I see you brought a coffee mug with you.
Not just any mug. This one celebrates the dog I had. My friend; my buddy. For 10 years when I was a kid I had a beagle named Buddy. Want to hear about him?
Sure.
When I was 10 years old, one cold winter day, I went with Dad and a family friend to a kennel that had a litter of 3-month-old beagle pups.
They were in a shelter, and they all came out to see us as we approached them. And, after a while, they all went back in to keep warm. Dad picked out one and we brought him home. Know why did Dad picked that one?
Why?
Dad had noticed that one particular beagle was the first one out of their shelter to greet us and was also the last one to go back in on that cold December day. He picked the one that apparently was the most interested in us.
Good thinking. And you named him Buddy?
Right. I didn’t have my own camera back then, so I don’t have a lot of pictures of him growing up, but fortunately I do have this one that Dad took when we got him. This is Buddy when I was 10 and Buddy was 3 months old.
I do have a lot more taken later. Like this one on the steps of our back porch.
And this one while I’m in my Boy Scout uniform.
I taught him some tricks. Like shaking hands. And to sit up when I tossed him a treat. Dog Yummies, I think they were called.
He was a good weather forecaster, too. He would react to thunder before we would ever hear it.
We played hide and seek, too. I would hide someplace in the house. Then my parents would tell him to go find me. And he would. And I’d then give him a treat.
And here’s a good one. When he was 13 months old we moved to a new house in a new neighborhood. Remember? The one next to the golf course?
Right.
We had been in the new place only a month or so when a family friend wanted to see if Buddy would be good at hunting rabbits. So he and Dad took Buddy to some deserted place a couple of miles away. And he fired a gun. Well, Buddy took off at the sound of the gun and ran all the way back to our house. The house that we had just moved into. Can you imagine that?
Animals do seem to have a sense of direction.
They must. It sure surprised us.
In that photo with you in the Scout uniform, didn’t I see a doghouse in the background? Is that where he stayed?
Right. And speaking of which I have a shot of me painting his house.
And Buddy liked it just fine.
Did he stay there in the winter too?
Yep. Except for the extremely cold nights. Or when the snow would be especially deep.
It had burlap flaps. And straw inside. You could stick your arm inside and it would feel toasty warm.
Of course, when it came to picture-taking, we would have to ham it up sometimes. Like when he turned 5 years old.
But, as he aged, his health problems increased. So, at about age 10, and when I was away at college, my parents relieved him of his troubles and let him leave for That Great Dog Kennel in the Sky.
Still, I’ll always remember when it was Me and My Buddy.
