Here's looking at you kid...

So first I must confess that I'm not a big dog lover. I grew up loving all our Pekinese dogs, all named Peppy so it seemed odd that that natural affection left me. Somehow the responsibilities of raising a large family was all I could do. We did get a few dogs for the kids. It was their job to do all the work...you know where this is going. This dog was suppose to teach them responsibility etc etc. It ended up just adding to mine. So...it was on one of those mornings after all the kids were off to school that I called up the want ads and offered our Cocker Spaniel...for free. I began taking phone calls and by the next morning I had found a kind older woman that wanted the companionship and of the dog. It took three days before any of our kids notice.

This is not a story about a dog. It is the story of compassion. Chelsee and Ben had first alerted me to the fact that their was a stray dog running around the area. They could never get close enough to catch it but always left food out in the event it got brave enough to come close. Then one evening as Bob and I were walking around the yard we turned the corner to our back yard and there was the stray dog, settled onto our patio couch, comfy as could be. I tried to approach it but it ran off. As it did so we noticed that it was limping and that it had left a blood stain on the couch. I felt sorry for the little guy but he was gone and that was that. The next day I visited with some of the neighbors and found that they had been trying for weeks to get close enough to help. That evening as we were eating dinner I turned to see him again, perched on our couch outside. This time Bob stayed inside and I went out to see if I could help it. I spent the next thirty minutes just inching my way closer and closer. There was a lot of growling involved but the minute we made eye contact, that was that. We were friends at last. We were leaving for Salt Lake City the next day and so we asked Ben and Chelsee to keep an eye out for him. I knew he would not stay. Much to our surprise, on our way out the door for the airport, there he was waiting for me. We arranged with Ben and Chelsee to get him to a vet and by the end of the weekend he had a collar, a name and a home. We were discussing this at dinner in Utah and the theory that if you want to establish authority over a dog you should not make eye contact. I had heard of this before. I thought to myself how difficult it would be to bond with an animal if you never looked into their eyes. For that matter, bond with anyone. Eyes tell so much.

Ben named him Buddy.

Much to our surprise, Buddy knew all kinds of trick, the first we discovered was shaking hands.

We tried to tape a sock on his wounded foot to keep him from touching it. That lasted maybe 30 minutes!

Not sure if he's a mix or not but he is a beautiful dog all the same.

Ben and Buddy are best friends.

Home Sweet Home~