BUDDY

We were a little worried about Buddy because he was an older dog. But his personality and temperament were wonderful, and not long after he became available, he was adopted into a warm and loving home. We received this letter from Buddy's guardians:

"Buddy was definitely a success story. He loved it here and we loved having him in our family. He may have been older than we thought. He was 10 when he collapsed and died at home but he had some medical problems for 2 years. Loud gurglely stomach, loss of appetite, weight loss..the only thing they could find was that his liver values were off, even though an ultrasound looked normal. Prednisone helped and he did well for over a year. The last problem was paralysis of the larynx which we were told is common in older labs. He lost his bark and apparently couldn't take a deep breath. I took him to the vet the day before he died because he didn't walk to the mailbox with me that morning which he always loved to do even if slowly. Dr Plumb took a blood sample, but couldn't offer any advice other than to let Buddy take it easy. He died in my arms in the middle of the night. He always tried so hard to please me. Whoever he lived with before he came into our lives sure trained him well. He never jumped on people or licked faces. He was very smart and dignified. He seemed to understand English. At first, he thought his job was to keep visitors away, but he quickly learned that we welcome company and he warmed up to everyone. Well, I could go on and on. Thank you again for everything. I will spend some time visiting your lovely website."