Buddy

This is one of many pictures of our dog Buddy (most of the time just "Bud"). It's not a very clear picture however, one of my favorites. He loved that little chair that once was Kaylin's and he just decided it should belong to him. My daughter Kerrie brought him home in 1998 as a puppy. First words from my mouth... NO we are not keeping him. Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against animals. I just like them to belong to someone else. I had gone my entire life with only a few cats as pets and they lived outside. Only once did I have an inside cat when I lived at home with my parents. It hurt so bad when something happened to it that I decided no more would I go through that. Boy was I wrong... Bud came into our home and here he stayed. Of course, he became our (mine and Bob's) dog. You know how teenagers are, he was cute but she didn't want the responsibilities that came along with him. Well, to late for us because we were attached. He would sleep with us, getting right between us under the covers at the end of the bed. I wondered how he could breath! As he grew older and bigger (he weighed 40 pounds) we made him a bed in the hallway which he loved. He had a favorite blanket that once was Kerrie's ( it was white with loony toons on it). He would wiggle his way under the blanket so that his entire body would be covered. I have some really funny pictures of him sleeping. He also had a very loud and mean bark for such a short dog. I don't think anyone would try to come in not knowing that he would just lick you to death. At age eleven he started having house allergies and would scratch bald places on himself. We were going on vacation for a week with my sweet niece Connie and her family so decided to put him with her dog outside while we were gone. He had never stayed outside although he loved it...you had to sneak out the door or he would zip out and you would have to chase him down to get him back in! We came back and his hair was growing back so we decided to leave him out. She just lives next door so he still was close. He would turn 13 this October which is very old for a Dotson that is over weight. Within a few weeks he had lost so much weight and just looked bad. I knew it was not good, I could just tell by his eyes. My sweet Connie also saw the fear in my heart so she and Kaylin took him to the vet for me. He had a severe heart murmur and most likely kidney failure. I could not stand the thought of him suffering so we let him go to sleep. We brought him back home and buried him in the back yard of his home with his favorite blanket. I know he is a young pup again and playing with the Angels right now! Who knows, maybe sleeping at our Master's feet... what a wonderful home he now has! Thank you Buddy for all the love you gave us!