A Tribute to Buddy

Buddy....good ol' Buddy...what can I say about the basset hound whom LOVED to bark! He would bark at the wind; bark at a tree; bark at his own shadow! Even a bark-control collar didn't keep him from barking. Well...it did for the first bit but then he would get used to the high pitched sound and bark anyways! Buddy, though he may have been 3 1/2 years old, was still a puppy at heart. Whenever let out of his pen to run and play, he would always run and jump on Owen, wanting to play. Buddy would never go far; even when Missy tried to get him and Dot to wander down the road a bit!

This past Saturday, Buddy was killed. We do not know exactly what happened, but we speculate that he was attacked by a pit bull that has been seen in the area. Buddy wasn't just any ol' dog. He was Owen's dog. Owen loved that dog to pieces. He would talk to Buddy every time he was outside by the dog pen. Any time we were at the store, he wanted to get Buddy something, anything. He didn't care if Missy and Dot, the other two hounds, got anything; he was only concerned with getting Buddy something. Saturday afternoon we had gone into Rosenberg and had stopped by Petco. I wanted to just run in and get a couple of necessary items for our guinea pig. Well...on the way out, Owen insisted that we get Buddy some Valentine's doggy treats. We told him he could only get treats if he got enough for Missy and Dot, too. "Fine...but I get to pick out Buddy's treats!" So...we came home with treats. Well...Saturday night, Steve found that Buddy was missing. After much searching, Steve found him. Sunday morning we had to break the news to Owen. At first, he seemed to be ok. Well...I was WRONG! After church, Owen was in a very bad mood. I sent him to his room because I was tired of his behavior. After a few quick minutes of cooling off myself, I sat Owen on my lap and asked what was wrong and why he was acting the way he was. His response was, "Buddy died. MY dog died. I don't get to give him his treats." and then we both started crying. I will forever have that etched in my mind of when it finally hit Owen that Buddy is no longer with us.

Since this has happened, Owen has gone out to play with Missy and Dot every day after school. He takes both girls a few treats and chew bones. While they eat, both Owen and Eli talk to the girls and play around in the dog pen for a few minutes. It's odd how I don't remember Owen doing that when Buddy was with us. He would always stand on the outside of the kennel. Haha! Maybe its because he knew Buddy would jump on top of him. Who knows? Anyways...I just wanted to blog about this so that years down the road, Owen will be able to look back at this and see that he isn't the only one who misses Buddy...Mommy misses that loud barking dog, too!

We miss you Buddy. Rest in Peace
XOXOXO