treated Droop-a-Long similar to how Dave and Chuck did; namely, when they first met. This makes Ricochet feel as though he's unworthy of being Droop-a-Long's friend, and fears that he resents him as well. When he talks to Droop-a-Long about it, the coyote states that although what Ricochet had said back then was harsh, he forgave him and forgot about the whole incident, so he doesn't even hate him. Ricochet is relieved to hear this, and as the two prepare to have a TV night to relax, he silently vows to protect Droop-a-Long from those who try to harm him. At the county jail, however, Dave and Chuck are not only planning to do just that, but to also kill Ricochet as well.

##### Right Things at the Wrong Time

The next morning, Ricochet is arrested by the townspeople who believed that he was wrong for beating up Dave and Chuck. Although he believes that he's done nothing wrong, Ricochet complies and accepts his sentence, which is sixty days until either his release or until they decide what to do with him. With his arrest, Droop-a-Long is put in charge of the office, which worries him and makes him feel even more guilty.

    Droop-a-Long visits Ricochet outside of the jail, and after getting his attention by throwing a package of tin-foil,Ricochet tells him about his circumstances. Droop-a-Long's guilt is compounded, and he tells Ricochet that he's thinking of leaving, but he's stopped by Ricochet, who tells him that there's no need for him to leave; although he'd worked for him for five years, Ricochet never saw Droop-a-Long as nothing but trouble and again reaffirms his belief that friends never turn their backs on each other. Relieved, Droop-a-Long tells Ricochet that he'll stay on, although Ricochet talks him out of trying to get him out of jail and tells him to worry about keeping order in the town. Droop-a-Long leaves, but not before telling Ricochet that he'd bought him a piece of lemon cake since he'd heard the jail food was terrible and he wanted him to eat. Ricochet remarks that Droop-a-Long was too sweet for his own good.

Droop-a-Long heads to Town Hall, where everyone is yelling at the mayor, J.P. Nuggets over what to do with Ricochet. J.P. is willing to give the rabbit a second chance if his story is true, but his decision divides most of the town; a few, led by a farmer named Jeb, believed that Ricochet was right and Droop-a-Long was blameless, but many more believe that it's Droop-a-Long's fault and that he's nothing more than a manipulator. Having had enough, Droop-a-Long bravely steps forward and tells J.P. Nuggets everything, and then asks that J.P. consider giving Ricochet a second chance as he's the best sheriff the town's got and that they'll quickly fall into disarray if he's arrested or removed from position. J.P. tells him that he'll take his suggestion into consideration when he talks with the other members and the court. When questioned as to why he did such a thing, Droop-a-Long explains, using a variation of Ricochet's words, that he believes that friends defend each other, as well as explaining to an ignorant lady that men can be abused as well. He leaves, fighting back tears and hoping that J.P. Nuggets delivers on his promise.

At the county jail, Dave and Chuck receive word from their contact about what's going on, and Dave rants that they're supposed to kill Droop-a-Long, not let him run things in Ricochet's place. They order their men to go back that night and kill Droop-a-Long. That night, Droop-a-Long is ambushed by Dave's men during his first night alone in the office, first by the men shooting up the office (which Droop-a-Long narrowly avoids), and then getting shot in the leg after trying to surrender peacefully. Zeb doesn't have the heart to kill him, so he orders his men to do it, and they beat Droop-a-Long to near death. When they learn he isn't dead, Zeb decides to stuff Droop-a-Long in a bag and toss him on the next incoming train. He and the gang return to the jail to inform Dave and Chuck that Droop-a-Long is gone and the jail is their's for the taking. Dave laughs and tells them that they'll get their reward once they get out of jail, and that they have nothing to worry about since Ricochet's in prison.

The next morning, J.P. Nuggets goes to the jail to tell Droop-a-Long that he's granted Ricochet his release and full immunity, only to stumble upon the crime scene. He runs for the other jail, and demands to see Ricochet. After being startled awake, Ricochet learns that he's released, but at a cost: apparently, Droop-a-Long was murdered not long after he went to Town Hall to tell J.P. everything. Ricochet is shattered by the news, but composes himself long enough to leave the jail and head back to the office. It's when he sees Droop-a-Long's bloodstained belongings that he finally breaks, mourning for his best friend. The townspeople are just as saddened, and outside, Jeb mutters that something must be done. Later, a grief-stricken Ricochet informs J.P. that he isn't going to take up the case to find out who murdered Droop-a-Long, which shocks J.P. Meanwhile, Dave and Chuck celebrate their apparent victory over Droop-a-Long and Ricochet, not knowing that Ricochet has already been reinstated as sheriff.

Meanwhile in the town of Havenport, a disguised thief named Marcus McCloud is helping load things off the train, only to get a live package. After cutting it open, a beaten, bloody and battered Droop-a-Long crawls out, and Marcus is forced to take him in after getting caught trying to sneak away, much to the chagrin of his partner, Newly, who is aghast to learn that he's a deputy. Newly considers killing Droop-a-Long off, but Marcus talks him out of it, saying that they'll hang if they kill him. Besides, there is one benefit to leaving Droop-a-Long alive: the sheriff who's looking for him probably has a big reward for his return.

##### In Thieves' Company

Droop-a-Long wakes up a couple of days later and meets his savior Marcus. He tells him that he's Ricochet's deputy, and that he needs to get in touch with the sheriff to let him know he's alive. Marcus promises he will, but he then goes and tells his henchman, Newly, of the news. He comes up with a new plan: take care of Droop-a-Long long enough until he's well and then seize the reward. They have to keep their professions as thieves secret from Droop-a-Long, so they make no mention of it and keep up the lie.

While Marcus was gone, Newly is tasked to take care of Droop-a-Long, and the two get to talking. Newly has to keep up the lie of Marcus' promise to call the sheriff, and Droop-a-Long also mentions his girlfriend. Newly takes pity on him, so he plans to get the phone fixed to make Droop-a-Long feel less anxious. Their cover is blown, however, when Droop-a-Long overhears them arguing over a shipment of china that Marcus smuggled off the train and that Newly destroyed.  Newly tells Droop-a-Long the truth, and Droop-a-Long is unhappy with this news, feeling that he was just being used again.

Droop-a-Long is still reeling from the news about his saviors, who finally confess that they were planning on using him for money. After getting into a heated argument with Marcus, Newly shows him the papers explaining what's been happening in Hoop 'n Holler, where Droop-a-Long learns that Dave and Chuck broke out of jail and Ricochet and his junior deputy Jeb had to stop them. Newly tells him that he hopes that the wrong people don't hear about what's been going on. Unbeknownst to either of them, the rest of Dave's gang, headed by Bazooka Bob, are planning on following Dave's orders to find Droop-a-Long and kill him.

Bazooka Bob and his men make their way to Havenport, and after asking around about Droop-a-Long, they make their way to the workers' living area, where Marcus and Newly live. Marcus, who has started getting along better with Droop-a-Long, immediately tries to lie about Droop-a-Long's whereabouts, but is foiled when one of Bob's men shoot Newly in the eye, and then pin Marcus down while Bob and his second man head in to find Droop-a-Long. A gunfight ensues in which Droop-a-Long manages to defend Newly and kills both Bazooka Bob and his partner and wounds another man, Joe, although he gets shot in the process. Marcus, however, kills Joe before he can stab Droop-a-Long. At that moment, Ricochet, his posse and the town sheriff come over to their aid, and much to their relief, they learn that Droop-a-Long is alive. Droop-a-Long and Newly get medical attention almost immediately.

After everything settles down, Ricochet tends to Droop-a-Long, who remarks that he's upset that Newly and Marcus will have to go to jail, but that he's grateful to them for saving his life and taking care of him. Ricochet, although he tries to be strong, completely loses his composure and breaks in front of Droop-a-Long, confessing how badly the incident affected him and how he almost gave up. Droop-a-Long comforts Ricochet as best as he can amidst his own tears.

Six weeks later, Droop-a-Long is fully healed and back in Hoop 'n Holler serving as the town deputy once more, although this time, he's not alone: Ricochet hired Jeb after the case was over to be his second deputy, which the farmer is overjoyed to hear. Dave, Chuck and Zeb receive twenty years in jail for their crimes, while Newly and Marcus are hit with ten. As things start to settle back to normal, another visitor comes to see them: Denise Falconeri, Droop-a-Long's girlfriend, who just received news about the incident weeks after it ended and rushed to his side in a panic. Droop-a-Long promises to explain all to her, as Ricochet has given him the day off.

#### A Surprise Rescuer

Droop-a-Long was often the one to rescue Denise, but this time, she was the one who got to save him.

A few months after the "Protector" case ended, Droop-a-Long managed to get a day off from Ricochet, and asked Denise to go with him on a much needed holiday. While they were preparing to head to Arizona for a while, the train was held hostage by his brother, Drag-a-Long Coyote, who was there along with his gang, the Red Scorpion , to take the shipment of gold the train was taking. After killing a few of the passengers and commandeering the train, Drag-a-Long set his sights on Denise and held her captive, although she fought back when he tried rape her. Droop-a-Long tried to fight for her, but Drag-a-Long's second in command, Spike Barnes , shot him in the leg, incapacitating him. Upon learning that she was Droop-a-Long's girlfriend, Drag-a-Long decided to use her as bait and beat up Denise in front of Droop-a-Long, telling him to kill the passengers on the train if he wanted him to stop. Despite it being against his moral code, Droop-a-Long was close to giving in so he could stop attacking Denise. Denise, however, refused to let him do it and took the beating, even sassed back to Drag-a-Long afterwards saying that he wasn't as tough as she thought he'd be.

Infuriated with them both, Drag-a-Long's men beat up Droop-a-Long, broke his other leg and locked him outside of the train. Later, he witnessed Denise leap off of the train and into the ditch. This action led him to believe that she'd committed suicide or Drag-a-Long committed murder, and he nearly strangled Drag-a-Long for it.  Drag-a-Long fought him off and made him believe that she died because of him, and continued to the next station, leaving Droop-a-Long to stew in his grief.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Denise had played dead, and had gotten assistance to the next station with help from a local priest, and told the local sheriff to call Ricochet. Neither brother discovered this until Spike reported that Ricochet had been spotted chasing the train on foot, at which the elder coyote decided to escape with the gold, leaving the train to collide with a building. With the conductor dead, Droop-a-Long had to help Ricochet aboard so they could stop it together. When order was finally restored, they returned to the next station, and Droop-a-Long told Ricochet what had happened to Denise. Ricochet stopped him before he could mourn her, saying that she had told the sheriff of the town to tell him about it. Droop-a-Long later reunited with Denise at the next station, nearly hysterical with relief.

After spending a few weeks in Hoop 'n Holler to recover from her wounds, Denise later went to California. Although he was relieved that she was safe, Droop-a-Long knew that the run-in with his brother was just one sign of more trouble to come.

#### Wingman

A few months after the Red Scorpion's first appearance, Ricochet and Droop-a-Long received a major break during the spring. At this point, Ricochet had broken up with Bunny Hug after another case put her in the crossfire, and although he was relieved that he hadn't caused them both more pain than necessary, it brought up memories of his relationship he'd wanted to forget. By the time the town's annual Spring Fling had come around, he was in a sour mood over not having a date to the dance, namely because he'd been thinking of Melissa Starkweather, the woman who'd captured and thrown away his heart. Droop-a-Long offered to be his wingman for the evening, to which Ricochet scoffed. Unbeknownst to either Ricochet or Melissa, Droop-a-Long spotted Melissa checking into the hotel while he was picking up his tuxedo later that afternoon, and had begun arranging things so the two could meet.

The night of the dance, Ricochet reunited with his old friend Quick Draw McGraw, who was in town for that week for the annual shooting contest to be held the day after the dance. Unbeknownst to him, Melissa was there and was making talk with Droop-a-Long and Denise. Droop-a-Long had told her Ricochet, although he was chatting with Jeb Forrest and his old friend Quick Draw McGraw, would eventually like a partner to dance with when it was time for the waltz. Melissa at first wanted to refuse, but then she realized that she could use their help. After letting Denise in on the plan, Droop-a-Long set things in motion for the two of them to meet again.

Just as Droop-a-Long had predicted, the time of the waltz came around and Ricochet quickly found himself without a partner. Droop-a-Long told Ricochet that there was another girl who'd come to the party and she was without a date as well. Ricochet, annoyed and slightly bemused by Droop-a-Long's attempts to play wingman, decided to humor him and went to search for the girl. When he saw Melissa, he was stunned into silence, and likewise so was she. Neither of them had time to back out, however, as the dance had gotten under way and Droop-a-Long and Denise had disappeared, not wanting to interfere with the dance. Droop-a-Long was slightly disappointed to learn that his plans had seemingly been foiled when Ricochet returned discouraged and heard that Melissa had run away crying.

The next morning, while out to get some breakfast for him and Denise, Droop-a-Long saw Melissa standing outside with her bags packed. When he asked her what she was doing, she said that she was leaving town and wouldn't be back. He ran and told Denise, who told Ricochet when he got up. This stirred Ricochet into action, as he realized that he still loved her and he didn't want to lose her. He ran up to her while she was waiting for her coach and grabbed her in a hug, confessing to her that she didn't need to ask if he would want her; he'd always wanted her, and despite all the past relationships he'd had, he'd never stopped loving her. His confession brought Melissa to tears, but right before she could kiss him, Droop-a-Long cut in, stating that they needed to bring it inside as they were causing a scene in the middle of the street, which embarrassed Ricochet. Melissa changed her mind and decided to stay for the remainder of the week; as she walked back inside the office, she secretly thanked Droop-a-Long for his help, which the coyote was grateful for. It wouldn't be until later that evening that Ricochet learned that it was Droop-a-Long who had orchestrated the entire thing, with Denise's help.  Although he was slightly shocked and embarrassed about it, he thanked Droop-a-Long for it, saying that he couldn't have gotten Melissa back without him.

##### Breakup with Denise

Not long after helping Ricochet finally find happiness in his relationship with Melissa, Droop-a-Long decided that he would finally propose to Denise; he had been planning to do it for a long time, but never did so because of fear. The whole town knew that he was head over heels in love with her, and Ricochet had been bugging him about marrying her for a long time.

Before he could purchase the ring however, Denise called a week after Melissa left, telling him that her mother found out about him through the picture of him and Tag-a-Long, as well as their letters. Denise had tried to lie it off, but her brother forced her to confess, and she told them everything about their relationship. Her parents were furious, and ordered her to break up with him over the phone. Droop-a-Long was shattered by the news, and for months, he drew within himself and turned to alcohol to ease his sorrow. His mood changed drastically when he was drunk, and he became very testy and angry with people when he wasn't drinking.

Ricochet, however, was not going to let him sit and drink his sorrows away. He told him that he needed to go to California and confront Denise's family, and prove that he wasn't a bad person and hadn't acted indecent with her. He even offered to go with him to California to do so, which inspired Droop-a-Long to clean up his act and prepare for the trip. He and Ricochet went to California together to talk to Denise's family, encountering Denise's brother Al. Although they were nearly driven from the front porch because of Ricochet and Al's arguing, Denise's father managed to let them in.

Droop-a-Long explained that he loved their daughter and would never put her in harm's way, but Yolanda interrupts, saying that she knew that Denise was constantly getting into trouble and harm's way whenever she was there with him, having noticed the scars from Drag-a-Long's attack on her. Before Droop-a-Long can say anything else, Ricochet cuts in, saying that despite the danger and the troubles, Droop-a-Long always fought to keep her safe, and that he did give her the option to leave if it got too hard for her; she didn't take it because she loved him, despite the dangers to both of their persons. He then says that they should let Denise choose, since she is a grown woman with her own life. Although Yolanda is offended by this, Al Sr. decides to take Ricochet's advice and asks his daughter how she feels. Denise explains that despite what happened, and despite knowing that his job could kill him, she chose to stay with him because she loved him, which drives Droop-a-Long to tears.

Yolanda and Al Sr. decide that they can't tell Denise much now, since she's already made her choice on who she loves and wants to spend her life with. They decide to allow Denise to continue to date Droop-a-Long, although not before both the males warn Droop-a-Long that if he does anything to break her heart, they will hunt him down and hurt him.

#### The Red Scorpion Case

Ricochet and Droop-a-Long were asked to track down Droop-a-Long's outlaw brother, Drag-a-Long Coyote Jr. since he'd gone on a robbing and killing spree alongside another sheriff. When they learned that Drag-a-Long had also killed the previous sheriff who'd been chasing him, the two set out to bring him to justice.

##### The Kid with No Name

Having received a tip of Red Scorpion's last known location, they walked to the saloon and came across a gray-furred rabbit beaten to the point of death. Horrified, they took the unconscious and injured boy with them to the doctor's office, where he received treatment. The boy awoke a day later and nearly attacked the pair due to them being law enforcement, but was stopped by the doctor who was treating him, stating that they'd rescued him. Even with this knowledge, he refused to speak to them, especially after he learns that Droop-a-Long is his uncle.

Ricochet decides to learn about what happened to the boy and why he was abandoned. Although the townspeople aren't forthcoming due to the attack on the saloon, Ricochet eventually learns of the boy's history, including a little bit from Lucky himself when he learns that he doesn't have a mother or a name. Ricochet decides to finally give him a name: Lucky, due to how fortunate he was to survive this long under Drag-a-Long's care. He then decides to find a family for him, something that Lucky isn't too pleased about as he feels he is just being sent away again. Droop-a-Long mentions that Lucky isn't ready to go with a family because of how broken he is and they need to teach him how things work before he goes with anyone, as well as someone to keep him safe. Since he opened up more to the sheriff than his own uncle, Droop-a-Long asks that Ricochet become Lucky's guardian in his stead. Despite feeling uneasy about it, Ricochet does get legal custody of him, and the three head back to Hoop 'n Holler.

Over the course of several months, Ricochet slowly forms a bond with the damaged Lucky, and finds himself developing a fatherly affection towards the boy, especially in regards to his nightmares about his father and how he'd been tortured. Despite his own feelings on the matter, and the fact that many people don't want a half-breed, Ricochet still plans on sending the boy to another family, believing that he'd make a childless couple happy. Lucky doesn't agree on the idea, however, and runs away only to almost get captured by outlaws. Ricochet sets out to save him, and successfully subdues them with Jeb's help.

The night afterwards, Ricochet and Droop-a-Long talk about what to do with Lucky. Droop-a-Long explains that he shuold adopt the boy because of how well he and Lucky get along, but Ricochet refuses, still trying to carry on with his plan. A little more prying leads to an argument, in which Ricochet reveals through an outburst that although he knows the plan won't work, he was trying to be as selfless as possible, as well as feeling that he's not good enough to be a father to the boy due to the chances he had. Droop-a-Long explains that he has full confidence in Ricochet's abilities as a father, which is why he asked him to take the boy in.

Droop-a-Long's words help Ricochet come to a decision to adopt the boy, but a few days later, the leader of the outlaws that he arrested, under Drag-a-Long's orders, break into the office, injure and knock him out and kidnap Lucky. Droop-a-Long and Denise help him, and while Droop-a-Long and Jeb round up the men, Denise helps nurse Ricochet back to health.

#### Promotion and Departure

A few months pass after Droop-a-Long and Denise’s wedding, and Droop-a-Long is settling into life as a deputy, though he mentions to Ricochet that he’s eventually planning on moving so he and Denise can have enough room (and privacy) to themselves. He gets a call later that day from the sheriff in the town of Two-Bit, California, who had heard of the arrest of Mad Matt, and wanted him on as the new sheriff, even giving him his personal endorsement. Droop-a-Long immediately accepts, though he feels a little uneasy, worried about how Ricochet and Denise are going to take this news.

That night, he breaks the news to them and while Denise is ecstatic, Ricochet’s reaction troubles him: he takes a moment to congratulate him before leaving his dinner unfinished, and refuses to speak to them afterwards.

## Powers and Abilities

On the outside, Droop-a-Long doesn't appear to have many abilities. He's not fast like Ricochet, and his aim and draw are a hit and miss; Droop-a-Long himself describes it as being like lightning in that "it never strikes twice in the same place". His bullets either fall on the floor as duds, or explode in his face. He also can't replicate Ricochet's famous "ricochet" move, often hurting himself in the process. Due to his slowness, he doesn't have the fastest reaction time, and often gets hurt pretty badly in fights.

Droop-a-Long does possess greater physical prowess than Ricochet, who can only take a few hits before he's down.  Although he hardly gets into fights, his physical prowess is shown when he attacks out of anger, and his feats include hurling an outlaw into a wall for hurting an old lady, punching a man into the street for slapping Denise, and almost strangling the leader of Red Scorpion to death with his bare hands. Although he's not a trick shot like Ricochet, he eventually improves his aim and develops a faster draw, which helps him during the Mad Matt case.
As a coyote, he has good sight, hearing and smell, and often Ricochet allows him to lead the way whenever they need to track a criminal on foot. Droop-a-Long doesn't give in to his natural instincts, but whenever they surface, it means that he's lost himself to anger; the time he cut loose on Jasper is proof of that. He isn't fast and walking long distances tires him out, but over time he started to keep up with Ricochet. In a few rare cases, he can even outrun Ricochet, a feat that nobody in the West has been able to accomplish.

While he's often seen with a pistol, Droop-a-Long's preferred weapon of choice is a shotgun, although in some cases he's seen using a rifle, as it allows him to take down a person sooner without wasting so much ammo. He can also ride a horse, although he doesn't ride them often due to him not having the money to own one.

## Relationships

### Ricochet Rabbit

    Droop-a-Long's close friendship with Ricochet Rabbit is one of his most important relationships. The two of them originally met when Ricochet came to Droop-a-Long's hometown of Shadybrook in order to look for a new deputy after Sherman quit. Due to their species being natural enemies, and his own prejudices against them, Ricochet didn't particularly like him at the time, and only allowed Droop-a-Long to help him because nobody else in Shadybrook would help him find another deputy. Droop-a-Long's kindness, as well as saving Ricochet's life when they were ambushed, earned him a new job as deputy, as well as the rabbit's respect and friendship. Since then, he and Ricochet have worked together on cases for over twelve years, and have been best friends ever since then.

Their opposite personalities have caused them to clash occasionally, and often explosively. Ricochet has gotten annoyed with Droop-a-Long's clumsiness, cowardice, and slow wits, as well as his deputy's teasing at his expense, while Droop-a-Long fears Ricochet's temper, gets annoyed with Ricochet's pride and arrogance, and thinks that the sheriff can be paranoid sometimes. Both also continually snark at each other, either playfully or derisively, but whenever their friendship is on the rocks, neither of them hesitates to work it out with each other. Despite their opposite personalities, with Ricochet being the hot to Droop-a-Long's cool, the two have common ground in several areas, namely their shared love of food and drink, music, and their views on family. While Ricochet's protectiveness of Droop-a-Long is legendary, Droop-a-Long is just as protective of Ricochet; he threatened to kill a group of outlaws who beat up Ricochet in front of him, an action that scared Ricochet, and even warned both Bunny Hug and Melissa Starkweather (two of Ricochet’s loves that left and later returned to him) that if they broke Ricochet’s heart again, he’d never forgive them. Droop-a-Long sometimes finds Ricochet's overprotectiveness excessive, but he understands where the rabbit is coming from.

Similar to his relationship with Denise, Droop-a-Long's relationship with Ricochet was the source of much debate; while his family had no problem with Ricochet (although Droop's father threatened to hurt Ricochet if he caused his son's death), Ricochet's family was wary of him, namely because of an incident with Ricochet's father's friend being murdered by a coyote (it would take the senior Ricochet some time to warm up to Droop-a-Long). In both Hoop 'n Holler and Gopher Gulch, both were accused of being freaks, although the townsfolk of Gopher Gulch later let it slide due to interspecies relationships being more common there.  Much of the blame fell on Droop-a-Long; traditionally, coyotes only kept rabbits around if they planned on eating them later, or sometimes the positions could be reversed, with a rabbit keeping a coyote as a "pet" of sorts (to coyotes, this is the lowest form of treatment and is no better than slavery). Droop-a-Long was very aware of the rumors, and these, along with the rampant speciesism in the towns (Hoop 'n Holler had a reputation of being rude to "animal folk", coyotes in particular), caused some strain on his end, something he stated in *Protector--Part 1*.

However, even these destructive rumors weren't enough to break their friendship. The various cases and trials they faced together resulted in an iron bond, which only became stronger over the years they've worked together. They trust each other a lot, often telling each other their darkest secrets and fears. Droop-a-Long is one of the few people to whom Ricochet shows his most vulnerable side, the side that he rarely shows to even loved ones like his family or his girlfriends. While Droop-a-Long often looks up to Ricochet for guidance and inspiration, Ricochet looks to Droop-a-Long for stability and reassurance, cementing Droop-a-Long's role as the "rock" of their friendship; when asked by Droop-a-Long why, Ricochet states that he feels he can trust Droop-a-Long with his secrets, as well as not criticizing him for showing his emotions or seeking comfort in any way he feels he needs it (which sometimes results in physically latching onto people), since Droop-a-Long is more empathetic than he is. The two share a close, brotherly love for each other, and sometimes refer to each other as being brothers in all but blood. Their friendship eventually became legendary throughout the community of Hoop 'n Holler due to the mutual trust and respect they share; the tipping point of this happened during the "Protector" case. In both this case and a ballad written years later, they were referred to as "the unbreakable pair".

Droop-a-Long almost always calls Ricochet "Mr. Ricochet" or "Mr. Sheriff", despite being his best friend and being two years older than him; a habit that Ricochet has tried to get him to break, but with little success. Droop-a-Long does on occasion call him by his first name, and on very rare occasions calls him "Ricky". Droop-a-Long only calls him this when he's worried; he finds it an embarrassing nickname due to knowing of its history and doesn't use it often despite Ricochet telling him it's alright. In addition, Ricochet is a staunch supporter of Droop-a-Long's relationship with Denise, and even playfully teases him, much to Droop-a-Long's embarrassment.

### Denise Falconeri

    Another important relationship of Droop-a-Long's is his romantic relationship with Denise Falconeri, an ex-girlfriend of Ricochet's. He fell in love with her not long after their first meeting, although on her insistence, they remained friends until she returned his feelings. Droop-a-Long deeply loves and values Denise, and is excited to share love with someone who genuinely likes him for who he is; such is his concern for her well-being that when he fell for her, he put his feelings aside to accommodate her. He strives to protect her from anyone who'd harm her, even willing to get into a physical fight for her sake. While he's shyer in contrast to her energetic, strong-willed nature, he does have a bold side that he reserves only for her, often catching her off-guard with surprise, intense kisses and making her flustered with sly comments of his own, though this happens very rarely.

Because of the way their relationship continued, and the societal and racial standards against them, it stirred up much controversy and became the talk of the town when the truth was revealed. Although the two can get into arguments and fall victim to jealousy, lack of communication, low confidence and a host of other problems with Droop-a-Long's job, the two love each other deeply and were devatstated when Denise's parents made them break up. Similar to his friendship with Ricochet, Droop-a-Long's family took the news better than Denise's family, as it was namely Denise's brother Al and her mother, Yolanda who were wary of them; it took time, but he eventually got their blessing to marry her, and slowly Hoop 'n Holler and later Two-Bit came to accept them.

Although the two have an "opposites attract" relationship, there is more to it than that. More than just their attraction to each other, they also have common goals that they want to achieve, and are willing to achieve together. Also, their lives/goals aren't revolved around each other; they think of each other a lot, but not every second is spent doing so. The pitfall here often involves a lack of communication as well as occasional bouts of low self-esteem/confidence and/or jealousy--often by Denise, but very rarely, Droop-a-Long will feel that way as well. While they talk to each other, it's not nearly on the same level as Ricochet and Melissa, and both have the habit of holding things back to avoid hurting the other's feelings, only to be offended/hurt when they discover the reason.

### Jeb Forrest

Droop-a-Long is good friends with Jeb Forrest, a young man he'd rescued from drowning outside of town. Although they don't have as close a relationship as Droop-a-Long's relationship with Ricochet, the two get along well, and Droop-a-Long takes some pride in being the senior deputy to Jeb. Droop-a-Long, along with Ricochet, was very sympathetic to Jeb when he had to help Zeb after he was beat up in jail and deal with his own conflicting feelings on Zeb's role in the Protector case, as it mirrored his own problems with Drag-a-Long.

On occasions where Ricochet is out of the office or they have a day off, the two of them will go out for milkshakes and beers, as well as fishing.

### Drag-a-Long Coyote Jr.

Droop-a-Long's relationship with his oldest brother is very adversarial. Their personalities always clashed when they were younger, with his older brother making fun of him for his fur color and being weaker than the other coyotes, and Droop-a-Long finding his brother's pursuits dangerous. Two events tipped their relationship to the intense rivalry it is: the death of Droop-a-Long's best friend, Jacob Einzbern, which Drag-a-Long blamed him for; and Drag-a-Long's havoc that he unleashed with his future gang,Red Scorpion. When Drag-a-Long was exiled from town, he told his younger brother that the next time they met wouldn't be pretty.

With over ten years passing since then, and with Drag-a-Long's gang on the rise, the two have clashed a lot more often. After Drag-a-Long assaulted Denise, abused Lucky and nearly murdered Ricochet, Droop-a-Long swore to bring his brother down, even if it means he has to kill him.

### Lucky

Droop-a-Long had a strained relationship with his nephew Lucky at first. After he and Ricochet rescued the boy, he nearly tried to kill them, and found that Lucky was wary because Droop-a-Long was Drag-a-Long's brother, making him his uncle. Droop-a-Long did his best to prove that he was nothing like Lucky's father, and wanted to take him under his care, but when he saw how Ricochet was more adept to bringing the boy out of his shell, and how close the two became, he convinced Ricochet to adopt the boy. The turning point in their relationship was when he rescued Lucky from Drag-a-Long's men after they hurt Ricochet. It would take several more months of teaching the boy concepts of mercy and compassion, as well as empathy towards people, to truly help him turn his life around. A year or so later, Lucky would call Droop-a-Long "Uncle Droop" like his nephew Tag-a-Long, much to his uncle's joy.

Though they don't share a close relationship, Lucky sees Droop-a-Long as a second father to him, seeing as he, along with Ricochet, treated him like an adult and taught him how to be a man.

### Melissa Starkweather

Droop-a-Long is good friends with Ricochet's girlfriend, Melissa Starkweather. Unlike most of the people in Gopher Gulch, she actually liked him from the start instead of immediately hating him because of his species. Even after Melissa left Ricochet and later came back, he was still friendly with her and believed that she would make Ricochet happy, although unlike what happened with Bunny Hug, he did warn her outright that if she broke his heart a second time that he wouldn't forgive her. He usually calls her "Miss Melissa", but also is known to call her "Mellie", a nickname that she isn't too fond of (and doesn't even let Ricochet call her by this name), but makes an exception for him because of his formal tone with everyone. Droop-a-Long likes to tease Ricochet about this, much to his annoyance. He's also happy that his girlfriend gets along with her as well. Likewise, she respects his close friendship with Ricochet and even jokes that she has no reason to be jealous of girls stealing Ricochet since the only person who'd steal him would be Droop-a-Long, much to Droop-a-Long's amusement and Ricochet's embarrassment.

## Appearances

* *Blazin' Trails*
* *Blazin’ Trails Redux*
* *Blazin’ Trails Alter*
* *If Likin' You Is Wrong and Other Stories*
* *The Life and Times of Droop-a-Long Coyote*
* *The Kid With No Name*
* *Saint Angel's Serenade*
* *Powerful Friendship, Iron Bond*
* *Ricochet's Day Off*
* *Firsts*
* *Sheriff of Two-Bit*

## Trivia

* Droop-a-Long also went through some major changes from his cartoon self, but unlike Ricochet, a lot of his original flaws and personality from the cartoon was kept in the story:
	+ In the cartoon, he was portrayed as a general failure and was deemed useless by literally everyone (including Ricochet on occasion); Droop himself often lamented this through comments that broke the fourth wall, cementing him as the “underdog” between him and Ricochet. Both *Blazin' Trails* & *Redux* keep this aspect of his character, but made his perseverance more apparent than in the original cartoon. Although he does have many failures, Droop-a-Long was given several victories, including capturing several top criminals of his own, during his tenure as Ricochet’s deputy. Iheartgod175 kept this since she felt it was an endearing part of Droop-a-Long’s character, and much of his character development in the series is focused on him growing from the undervalued underdog to becoming a lawman on par with Ricochet.
	+ In the original cartoon, Droop-a-Long is described as being Ricochet’s polar opposite in both speed and wits: in addition to moving slow, he wasn’t the smartest between him and Ricochet (it should be said, though, that Ricochet occasionally has lapses of judgement as well). BT features Droop being smarter than he was in the original cartoon, with his slowness allowing him to be more observant of his surroundings, although he does have the occasional naive/stupid moment.
	+ A running gag in the cartoon featured Droop-a-Long being terrible at making coffee, namely in the first episode where he uses water “so hard” he has to hack it to pieces. This gag would find its way into Blazin’ Trails, namely the story “Firsts”, where Ricochet is shocked to see this. As Ricochet himself is terrible at making coffee in BT, he puts up with Droop-a-Long’s coffee. While Droop eventually gets better over time, he never truly got the hang of making a good cup of coffee and eventually junior deputy Jeb Forrest would take over coffee making duty.
	+ In the cartoon, Droop-a-Long’s politeness towards Ricochet can be attributed to two things: the fact that the two have a more boss/employee relationship than Quick Draw and Baba Looey, and the fact that Droop-a-Long's role is meant to be a parody of Matt Dillon's original deputy, Chester Goode, in *Gunsmoke*, who often referred to the Marshal as "Mr. Dillon" (it should be also noted that Droop-a-Long's voice is Mel Blanc doing an impersonation of Ken Curtis' Festus Haggen from the same show). *Blazin' Trails* & *Redux* features Droop-a-Long calling Ricochet “Mr. Ricochet”, with the rabbit attempting to making him stop, but to no avail. In the original, he prefers calling Ricochet “Mr. Ricochet” out of habit. Redux takes it a step further, however, in that Droop-a-Long eventually stops calling Ricochet “Mr. Ricochet” at the end of season 1’s Protector arc, as a sign that he truly trusts the rabbit.
	+ The cartoon focused solely on Droop-a-Long's flaws, such as his physical and mental slowness, clumsiness, bad coordination, cowardice and such. Droop-a-Long kept most of his flaws from the cartoon series in *Blazin' Trails,* but as part of his development in the story, he learned to deal with them over time, and eventually overcame some of them.
	+ In the cartoon, Droop-a-Long is known to admire Ricochet, praising him for whatever feat he pulled off or plan he succeeded in (which would inflate the rabbit's ego). In *Blazin' Trails,* his admiration/hero-worship of Ricochet is toned down, often barely getting a mention. Although Droop-a-Long does respect and aspire to be like him (and as *Taking the Bullet* shows, is secretly jealous of his popularity), in this universe, he shares a close friendship with Ricochet and as such knows about Ricochet's faults and weaknesses just as well as the sheriff knows his. As much as he respects Ricochet, and treats him like a brother, he recognizes that Ricochet is imperfect, which keeps him from putting Ricochet on a high pedestal.
	+ Droop-a-Long's fur color changed often in the cartoon (though it was mostly due to the age of the cartoons, and the limits of animation at the time) from pink to magenta to dark purple. For the sake of *Blazin' Trails,*he's pink, although in art that iheartgod175 has drawn of him, he's often magenta.
	+ In the cartoon, Droop could be seen sporting a dark purple hat in lieu of his usual dark green. This hat is nowhere to be seen in *Blazin' Trails,*though he does occasionally change neckerchiefs in series, a reference to marketing materials that would put both Ricochet and Droop-a-Long in alternate outfits.
* iheartgod175 originally wrote the series with Droop-a-Long as the main character, because at the time of its writing, Droop-a-Long was her favorite of the pair, and she decided to decrease Ricochet's role a bit since he was the star in the cartoon series. This was obvious in the first set of stories, with most of the shorts focusing on Droop-a-Long's point of view or with Droop-a-Long getting a larger role than Ricochet. Later stories expanded to give them both him and Ricochet equal focus.
* Droop-a-Long is one of several Hanna-Barbera characters who doesn't have an official "birthday". He has one in this series, and it's a plot point in one of the shorts (*Birthday Surprise*). Similar to Ricochet, his birthday would get some attention when he became the sheriff of Two-Bit.
	+ Droop-a-Long is one of the few characters whose birthday falls on a holiday (in this case Valentine's Day).
	+ Early developments for the story had Droop-a-Long's birthday be in February, but it was going to be later in the month. His birthday being on Valentine's Day was meant as a joke, and then it stuck.
	+ Droop-a-Long has a negative association with his birthday due to kids teasing him for being born on Valentine's Day, leading him to lie to his friends about it. He would warm up to it later, however, when Ricochet and his friends made it a point to throw him a proper birthday party every year.
	+ In the short *Birthday Surprise*, it's revealed that Droop-a-Long said that his birthday was April 14th, which is Ricochet's birthday. Until he made the correction, Ricochet believed that the two shared a birthday. If his birthday was April 14th, they would've been the second Hanna-Barbera buddy pair to have shared a birthday (the first being Ruff and Reddy, who share a birthday with their creator, Bill Hanna).
	+ He shares a birthday with his niece, Deniece Falconeri-Edwards, who was born on his 44th birthday.
* Droop-a-Long's cooking skills were mentioned in the episode *Red Riding Ricochet*, where he states that he's the best jailhouse cook west of the Pecos. This was incorporated into the series and his overall portrayal in Iheartgod175’s other Hanna-Barbera fics, where he’s mentioned to be the best cook amongst the gathered friend groups.
* Droop-a-Long shares a lot of personality traits with his paternal great-grandfather, Olivier Coyote, to the point where his father notes that if he were still alive, he might've been named after him. In season three of Redux, Droop-a-Long and Ricochet learn that their families were connected in the past: the best deputy Ricochet's great-grandfather ever had was Olivier, and the renowned sheriff Olivier served under was Ricochet I. Olivier and Ricochet I were best friends and true brothers in every sense of the word, with the pair becoming an unstoppable force of nature in a time where friendships between rabbits and coyotes were banned. Their friendship only ended when Olivier was murdered by Red Scorpion’s Abraham Newcomb, an event that, while the elder Ricochet avenged him, gave him grief until the day of his death. The reason why neither man was outright named in their respective tales was due to the new sheriff, a racist cottontail, forcing Olivier's widow to secrecy, with specific instructions to "keep esteemed fellers like him (Ricochet) outta you curs' mouths", followed by forcing Ricochet I out of the town his late deputy lived in with a similar warning, which would sever their contact. Neither Janice nor Ricochet I abided by this rule nor forgot about each other; Ricochet I would continue to spread his "species blindness" to his family members (although his grief from the case made him unable to speak about Olivier without tearing up), and Janice would tell her son Leroy about Olivier, with her journals mentioning that she was grateful for Ricochet's friendship even after the horrible murder that robbed her of her husband. Following the revelation, Droop-a-Long notes that their great-grandfathers probably "badgered the Big Guy" to bring their families back together, which Ricochet agrees with.
* His pink fur is a result of an odd mutation on his mother’s side of the family, which is apparent in his younger siblings’ coats. On his father’s side, the coyotes have more natural coloring.
* If his great-grandfather’s name is anything to go by, Droop-a-Long may have some French ancestry in his family.
* Droop-a-Long's use of titles (Mr., Ms./Miss/Mrs.) towards everyone, including his enemies and close friends, is a habit that many of his friends have tried to get him to quit, with varying degrees of success. The miniseries The Life and Times of Droop-a-Long Coyote explains that he got the habit from his paternal grandmother, who was very formal with everyone sans a few people. Coyotes in her time regarded this as a sign of unwavering trust and friendship, which is something that Droop-a-Long decided to emulate, especially since he had many “fair weather friends” growing up. This attitude is reflected in Redux, where Droop-a-Long stops calling Ricochet “Mr. Ricochet” at the end of season 1’s Protector arc, as a sign that he trusts the rabbit and values their friendship. He also isn’t immune to giving out nicknames—he nicknames Denise "Deni" (he was calling her "Miss Denise" when they met, but stopped at her request), Melissa "Mellie" (and is the only one allowed to do so), and Ricochet as "Ricky", although the latter he hardly uses due to knowing that girls call him Ricky, although he will call him this when he's beyond worried about Ricochet.
* Droop-a-Long’s love of writing initially started as a contrast to Ricochet’s athletic inclined nature. His writing was the focus of one unpublished short that takes place in the same universe as “Game On”, where Ricochet discovers that his friend writes very detailed R-rated fanfiction. Though the story was never published, iheartgod175 thought the concept of Droop-a-Long writing such works and becoming an underground hit was too funny to ignore, and thus brought the concept back for Redux.
* Droop-a-Long's blood type is B-.
* Droop-a-Long's Zodiac sign is Aquarius, although interestingly enough he doesn't possess many of the traits associated with the sign.
* Despite being known as the “innocent” one of the pair, Droop-a-Long has actually provided a lot of the story’s adult humor due to both his reactions and several pieces of the series’ lore.
	+ As mentioned above, Droop-a-Long writes mostly romance and drama, and his romances features several adult scenes that are noted for their incredible detail. During the talk where his pseudonym was revealed to his closest friends, Droop-a-Long inadvertently revealed that the final draft was nothing compared to the first, implying that he wrote lewder content before.
	+ Droop-a-Long’s kind personality attracts many a female admirer of various ages (including a retired madam), but he never notices it due to being so devoted to Denise. Ricochet often has to point out their intentions to the coyote, which never fails to embarrass him. In this regard, out of the group, he’s the most successful at attracting women—Ricochet, while he was a player, eventually grew out of this; and Quick Draw and Touché have notoriously bad luck with women until they meet their respective love interests (Clarissa and Edith, respectively).
	+ He doesn’t get sexual humor and is confused by it, which results in some people explaining it to him and making him embarrassed. In *The Life and Times of Droop-a-Long Coyote,* Chapter 4 explains that this is due to his grandparents, who talked to him about these things when he turned fifteen, but also kept a lot from him since they wanted him to be a gentleman. His father explains that he's glad that Droop-a-Long doesn't have a vulgar sense of humor like his brothers, but he wishes that he caught on to it more. He grows out of this when he marries Denise, however, and is known to crack a few jokes; Denise tends to outclass him in that regard, however, often making him flustered.
	+ The large family that Droop-a-Long starts with Denise did not go unnoticed; as of writing, he currently has the most amount of children between him and Ricochet. He has seven children with Denise (Chance, Rose, Serenity, Trevor, Taylor, Ricky, and Felicia), and in Blazin’ Trails Alter, he has two with Melissa in one universe, and five with Diane Steelclaw in the Albino Reaper universe. A few of his kids are a year apart from each other in age, which implies that he and his partners lead very active sex lives. This has not gone unnoticed by several characters either; in the main timeline, Ricochet teases Droop-a-Long on finally growing up, and in Redux, Mushmouse briefly wonders if he’s part rabbit, much to Droop-a-Long’s embarrassment.

## References

1. ↑ *Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long* Episode 1: "Atchinson, Topeka and Sam Jose"
2. ↑ *Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long* episode 5: "T.V. Show"
3. ↑ *Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long* episodes 7 and 23, "School Daze" and "Jail Break-In", have him call both outlaws with titles.
4. ↑ *Ricochet Rabbit* episode 21 "Red Riding Ricochet"
5. ↑ *The Life and Times of Droop-a-Long Coyote*
6. ↑ The short story *Firsts* details some of this