Buddy, Our Beagle
Buddy
In May of 2008, I adopted a 15 year old Beagle from the local Animal Shelter. I don’t know how he wound up in the shelter but I decided that he would not die there. I adopted him and brought him home and made him part of our family. Jay is great because he never gets upset when I bring unwanted dogs home. Jay and I named him Buddy. Buddy did not see or hear very well but that didn’t matter to us. He came to our house where he lived with our four female dogs (Fidgit, Blossom, Princess, and Trixie). He was a lucky man and we always joked that he had a harem. Soon after we adopted him, he developed a bad cough and we found out that he had cancer. We discussed treatment options with our vet and decided that we would keep him as comfortable as possible and when his quality of life wasn’t good then we would put him down.
On October 23, 2009 I flew to MN to meet up with Jay who had been taking care of his parents since September 1st. I left the dogs with a great pet sitter who takes care of them in our house. We left MN and went to Branson for a short vacation before we headed home. I told Buddy and the others dogs before I left that I was going to bring their daddy home. On November 2nd we got a call from the pet sitter that Buddy had passed away. She said that she went out for a little while and when she got back he had passed away. She said that the other dogs were gathered around him and they were grieving for him. I was devastated because I wanted to be with him when he died. I spent most of the next two days grieving and blaming myself because I wasn’t there with him. I am healing now and that is why I decided to write this blog. I truly believe that we are blessed to get to share our life with our dogs. They give us so much unconditional love and they love us no matter what. No matter how bad our day is they are there to greet us with a wagging tail and a kiss.
I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten to share my life with him even if it wasn’t as long as I would have hoped for. Buddy gave me so much unconditional love and I know he was grateful that we took him in. I know that most people love puppies and younger dogs but if you get a chance adopt an older dog from the shelter. You’ll be blessed to get to share your life with them and it may hurt when they pass away but the joy and love that you get from them makes it well worth it.
Lynne
Lynne, what a lovely tribute to your faithful friend. I believe they choose their time to go and he probably didn;t want to put you through that. You are truly lovely people.
Mandy
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Hi Mandy,
Lynne thanks you for the comment. When we got home from Arkansas yesterday our pet sitter gave us a framed needle point which says “When a pet you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure” Then it has a little dog and Buddy’s name with paw prints.
Thanks for think of us.
Jay