Our Boy Buddy

Puris receive the news

Buddy came into our world from the National Brittany Rescue & Adoption Network (NBRAN), in late 2009, our first NBRAN adoptee.  Like many rescues, Buddy’s history was rather uncertain and we think he was about 4 years old.  His foster (Andrew, a high school senior) told us that Buddy was a runner; we sure found that to be the case.  He was also a handful when walking on-leash.  Buddy got along with our own Brittany, Gambol, who came to us from a breeder and was only 1 year old.  Buddy was immediately a good fit in our family.  I took Buddy through a beginner obedience class and, while Buddy was by far the oldest dog in the class when it came to indoor recalls, he was the fastest dog in the class.  We also took an agility class and while Buddy would not attack the course, trotting rather than running from obstacle to obstacle, he could complete everything on the course.  On the course, Buddy would watch me like a hawk, following me very closely.  Of course, I had treats to dispense along the route, so Buddy was eager to please.  At home and outside, Buddy’s recall was almost non-existent.  We would try to walk him off-leash, and when he got more than 15 feet away from me, he would bolt and he was off in his own world, running with the wind.  Buddy usually wasn’t chasing anything, he just wanted to run.  Now, if a deer or any other animal happened by, Buddy was all for taking up the chase.  Most of the time when Buddy ran off, he did not try to find his way back home.  He would wander until he became tired or bored or hungry, and then he would walk up to the first person he saw and settle in until his owner/taxi driver arrived to take him back home.  It never occurred to Buddy to follow his nose back home.  One time he stayed away overnight.  The next morning we went out in our car looking in the general direction he had run, fully expecting to find his body in a ditch by the side of the road.  Finally, a good Samaritan called us and we picked Buddy up 5 miles from our home.  He was clean, dry, and in great shape after his walkabout.  I think he found a barn or garage to sleep in overnight!  For a long time after we got Buddy, he was difficult to walk on-leash.  We got a harness with a leash attachment point between his shoulders, and that helped some.  Buddy finally did walk nicely on-leash as he got older, but it was probably because he couldn’t pull quite as strongly.  It was ironic that in his last year or so, we would have to pull him by his leash to finish a walk as he would stop to smell the flowers/grass/dirt and slow down his walk to a crawl.
Only a few things bothered Buddy—thunderstorms, fireworks, and our security systems alarm.  Thunderstorms were the worst.  Buddy would start to pace 30 minutes before there was any lightning or thunder.  Once the lightning, thunder, heavy rain, and wind were overhead, Buddy would tremble, his teeth would chatter, and he would drool.  Aerial fireworks and the high pitched beep of the security alarm would cause pacing and trembling very quickly.  We got Buddy a ThunderShirt, tried lavender-scented bandanas, and gave him natural calming pills, but at best they alleviated only a small amount of his thunderstorm and loud noise anxiety.  Only putting Buddy inside Leslie’s car in the garage seemed to isolate him from the loud sounds enough for him to relax and fall asleep.  I suspect that Buddy was gun shy, making him unsuited for bird hunting, and that accounted for his entry into NBRAN.
When we got Buddy we had a small flock of laying hens.  The chickens slept in their coop at night and were free-range during the day.  On Buddy’s first introduction to the chickens, the hens panicked and started to run, Buddy lunged and caught one, killing it.  For the next month or two, I sat outside the coop with Buddy every evening, getting him used to the birds.  At first, I had to hold on to his collar or harness while the birds walked back in forth in front of us.  Initially, Buddy could hardly control himself, and he would just shake under my hand.  I kept telling him, “Buddy, leave it.”  I would pat him on the head and hold him tight.  Leslie would throw chicken feed near us so the chickens would come closer.  Gradually Buddy got accustomed to the chickens and eventually he could be trusted to walk around the chickens without attacking them.
Buddy loved the snow.  In his youth, he would put his head down into the snow and snowplow through the meadow.  Because he had a curly coat, he would end up with snowballs all over his hind legs—some as large as tennis balls.  When we got home we would go into the garage and knock off the snowballs with a brush before he could come into the house.  Snow also packed his paws between his toes, so we had to clear those out by hand.   
Buddy was always the gentle old man in the house, even with all the NBRAN foster Brittanys who lived with us.  He never had a problem with another dog.  Buddy was also easy going with people.  You wouldn’t call Buddy a cuddly dog and he didn’t have a favorite human.  Buddy was too dignified for overt emotion.  If you had a treat, he was your friend.  If you wanted to pet him, he would always allow it, but he seldom sought affection.  He didn’t really play with our other Brittanys, although once in a while, if one of them was particularly excited about something, Buddy would try to initiate play, pawing the other dog and doing the puppy bow.  The other dogs usually ignored Buddy’s playful overtures because this was such unusual behavior from Buddy.  Buddy was a chowhound and would eat anything.  He loved peanut butter, carrots, pretzels, and other doggie treats.
Both his eyesight and hearing have been failing for the past few years and over the last few months his balance has deteriorated to the point where he would be walking along and suddenly fall on his side.  At first, Buddy would jump right back up as if nothing had happened.  Lately though, his falls had been happening more often and he could no longer jump back up.  In fact, for the last two days, we’ve had to pick Buddy up and carry him into the house after he collapsed on a walk and just couldn’t get up.  When we went out this morning for our walk, Buddy collapsed right after we walked out the door and he didn’t try to rise, he just lay there.  When I bent over Buddy to pick him up, he let out a soft moan—not a whimper or whine of pain, but almost as if he was saying, “Oh man, not this again.”  I put in the dreaded call to the vet as soon as they opened, explained what was happening and set up an appointment for end-of-life services.  We spent his last day letting him sleep, carrying him out to pee, and just keeping him comfortable. 
So we’ve come to the end of Buddy’s story.  Buddy was always his own dog, doing what he was interested in doing.  Buddy got along with everyone—people, dogs, even our cat, Storm.  He was a gentle soul.  He was part of our family for over 10 years.  We miss him.

 

Stoicism after a wet morning walk

Remington, Buddy, Gambol

We don't prefer getting our picture taken.

A very unusual scene at our house this morning

Buddy and Kilo were curled up together in Kilo's bed.  Usually the dogs tend to nap separately in each other's bed, and we never see two dogs sleeping in the same bed.  Kilo's has the largest bed, so there was plenty of room for the two dogs  They were both pretty relaxed when I snapped the pictures. 

Buddy and his lifer

Buddy was doing his normal inspection of every tree in the meadow when a loud rumpus erupted from under a spruce.  A black shadow rose in the air sounding like a helicopter.  Buddy raced it down hill toward the shed as it rose higher. By the time it was 20 feet in the air, a sleek hen turkey emerged from the confusion.  She beat Buddy to the forest around the shed.  He stood at the driveway and barked, proudly announcing his victory and how he saved us for sure.  That nest is a lifer for him (and us), birder talk for the first time ever.
We  decided not to put the flag up until the nesting is finished so the flapping won't bother the hen.  Gambol and I walked a bunch of little (3"x5" or so) flags Paul has received in the (junk) mail down to the cul-de-sac and our house number.  We sprayed roses, honeysuckle, and olives along the driveway on the way back.
Paul sneaked over to the spruce to see a clutch of 9 mottled brown eggs the size of the largest hen egg. How are we going to keep the dogs from bothering that nest for 28 days?  How have the dogs not discovered it before this?  It has to have been there for at least 9 days, one day for each eggs laid.  With any luck we aren't on day 1 of incubation, but we'll take the trails to the meadow until we are sure.
No turtles yet for Gambol.  Last year he found his first on May 8.  He did get a baby bunny along the driveway, though.

Call of the wild

We were on a walk in the upper forest when Buddy took off wandering far off to the west side of the path.  He was out of sight for several minutes and I couldn’t hear his bell, so I called him loudly and, sure enough, he came running back through the forest.  I spotted something in his mouth so I told him to bring it to me.  He turned on the path well ahead of us and headed right to me.  At first I thought he had a frozen squirrel, but it ended up to be a chunk of bone—the shoulder blade and part of the foreleg of a deer, I think.  When Buddy got up to me I told him to “Drop it” and he did, right at my feet.  I didn’t have my camera, so we went back home and on our next walk I brought the camera for a few pictures.  All three dogs were interested in the new bone.  At one point both Kilo and Buddy had the bone, but that didn’t last long as Kilo growled and Buddy backed off quickly.  Rather than just leave the bone on the path, I carried it as we headed back home.  I left the bone hanging in a tree branch about 6 feet off the ground.  Kilo protested loudly that he would rather take the bone home himself. 

We have our own Olympic sports here in Julian:  who has the biggest hanging snowballs, who can tunnel himself totally under, who who can snowplow the longest ditch, who can leap the highest/longest to find a vole under 18" of snow, and a new one, tap dancing.  After an hour practicing for the above named sports, Gambol came in to the cement floor clicking like a tap dancer.  He had 4 pads packed with snow/ice. 
Buddy definitely wins with snowball contest. And, he caught a vole yesterday.  He may be ahead on the medal list.

Still more weather

Low this morning was 21. We had snow from about 2230 last night up until 0530 and then the drizzle started. That lasted until about noon.  We got 4-5 inches of new snow; then about 3/16 inch of ice on top of the new snow, forming a crust.  We have no damage to trees or trails.

It took almost 2 hours to plow our driveway after the 4-5 inches of new snow.  Halfway through the plowing we started getting freezing drizzle.  By the time I was finished plowing and shoveling the water bars, the snow had gains considerable weight from the drizzle and the ATV had frozen droplets on the dash and steering wheel and icicles hanging from the roof.  I had to plow off the excess snow using a number of turnouts, especially up near the house, but overall the driveway cleared off fairly well. 

We took the dogs out for a walk after the drizzle tapered off and the snow comes up to their bellies and the crust makes it hard for them to walk as they break through the crust with every step.  Pretty quickly they learned to either follow in each other's footprints, or follow in my footprints and let me blaze the trail ahead of them.  Even with the hard work walking through the snow, the dogs did not seem tired out enough to want to come back inside--just like every other day!

While plowing Paul noticed that when he piled up the snow, he could see a blue tint in the snow, mostly in the hollows of the snow pile.  He suspects that the cloudiness and low light levels today had something to do with the blue tint.  The only other time he's have seen a blue color like this was the ice in a glacier.

I got a text from Penn State at 0500: 2 hr delay.  That's happened only a few times since I've been here.  But, the dogs didn't believe we should waste the beautiful snowy morning so we did our regular meadow walk at 0630. By that time the snow, 4" new, (total 6") had turned to rain.  Things could get ugly.
Buddy was ravenous:  he willingly took his pills on a spoon of canned food.  He's moving a bit slowly but was anxious to get out to explore the snow.  His face is slightly swollen and there were a few drops of blood on his bed this morning.

Brisk (2)

Temp 6 F, winds NW at 8 mph, partly cloudy—perfect for a meadow walk until the leash freezes solid.

More weather and walkabouts

We got close to 2 inches of snow over night from Dec 6-7.  More snow fell on Dec 8 during the day and then it changed to rain last night and it is still trying to drizzle out this morning.  On top of the 1-2 inches of snow there is 1/8 inch of ice.  The ice and snow make it very slippery walking and the ice layer makes a loud crunching sound as you walk on it.  The crust is thin enough that even the dogs broke through. No chance of sneaking up on wildlife today.

Our bird feeder is very popular this morning with birds and squirrels, so the dogs are alert when we first go out for a walk. Both Buddy and Gambol race out to chase the critters away.  Because of Kilo's walk about last night I keep him on-leash. 
Last night Kilo bolted from the door when we went out for a pee--lately he has been pretty good and didn't need a leash to keep him close during our toilet outings, but not last night.  It had been snowing lightly out; Kilo's footprints were very clear, so I grabbed a flashlight and followed his tracks down the Jennifer Trail, over to the Hemlock tree behind the chicken coop, doubling back to the Jennifer Trail down to where the 3 paths converge.  There he ran out into the forest, straight towards R&D's property.  He ran almost in a straight line until he hit R's ATV path, and then turned right and followed the path up to the pile of firewood logs.  I followedhis footprints as he headed up towards  the left side of R&D's house.  Leslie spotted Kilo's light running around so she drove our ATV down to see if she could get him. (No luck.) I continued to follow Kilo's tracks while she returned home to stand by the DaddyTaxi phone.  I followed Kilo's tracks across a lot of deer tracks up to the front of house as he ran alongside of their driveway.  His tracks circled a couple of small pine trees and then doubled back towards R&D's house.  I lost his trail in all the deer tracks, so I headed home.  I spotted his collar light up in our meadow and called to Kilo to come to me.  The light mostly was facing me, so I figured Kilo was looking in my direction. I waved my flashlight as I called to him and walked in his direction.  Kilo was above me at our rock wall, so I called and waved some more and he came running down to me.  I got a leash on him as Leslie was headed back down the driveway in her car, and she gave us a ride back home.  I guess Kilo was out for about 30 minutes or so, but that was too much excitement for one evening.  We need more work on his recall, that's for (d@^^) sure.
Don't forget Buddy's walkabout on the early (Sunday) morning outing.  He explored some in the forest above the meadow as usual and apparently couldn't find the rest of his crew in the dark when he came out. He probably headed home but got distracted by a shiny molecule and drove down the hill in back of the coop.  I could hear his bell (and the Paradise rooster) but couldn't see his light. He also was gone about 30 minutes. 
Both came home without calling the DaddyTaxi. That's a plus.

Long distance training in the meadow

As long as food is involved, Kilo will make an off leash bee-line. He's pretty competitive, too, and likes to beat Buddy who often doesn't get as good a start.

Buddy's 9th life

Buddy took off on a freelancing walk-about yesterday afternoon at 4:30.  Neither of us slept much, listening for his bell coming up the driveway. When he wasn't home by 9:00 this morning , we alerted the dog network: training club, NBRAN, FB, office listserv, Black Moshannon State Park, School bus drivers, poster with his picture in the PO, microchip company, Twp secretary list serv...and probably a few more.  We drove "around the block" looking for his mangled body. And, of course we traipsed our trails. 

An orange and white Brittany named Buddy, last seen on Thursday, October 24 around 4:30 PM at 301 Rolling Hills Drive which is just off of Beaver Road in Julian.  He was wearing his regular red collar with his name and phone number and ID tag on it.  He also has on a training collar with a small bell and an Easy Walker harness.  Buddy has an embedded ID microchip.

Buddy answers to his name and will readily approach people.  Buddy is about 7 years old, he weighs 38 lbs.  He is in good shape physically and can run like the wind, especially if he sees or scents a small animals like a squirrels, birds, or rabbits.  He has also chased deer.

Please call ....

At 2:00 this afternoon, Paul got a call from a man on Dix Run who saw our phone # on his collar.  22 hours and 5 miles later, the dog was hungry, a bit stinky, had a few burrs and maybe some ticks, but seems none the worse for wear.  

Enough excitement for a long time, Buddster!

Surprise visitors

Gambol woke me up very early so he could stand on the front porch and smell.
Buddy took the long way around to get to his favorite pee spot.
It's a full moon.
D called me as I was headed into Julian on my way to work to ask if eastern neighbors have bison.  Yes, they do, a small herd.  Well, they were in her back yard as we spoke.
I did a wheel-y on Beaver Rd and headed home.  They were crossing our driveway headed to greener grass at Murch's.

from Paul:

I put the dogs in the truck and headed down the drive to see what was happening.  At the culvert by Ron and Darlene I saw a couple of the Bison and a guy who was apparently herding them.  I asked if they were herding them downhill or uphill and he said uphill, so I said I would return to the house.
I got back and put the dogs up in the carriage house and walked back to the garden to take a few shots.  The lead herder said that I better move back as they passed the shed or I might spook them.  I walked back to the carriage house and took a few pictures as the whole herd passed by the house and into the forest on the Jennifer Trail.  I asked if they knew where the break was in the fence and one guy said that probably a tree fell last night and the Bison found the opening.

later:

For our morning walk I put Buddy and Kilo on the dual lead and then to the long leash and Gambol was on his red leash as we walked up to the Shannon Curl.  The dogs were pretty crazy around the house but settled down fairly well for the walk.  As we headed back from the last turn on the Curl I saw what I think was a 2-4 point buck run across the forest ahead of us.  The deer stopped and looked back at us and I was pretty sure I saw 2 spikes.  None of the dogs saw the deer then but when he continued off toward our left both Kilo and Buddy spotted him, so they were determined to investigate this trespasser.  Once we got back to the house I took them down Jennifer Trail to the second cross trail and then back up to the house.  Doggies had their noses to the ground just about the whole way.  Pretty sure if they weren’t on leash, they would have been off on the hunt for bison. 

Not sure exactly where they herded the bison—going to the fire pit would not get them thru the fence.  Maybe they walked them all the way down to the corner of the property and got through a gate down there.

still later:

I just walked the doggies on the full meadow walk, including the shed for a drink and then down to the fire pit.  Gambol and Kilo were in the dual lead for the last half of the meadow walk, but from the shed on, I let both Gambol and Buddy to go off leash.  We came back to the house via the eastern part of the Jennifer Trail and the doggies didn’t seem to be as excited about the scents as this morning.   No problems getting everyone back home.

And we're off to the next excitement living in rural Julian.