What was I thinking?

by Karen
(Orchard Park, NY)

My friend came across this lab at a dog shelter in March of this year. She posted on fb about a year old yellow lab that needed a home. So we talked about it and she got in touch with the dog warden and he was kind enough to bring the dog to a local park so we could meet him.

His story goes like this. He was found at 1:00 am on a cold spring morning in a ravene . A tow truck driver and a sherrifs deputy were pulling a car out of the ravene and as they were hooking up this car for towing this yellow lab was standing there. Just came out of nowhere. The deputy put the dog in his car and took him to the shelter.

For a week the deputy went from house to house (this was in a very rual area ) to see if someone lost a dog. Posting were made on Craigs list, Fb and in the local paper all with no response. Which brings the story to me.

My husband and I met the warden at the park and this dog , a very bouncy dog, saw me and laid right at my feet. Well how could I say no this bundle of energy. Now let me say that I worked at a vet for seven years and was quite familiar with labs and said that is the last breed I would ever own. They were cute and all but I was familiar with their shall I say excessive energy.

So off to the pet store we went. Almost $300.00 later our yellow bundle of joy arrived at our home. Training oh boy did he need training. Walking on a leash was necessary since we live on a busy street. He walked my husband .

I walked the dog. There was no fooling around with me and he knew it. He didn't like it but he had no choice. Leaving him alone was another challenge. We tried a crate, he took it apart. So I would leave him alone in the house and tried to make sure I thought like a dog and what there was to get into. Close all the doors, put the garbage can away. Put everything up high enough so he couldn't get into it.

We had many mishaps. He has a fondness for my husbands leather belts, whole loaves of bread, paper towels. For a while I had to inspect every pile of poop to make sure things came out shortly after they went in. So far so good. His fear of being alone has faded to a degree. He knows there is a treat if we come home and there's no mess. I can actually take a shower without "company" He still follows me everywhere and cries if I leave , so my daughter and husband tell me. We had an invisable fence installed and it has worked beautifully. He caught on immediately. Only ran through it twice.

Spent a small fortune on vet bills, shots, neutering, skin and ear problems. That's to be expected the first year.

This whole experience has been a huge change for us after having a cat for 15 years. I had a collie when I was younger he was so easy to train compared to Buddy oh yeah that is the name everyone called him before we gave him a name. So it stuck with him. Imagine that, a Lab named Buddy.

I swear he is an angel sent from above to mend my broken heart after losing my Dad in 04 and my little Buddy our cat "Vinney" in 08. I really believe he understands everythng I say to him when we have our whisper time when we snuggle. He is truly my Buddy.