Happy Birthday Buddy!

Ok, it might be a little early…well, for all I know, it could be late. Truth be told, we really don’t know what Buddy’s real birthday is but we got him on March 18, 2006 – he shares my mom and Matthew Collins’ birthday. And, yes, it isn’t March 18th yet, but the events of this weekend made me think about the four years that Buddy has lived with us.

First, this weekend. Buddy is 11 years old (which is really old for a lab) and we aren’t in denial that the end of his life will come one day (hopefully not too soon). We keep talking about having another dog so that Buddy will have a friend and so that the inevitable loss of him will be softened. Last year, we drove to Orange County to a lab rescue to meet a “girl”. She was sweet and our hopes were high that she would be the one for Buddy. I am not so familiar with “normal” dog behavior so we were given encouragements as Buddy and this girl did things right (like sniffing each other’s butts, hmmm). Both dogs were on leashes and Buddy began to growl a bit and eventually snapped at the girl – a little “love bite” perhaps. The rescue lady was not happy and proceeded to tell us that we needed to be the boss of our dog and that he needed to eat when we tell him to eat, sit when we tell him to sit and wait when we tell him to wait. And, we should probably pick up a book to educate ourselves on having a well-behaved dog. Well, I was sufficiently humiliated!

Evidently, she didn’t know that Richard was raised on a farm where dogs just showed up and were fed and, coincidentally, they all had the same name (they lost track of them and at one time had two that were named Buster and most subsequent dogs were either Buster or Brownie-I know, unique. I wonder what color they were.) Well, my dog experience was definitely not as the “alpha dog” because I was the one tormented by all dogs no matter how big or small (our family dauschand kept me on the back of the couch for the better part of most days because I was so scared-I was 8). My girls both were petrified of dogs growing up (actually petrified doesn’t quite cover it but you get the point). Obviously, what I considered maturity in my dog handling was severely inadequate.

On a whim, I stopped at the Pasadena Humane Society last Friday morning, and saw the most beautiful female yellow lab named Sierra. She had been surrendered by her owner’s because they had found that they didn’t have the time to devote to her. After meeting with an adoption counselor, we were told that we needed to bring Buddy back to meet her. The counselor seemed fairly optimistic that she could oversee the “meeting” and, while most dogs don’t like being introduced to a new one, they adapt, especially Labs. She also talked about the mental state of the handlers and how it affects the mental state of the dogs (I guess there are doggie psychology classes or something – but it did sound logical to me). Oh, and I needed to take Buddy for a nice long walk to wear him out before coming to the “meeting” to get rid of any excess energy.

Both Steph and Lizzy had talks with Buddy before we went to the meeting. Steph wasn’t allowed to go because we had decided that she was not in the right mental state (she was worried that Buddy would be sad if there was another dog; that he might be jealous). Lizzy sat down with Buddy before we left for the meeting and explained to him that getting a new dog was a playmate for him and that we would still love him. Seriously.

Well, the meeting…long story short, Buddy is a one-dog, one-family kind of dog. The “butt sniffing” went well and then he gave her a friendly chomp. She wasn’t happy and neither were the handlers, who said “Thanks for coming but I don’t think this will work.” Well, at least they didn’t shame me.

So, after four years in our home, I am the alpha dog (my family will disagree but I know the truth). I decided to let Buddy sleep inside the house, inside our bedroom, on the chair inside our bedroom. I decided to let him hang out in the house while we are gone, with ESPN on in two rooms, on my bed. I decided that it would be better to have the garden hose hooked up to the hot water of the bathroom sink for Buddy’s baths. I decided that he would be happier to be at home, with a dog-sitter who follows all of my rules when we go out of town (a kennel is out of the question). So, you see, I AM the alpha dog.

But seriously, Buddy is a big part of our family (literally, he weighs at least 110). He is a very smart (manipulative) and sweet (unless you are John May or Cory Marquez) companion. He follows me EVERYWHERE and now I understand having a “loyal companion” protecting me (often to a fault). He enjoys his Saturday lunch rides to Taco Bell with Richard and his morning walks with me. He only occasionally eats all of the Hershey kisses from the candy dish, the whole package of dinner rolls for tonight’s dinner or the entire platter of Christmas cookies and, he only ate one chihuahua from the neighborhood (OK, not really, he just bit it, and just one).  We have finally gotten him to fetch (I know, what “retriever” doesn’t retrieve?) but we don’t use the flavored tennis balls anymore (he LOVED the peanut butter ones) because he would fetch and never bring it back, he just ate it – shocking, I know. He has never been a jumper or a licker, both seem are desirable unless you are Richard. He has finally succeeded in getting Buddy to jump up on him but, try as he might, Richard cannot get him to lick him (why he wants that I don’t know). He also loves ice cubes – he thinks they are his treats (we found out that one of the girls -the older one- was worried that he might feel lonely when he was home alone so she was teaching him the value of comfort food…with substantial weight gain we had to put a stop to that).

So, maybe we have gone over the edge, to the dark side, perhaps, of the world where dogs are human…maybe not that far, but we do love our dog and can’t imagine how we went so many years without one. We love our Buddy and often find ourselves laughing out loud at his silly antics (not human, hmmm). For now, we’ll just give all the attention to him. Happy Birthday Buddy! Here’s to many more to come

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