Bud was only two years old when he came to us in a giant tractor-trailer all the way from Southern Arkansas. To me, he always looked like a wise old man, Yoda on his good days, Edward G. Robinson on the bad.
No creature should have to endure what Bud endures, and it has taken well over a year for him to settle down and trust us fully.
He is a loving and loved member of the family, but he always looks and acts older than his years, except when he is wrestling with Zinnia, which both of them love.
Maria thinks Bud is a handsome dog, I think Bud is so ugly that he is cute. I love our nap time together, he crawls right up to my shoulders and goes to sleep, snoring in my ear. Bud never tires of being loved, there is usually someone around here to oblige him.
Rescuing a dog is full of emotion, for the person, for the dog. It is satisfying and challenging. There are parts of Bud we just don’t know, things that inexplicably terrify him, he often seems to scare himself.
I think But and I share one thing at least, we both missed out on our childhood for various reasons. Perhaps that’s a reason Bud loves Zinnia so much, I think he never got to play before, abandoned in his small mesh pen.
It’s a projection, but sometimes I get the sense that Bud is looking around to see if his cushy new life – shelter, good food, at least two dog beds, company, and much love – is a dream.
I kept telling him, you’re OK Bud, you look like Edward G. Robinson, but you’re home now, you’re okay. He opens those brown eyes and tilts his head at me and wags his stump of a tail.
I have a rescue that fits this description. She’s up in years now but always had a maturity about her even when she was young. Easiest pup I ever had, never out of line. I know ours days together are numbered but even in old age she’s keeping her health. All the years with her has been like receiving a new gift every day.
Rescued dogs are the best! It is a wonder, how their lives were before they came to us, though. We think of our rescue dog as having been culturally deprived. She seems to have never been on a leash (went wild the first time we put her on one). We suspect she was just keep in a fenced in yard. Now she explores the world with us and is such a joy in our lives!
Thanks Karen, nice note. I found rescue dogs and good breeder dogs to be equally wonderful for me..Zinnia could only have come from a good breeder, Bud’s greatness is from being rescue dog..there is not only one way to get a dog..
I agree Jon. Right now I have one of each and they both have their merits and idiosyncrasies. But overall I do believe the rescues have an over abundance of appreciation for their good fortune that never fades over the years.
Our dear Sandy dog rescued all of us. He just showed up one morning sleeping on my daughter’s patio furniture. She tried to shoo him away and even tried to find his owner in her neighborhood, but he just wouldn’t leave. It turns out he was just what her little newly re-formed family needed. She and her two kids had just moved into the house because of the parents’ divorce. and everybody was a little shell-shocked. This little cocker spaniel became` the glue that held them all together to become a real family. The vet said he was probably two years old and already neutered so they skipped the puppy stage. Even now he doesn’t seem to know how to play. He is now about 15 and deaf and is the perfect temporary companion for me while we endure the quarantine. He is rescuing me from loneliness right now. since he is my only social life…Our whole extended family loves dogs and everybody has at least one, except for Brooklyn son who has a cat. Since I am Sandy’s designated dog-sitter when needed, I will not get another dog until Sandy dies–he deserves to have the single minded attention that I can give him. We think he is a purebred Rescuer Dog.
I love this picture and am sending nose kisses to him 🙂