My Own PAW Patrol Theories

Ryder's Parents

Now for a theory about the preadolescent aged leader and trainer of the PAW Patrol, Ryder. The most common question people ask about Ryder is where are his parents and how can he afford his expensive lifestyle? I never questioned this as a 10 year old watching PAW Patrol for the first time, but now that I'm older, I'm going to tackle it. I think that Ryder is the son of two wealthy, multi billion dollar rescuers and business people who work in a big city near Adventure Bay and fight crime alongside former, more experienced PAW Patrol members. I think that Ryder's parents are as rich as Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne and are the ones funding the PAW Patrol so they can afford all their expensive equipment and gadgets. I also think his parents are responsible the construction of some of the larger pieces of equipment, like the PAW Patroller, the Air Patroller, the Lookout Tower and even Ryder's ATV. I think Ryder learned everything he knows about building, engineering, mechanics and driving from his parents. Ryder's mother, I believe, is also the top of the line veterinarian for the PAW Patrol, she gives the pups their monthly check ups, shots, injections and could give them surgery if necessary. Ryder's father is a successful, top of the line engineer, mechanic and handyman, and actually thought Ryder everything he should know. According to a PAW Patrol Twitter response in 2016, Ryder's parents are indeed around, but the creators only want to show what Ryder and the pups are doing. I also personally believe that because Ryder does not appear to be going to school in Adventure Bay, his parents have hired a private tutor for him to go see whenever he's not out on a mission. Ryder's obviously very bright, so he probably laughs his way through every lesson, but I still believe he has a tutor. My theory as to why Ryder appears to be all on his own is because his parents have stationed him and all the puppies in a small town, called Adventure Bay, where there were no real first responders (apart from Chase and Marshall respectively). His parents did this as a way to train Ryder and the pups to carry out bigger and dangerous rescues, like murder, thuggery and more, for when they much older. Ryder is stationed in a town where most of the adults are super incapable and he's the sole leader of the only rescue team. 

                                                                                                                               Now, I do understand that Ryder and his pups occasionally go to new locations, such as The Arctic, The Jungle or even cities like, Adventure City or Barkingburg. Every time they are called to a new environment, Ryder's parents are in full contact with him and are carefully monitoring him and his pups at work. Ryder's parents are secretly guiding him about what to do in risky situations and how to best conduct the puppies in any given situation. I think that when the PAW Patrol goes to a new location, it's for Ryder's parents to see how well they get outside of Adventure Bay. I'm not saying I believe that the missions are staged, because I don't. But I do believe that the reason Ryder and a team of puppies go somewhere else (instead of, you know, someone more experienced) is to put them in slightly harder situations to test their skills out. And then there's Mayor Humdinger, who is the primary antagonist of the show. And yes, he is dastardly in the show and always has committed a variety of heinous crimes, like train robbery, theft, kidnapping animals, public endangerment, to name a few. But I don't think that makes him a particularly dangerous or down right scary villain if the PAW Patrol are not afraid of him and can outsmart him in the end. I'll admit Humdinger is evil, cruel and annoying, but he's not like a mass murderer or mafia overlord type of villain. I believe Ryder's parents along with older, former PAW Patrol members, now have to deal with much worse situations and villains. Ryder and his pups are pretty much always dealing with harmless, easily solved that only get slightly more difficult over a few Seasons of the show. They are not dealing with big, dangerous crimes, yet. And they are called to Adventure City, in the movie by a new pup, Liberty, but Ryder is actually 14 at that point, according to his voice actor, Will Brisbin in an interview. The movie takes place a few years after the TV show. I think this means Ryder and the pups are all a little bit older and are able to adapt to situations they've never been in before. Mayor Humdinger is also more dangerous and sinister in the movie, but the PAW Patrol was able to stop him in the end because he wasn't much of a threat when they were younger.

                                                                                                                And lastly, I want to touch on how the PAW Patrol fund their equipment outside Adventure Bay, besides it actually funded to them by Ryder's parents. Because the movie actually touched on this a bit, when Ryder made a self - aware joke about how they get their funds from "officially licensed PAW Patrol merchandise". My theory is that Ryder's parents actually also own a business where they make crime fighting equipment and they also have their own personal tailor, who they pay to make clothes inspired by Ryder and the PAW Patrol. I believe his parents have other employees that make action figures, Lookout Tower sets, stationary sets and more, and they, in Ryder's own words, "sell like hotcakes" (which couldn't be more true to real life, LOL). And I think Ryder uses his parents' funds and the funds from merch sales to build all the equipment from the subseries episodes. However, there's quite a few episodes that centre around finding pirate treasure. In the first one, the PAW Patrol discovers the treasure of the legendary pirate pup, Captain Blackfur. I think there was some of that used to pay for the equipment and other supplies as well.