“You are my dog, you are special.
You are my dog- you are special to me.
There’s no one else who is like you, like you, my dog.
You are special.”
(to be sung to Mr. Roger’s song, “You Are My Friend” This was Buddy’s song.)

“Does this shirt make me look fat?”

I can’t believe it, but I couldn’t find any fetching pictures of Buddy! He was what we called OCFD (Obsessive Compulsive Fetching Disorder) and up until the last year or so we had to spell the word B-A-L-L around him. And when he was feeling very good and happy, he would roll around on his back and we would tease him about being a little baby puppy. We all “spoke” for Buddy and if you are curious about his voice, it was similar to the third Eddy in Ed, Edd and Eddy from Cartoon Network. (My name is Bud!) He could also be very stubborn as anyone who has had a hound dog would recognize.

“Buddy Bandito”

Buddy never minded being a clown and he loved to sing “happy birthday” with us whenever we celebrated. Whenever we would “Caaawww” like a crow, he would bark like crazy. When Kelly and her girls and their little fat lab, Blackie, lived with us, we accused the two dogs of being Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy from Sponge Bob. Buddy was the aging super hero and Blackie would alert him to dangers like the mailman.

Buddy in our new home.

Last month after we moved into our apartment (that’s another post), he really began to decline. At 16, he didn’t want to move very much and he stopped eating his dog food. I started cooking for him, but after a short while, even that was not appealing to him. He hadn’t eaten in a couple of days, but one morning he woke up and got a drink of water and then threw it up. That’s when I knew that I had to make the decision. It was either put him down or watch him dehydrate and starve. He was already so skinny that I was almost able to pick him up myself. It was painful, but there is no doubt in my mind that it was the right choice. At the vet’s office, after he was picked up and put on the table, he even gave me one last little moochie (kiss) like the ones he would give me after enjoying a surprise treat in his dog dish. I really feel like he was telling me it was okay and he was ready to go.

After having Buddy in our lives for six years, the thing that struck me the most was just his absence. A dog is not like a human- he doesn’t go to work or go on vacations. He lives his life in his home. So, for the first time in a long time, there is literally, no Buddy here.