The whole thing is a Secret Test of Character. The choices presented probably have a lot to do with the circumstances, but the choice the old hillbilly had was to take a selfish action (going to heaven, but leaving the dog behind) or a selfless one ("It wouldn't be heaven without my dog"). The selfish action would have revealed him as not worth eternal reward.
This seems fitting, given we live in a day and age where people callously abandon their dog somewhere (not even leaving them at a shelter). Hyder exemplified that any soul with a kindly bone in his body would rather wander eternity than leave their dog behind.
It seems like a blunder for the Gatekeeper to tell Hyder that there's no raccoon hunting in "Heaven", which turned out to be the last straw that convinced him to move on. However, it makes sense in the context of undercutting one of Hyder's reasons to insist on keeping Rip at his side — the Gatekeeper has to convince Hyder to abandon Rip because he can't hide the brimstone of Hell from a dog's nose.
So how many people have ended up burning in Hell forever because they didn't have a dog with them when they died?
It's likely that people without dogs are tested in other ways. The gate and the road probably don't look the same to everyone either.
The whole point was a secret test for Hyder to see if he was selfish or could truly care about something besides himself, as he was not a very moral man and otherwise wouldn't have gotten into heaven without this one last chance. Him having a dog was specific to his situation.
How many people left their dogs with the Gatekeeper, thinking he would sneak them in later?
Again, what happened with Hyder was a test specifically for him.
Slight horror: the real angel tells Hyder that his wife will be along presently. While he is happy that they won't be separated for very long, it means his wife is about to die as well, probably from a broken heart.
Which isn't as bad as it seems considering this is pretty firmly a setting where God Is Good and she'll be quickly reunited with her husband and beloved pet in paradise.
Time might not pass at the same rate in both places, so it could be that even if Rachel outlives Hyder by several years, it would only seem like hours or days for him.
Or how about we stop doing mental gymnastics and just take the truth given. This is a setting with a benevolent God who wants as many people who can make it into heaven as possible. Something like this would be condoning trickery and unnecessary cruelty.
There's no need to fiddle with time passing at different rates — for an eternal spirit, "presently" could mean anything from a few days to a few decades.
Let's assume for a second that Hyder accepted that his dog can't come in and went into the first gate, trusting the gatekeeper to take Rip to "dog heaven." Ignoring the obvious Fridge Horror of what'll happen to him, what would the gatekeeper to to his dog? There isn't any Dog Heaven as we later find out, and there's no way he'd sneak Rip in later despite what he said. And considering Rip is a spirit who CAN'T be killed, what other horrible things could he do to him?
Probably nothing because God wouldn't permit an innocent soul like Rip's to go to Hell.
The real angel could've fetched him afterwards.
The real angel tells Hyder that animals are allowed in Heaven and that raccoon hunting is allowed in Heaven. Being hunted by dogs for eternity doesn't sound heavenly for the raccoons in Heaven.
Besides the obligatory joke of that being raccoon Hell, there may not be any real raccoons at all, but rather simulation.
It's where the raccoons who drown dogs end up.
Alternative Title(s):The Twilight Zone S 3 E 84 The Hunt
