Our family dog of 11 years and my trusted companion, Buddy, died early this morning. We have 6 kids, and Buddy was as close as you can be to a 7th. He may not have been the most handsome dog in the world, but he was the best to me. Like all dogs, Buddy was always happy when I got home at night—early or late, good or bad weather, when he was 2-years-old or 11 (and even last night when I got home from work).
A while ago I was pretty sick, and spent a fair amount of the time sitting on the couch recuperating. During this time, Buddy started climbing on to the couch to be my constant companion. And I mean always. Even if there wasn’t enough room, he’d squeeze his way into whatever crevice was available. He had never climbed on the couch before in his life, and he never did it again after I got better, either, even when I prompted him to. He just knew when I needed an extra boost, and knew when I didn’t any more. I will always remember that.
Buddy and our family had a love/hate relationship with balls—all shapes and sizes. He LOVED them, and we HATED that he destroyed them and tore them to pieces within minutes of our buying and giving them to him.
Last funny memory: Buddy was a BIG dog. Back in the early days of our new neighborhood, when not many people had moved in yet, I used to do the now unthinkable and let Buddy out by himself really late at night to run around in the fields next to our house. He’d stay out for about 15-20 minutes, and then always come back to the porch on his own. One day a (former) neighbor mentioned that our family/kids should be careful because there was a very large animal spotted running around all over the place late at night—maybe it was a black bear! I thanked them for the friendly tip (and never let Buddy “the bear” roam around at night again)!
We love him and will miss him a lot, but as Hayley said this morning, “Don’t worry, he’ll be running around in Heaven “in a few days”” (or sooner!).
Special thanks to Rainbow Bridge Pet Services for their respectful and caring manner when helping us through our difficult time.
L.K – Brunswick, MD
