Buddy was a stray dog
roaming the streets of Marietta, OH. Marietta is a small
town of 15,000 people and downtown is small and quaint. I
was having my snow tires taken off my car and decided to
take a walk while the service center replaced my tires. It
is always my luck that if there is a stray dog in town, it
is always going to find me. Buddy, as we named him, was
about six months old and wandering down the middle of Front
Street without a care in the world. He was wet and had
probably just been down to the Ohio River for a swim. The
river is about one block from Front Street. Cars were
stopping and trying not to hit him. Several people watched,
but of course, no one took any action.
My heart stopped a few
times as he almost got hit, then I called for him to come to
me. Sometimes stray dogs will come to you and many times
they just ignore you. Buddy was a very friendly collie mix
that must have loved people and he came right to me. I did
not have a leash and at that time in my life did not realize
that everyone carried a leash with them at all times if they
wore a belt to hold their pants up. Someone found a piece of
rope for me to use as a leash. Now what am I going to do
with this dog at the other end of the rope? No collar, no ID
tags and no dog license. Obviously, whoever owned ( using
the term loosely) Buddy did not care much about him or
they would have taken the time to put an ID tag and a collar
on him.
Everyone on the street were
being very vocal about not wanting or needing a DOG! We had
six other dogs at the time and I kept saying that we already
had six dogs and could not have another. I decided to walk
him for awhile hoping his owner would show up. Of course, no
owner was looking for him. I took him to the service center
with me to pick up my car. Then I decided to take care of
him since I did not know what else to do. I knew our shelter
had a very bad reputation at the time and they killed many
dogs. So I did not want to take him there.
I was worried that if I did
take him home, he might have a disease or illness that he
could give to our other dogs since he was a stray. My older
dog, Toby, was very sick with cancer and in his last days of
being with us. I would hate to give him any additional
problems from some illness brought into the house by a new
dog. So I asked the vet if she would keep Buddy for a few
days to make sure he was OK – a quarantine period. She said
yes and I left Buddy with her. I went to visit him everyday
and take him for walks and rides in the car. At the time,
there was a very large outbreak of kennel cough in the area.
It was a strange strain that was being passed all around
town. Normally kennel cough was the main illness at the
shelter and not normally passed around on the street from
dog to dog. But there are many different strains of kennel
cough. Most dogs, including ours, are vaccinated against
kennel cough, but sometimes if the strain is different the
vaccination offers no protection.
Buddy stay with the vet for a
full week. Then it was time to come home. Our family of dogs
seemed to like Buddy and all went well as he made himself at
home. He did get to meet Toby, our dog that was dying. It
seemed that I had a tradition in my life to always have a
black collie like dog. The first black collie mix dog that I
had was another stray that my husband and I found in
Columbus, OH. We were not married at the time and had taken
a trip to the big city to enjoy the weekend. We found Casey
wondering across a six lane street of traffic. My heart
stopped when I saw him almost get hit. Then he proceeded to
try to go inside one of the large stores. So I could see
that he was lost and called him. He came to me. He also had
no collar, ID tags or dog license. We were staying in a
motel and I was not sure that we could keep him with us. He
was about four to six months old. The motel clerk said he
could stay in our room when I explained that I found him
wondering the streets. I called the local shelter and they
told me no one had reported him lost and it would be best to
keep him. They were very full and he would probably not find
a home if we left him at the shelter.
So finding Casey in
Columbus started the tradition of always having a black,
collie mix dog in my life. Toby, the current dog dying from
cancer, was adopted a short time before Casey died. They did
know each other and got along fine. Now Toby was dying and
he got to meet Buddy, the next black mixed collie dog in my
life. I always tried to get photos of the dogs together.
Toby only lived a few days
longer after Buddy came home. We were very sad to lose Toby
since he had been one of the best dogs we ever had. But we
now had another black mixed collie in our lives. We had gone
from Casey, to Toby to Buddy. I must be a magnet for black
mixed collie dogs!
About a day after Buddy came home from the vets, all of our
dogs become sick with kennel cough. So my six dogs were sick
and Buddy became sick too. Kennel cough is like a dog having
a terrible cold with a cough. I had all of the dogs with
runny noses and gooey stuff hanging out of them – really
gross. Plus all seven dogs coughing their heads off. It was
not a fun time in our house. The vet felt bad about all the
dogs being sick even though they had all been inoculated
against kennel cough and gave me free antibiotics for all
seven dogs. She felt that Buddy had been exposed to the
kennel cough when he stayed with her for the week. I guess I
should have just brought him home, maybe all the dogs would
not have gotten sick.
All of the dogs got better
except for Toby. The added strain of kennel cough along with
his advanced cancer was too much for him and he died in the
middle of the night. We were with him and did get to say
good by.
Buddy
continued to do well with the doggie family and he become a
welcomed member in our household. Buddy was very smart and I
decided to take him to obedience school. He won a ribbon for
being the second best dog in the class. Unfortunately, he
could have been first, but decided to be silly when he was
doing his sit stay. As he sat across the room from me, he
kept wiggling his ears up and down during the “sit stay.” He
actually made me laugh and we lost points because he thought
my laughing meant he should come to me. Oh well, it is good
to have a comedian for a dog as well as a trained dog. Life
with dogs can be very interesting and entertaining.
Patricia Walter
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