Buddy came into my life at a time when I didn’t have a dog and didn’t really want a dog.  Isn’t that always the case?  Sometimes the best things happen when you weren’t looking.  From the very beginning, Buddy brightened my days.  Here was this 85 pound clumsy yellow lab that always had a happy face.  He was always glad to greet anyone. 

Buddy was truly a rescue on death row when we adopted him.  He had been found wandering around Basehor Kansas and was taken to the county vet that was used as a shelter/pound.  The patrons of the vet put up signs  but no one came forward and after two weeks , Buddy was still at the vet’s.  Some of the pet owners that used the vet took turns taking him home at night just to keep him from the needle.  A friend of ours came to us one day and spoke those fateful words,  “Do you know anyone who needs a dog?”

Mitch said politely without much interest, “What kind of dog?”

“A yellow lab.”

“Does he hunt?”

“He’s a yellow lab.”  And the hook was set. 

Karen drove the hour and a half to the vet’s office and the hour and a half back, just to let Mitch “take a look”.  Once I saw Buddy, there was no going back for him.  He was ours for better or for worse.

Buddy was my first exposure to a hunting dog.  He was definitely not a regular old hunting dog.  He had been taught a few basic skills, sit, down, but come was not a word that Buddy thought was really important unless food was involved.  Then Buddy was right there.  We called Buddy a land tiger shark.  He would eat anything that couldn’t eat him.  He would eat until it was all gone or he would bust.  I have never been exposed to a breed of dog that just doesn’t quit eating once they are full.  Labradors have no off valve on their stomachs. 

More on Buddy later.  Stick around.