The Million Dollar Dog.

We'd been looking for a house. Mom and Dad wanted to move, Mom said she wanted to live out in the country and the road by our house was just getting to busy with all the traffic. So that Saturday morning we all piled in the Geo and drove down the road.

Of course, I thought we were going to look at a farm. Let me just tell you now, I was in no mood for this. The last thing I wanted was to move. Especially out in the country!

When we pulled in the driveway Mom and Dad told us we were there to pick out a puppy. Maybe it was because we weren't expecting it, or maybe it's just because no one can resist an adorable fuzzball, but we shot out of the car and made for the puppies! They were cute, of course, and so tiny. I wanted one of the fat little fuzzy guys, but of course my brothers chose the skinny one. That day we welcomed Buck into our family.

This has to be about 13 years ago. We still lived in our old house, so I can't be more than 11. Oh, and my family is weird :)

Why did we call him the million dollar dog? If only you knew. It all started with an innocent game of baseball, when Buck happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was hit in the eye with a baseball bat and for the rest of his life was blind in one eye. But did he complain? Nope! Seriously, you might think I'm a horrible person right now, but I swear he was the happiest dog alive.

Not long after the bat incident, Buck came down with Parvo (he got this while at the vet recovering from his injury). So, Mom nursed him back to health. A few years later Buck got lime's disease. Then I accidentally ran over him with the truck.

I know, I know. But picture this. We (my Granddaddy and I) were driving the red rocket (that's what we called the old farm truck) through the field. Dad had just finished building a new pond on the back of our property and we were hauling a truck full of square hay bails out to spread over the dam so the grass would grow. Buck (the million dollar dog) and Jenny (our somewhat annoying dalmation) were riding happily on the top of all those bails. What happens next? For some reason Buck decides to run off the bails, but instead of going off the back, he takes a shortcut over the cab of the truck, onto the hood, and straight off the front. Of course, I freaked. "Oh my GOD! I just killed our dog!!" I'm sitting there crying while Granddaddy shook his head saying, "Damn dog."

Buck and Jenny. They loved each other. :)

I dried my tears when Buck simply got up and ran off, still heading towards the pond. I tell ya, that dog was tough.

Well, we got Buck when I was about 11 years old, which means he was about thirteen last year when Marly & Me came out in theatres. E and I went to see the movie and I bawled at the end. You see, Buck was getting old. Poor guy hadn't been able to jump in the back of the truck for about a year - and boy did he love the back of the truck. He'd sit there for hours.

Oh yeah, he was spoiled, too. :) Right there? He's eyeing the ice cream.

He was old. We'd been talking to Mom about ending his suffering, but times were tough at the moment, what with the loss of our other favorite dog, Sneaker. It was just too tough to talk to Dad about it. He gets a little attached to those of the furry variety. Just a little ;)

When I was home this weekend Mom asked if I noticed if anything was missing. It took a moment, but when I noticed the empty dog bed in the garage I knew Buck was finally at peace. He really was one of the best dogs. A big furry lug who just loved taking walks around the farm, was the perfect size for a big hug, and loved everyone he met...well, except for our old real estate agent. I'll miss you Buck. You were one of the good ones.

Such a beautiful dog. Seriously.

Must Love Dogs

So last night, E and I went to see Marly & Me. Cute movie. As we left the sparsly crowded theatre we saw a little boy, probably around 9, who was bawling his eyes out. Poor little guy. I will say, that movie gives you no recovery time!

A little background:

• My family loves dogs. When I say we love them, I mean love them. We spoil them rotten. Treat them like they're kings. It's actually pretty horrible how rotten our animals are. Sample one:
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• We're a bunch of crybabies. We take the loss of our animals hard. My little brother's beagle died this summer unexpectedly and it was horrible. See here for more about how pathetic I am.
• Our family German Shepard, Buck, is the best dog ever. We like to call him the million dollar dog. He has been through everything, and he's still the most loving, beautiful dog ever.
• What's he been through, you ask?
  

1. When he was a puppy we were playing baseball and he got hit in the eye (yes, they eyeball) with the baseball bat). Needless to say, he's never been able to see out of that eye since.
2. While recovering from the eye issue, he got Parvo at the vet.
3. A year or so later he got lime's disease.
4. Then I ran over him in the truck. I know, that sounds horrible! Here's the story though. We were hauling hay out to our new pond so we had a bunch of haybales stacked up in the back of the farm truck. Granddaddy and I were driving through the field very slowly because of said hay, and because the dogs were riding on top of the hay. Well, Buck decided to run off the haybales, onto the cab of the truck and then proceeded to keep going, running off the front of the truck...while I was driving! I felt horrible, but he ended up just limping a bit.

• I'm sure there's more, but you get the point. He's been through a lot.
• 
• Buck's getting old. Really old. His hips are failing him and he mainly just sits around these days in the garage. He's developed mange (or something, we're not sure what) because he sits so much. He's lost a lot of hair on his back end. The other day he tried getting up to come and get some lovin from me and it made me wanna cry.

So, basically my point here is...I'm a crybaby and I don't want Buck to get old. Which he has. I keep telling Mom they need to put him down. He's miserable. The problem is, we all love him so much. We've never had a dog long enough to put them to sleep. They've either been really healthy into their old age and just died peacefully one day, or they died tragically (see Sneaker story above). So I guess part of it is that we've never had to deal with it before. I must say though, I bawled in Marly & Me at the end. It's just so freakin sad! How do people do it?