Whoever Said it was Three Strikes and Your Out?

I have never been much of an animal person, I mean they have always been around but I never really formed any deep attachment for them. I main saw them as nothing much more than a food pit and a drain on the wallet. Maybe it is because my life had been so transient in the past, always working out of town, never home. Who knows. I just never really saw them as beneficial. My daughter had her share of pets and Linda had her menagerie of cats, dogs and birds, all I of which I still have. But there was one who was determined to to be my bud.

It was about 4 years after moving here I went out one early evening to get a breath of fresh air when across my field I saw this nondescript skinny to the point of starving German Sheppard walking slowly towards my home. At first I thought it was coyote and was going to deal with it in that way. I went into the house and got my pistol and walked back into the yard and I waited. He stopped about 1/2 way between my property line and the house and just stared at me. I started walking towards him, pistol down to my side and he did not move. As I got closer I saw a collar on him and decided it wasn't a coyote but rather someone's pet. I turned and started back to the house thinking that he would just pass through and keep on going. I turned to look at him and he had started following me, I paid him no mind and turned to the house and went in. About an hour later my daughter came walking into the living room and walked towards the door, she asked without turning who's dog was at the front door? I looked over and there he was staring in at us with the saddest face you ever saw. Linda said to feed it and maybe it would go on it's way by morning. So I did. Very big mistake.

The next morning as I walked out to my truck to go to work, there he was all curled up beneath it sound asleep. When the door shut he looked up and then yawned, slowing working his way out from under it. He walked over to me, sniffed my hand, licked it and went to lay down by the porch. All the way to work I thought, yeah, feed him and maybe he will be gone by in the morning. When I got home that evening there he was with his muzzle buried in a pan eating. He looked up at me as I pulled into the drive and stood there staring at me. As I walked up to the porch he walked over to me and again he licked my hand. For the next 3 or 4 days all I did was try and drive him off the property or figure some way of getting rid of him. He just kept coming back.

It was a Saturday and I had been working in the yard when I decided to sit a little and rest underneath a big oak tree. I didn't even know he had walked up. He places his muzzle under my hand and flipped it on his back. Unconsciously I started to pet him. I looked over at the florescent orange collar he was wearing and noticed there were no tags at all on it. He was looking dead in my eye as if telling me I best give up and accept the fact he was here to stay and there was nothing I was or could do about it. Looking at him, I shook my head and said to him, "You're going to need a name." So I thought and thought and thought and nothing came to mind. Later that evening my step son came by to talk a little and he threw his Bud beer can down. The dog went and got it and took it to me. I looked down at him and said, "What the hell, I'll call you Bud." So hence the name.

He got along well with everyone in the family and not so well with those he thought should not be on the property. He protected it as if it was his own. No one came on it unless they went through him first or with my permission. One of his favorite things to keep the property rid of was snakes. It was not uncommon to see several snakes a month lying dead someplace on the property that he had killed. Poisonous or nonpoisonous he did not discriminate, they all met their demise. It wasn't uncommon that every once in a while he would get bit and I would rush him to the vet and one shot later and a few days of rest he would be back to his old self. Chasing squirrels, raccoons, cats and coyotes off the property. That was a little over eight years ago he wandered onto the property and found himself a home. The grand kids loved him and he was gentle to the point with them that they could pull his tail, his ears or ride on his back, he would just take it in stride, after all, they were family just like he was and this is what family did.

This afternoon I went to feed Bud and found him laying on the ground of his dog run, at first I thought he was asleep, as often as he is and I called for him. Usually his tail would start wagging before he would jump up and run to the gate to see what goodies I had for him, but today he did not move when I called him. I set the pail down and went inside, I walked over to him and squatted next to him, I noticed he wasn't breathing. With my hand trembling I laid it on his shoulder and whispered to him to see if he was okay, he still did not move. I lifted his muzzle and saw two puncture wounds on the side of his muzzle and two behind his left eye. His eyes were open and I thought I saw them blink. I picked up all 145 pounds of dog and placed him in the back seat of my car. On the way I called the vet to make sure he would be there and wait on me. I pulled up, he sent two young boys to help, I told them I would carry him in. I placed Bud on the table in the examination room and the doctor without examining him gave him his shot and then started checking him. He looked at me and told me this may be the last time I would be bringing him in, it di dnot look as if he was responding to the antivenom. He said to leave over night and if it looked as if there was no imporvemnt by morning he would put Bud under. For a dog I tried so hard to chase off, I cried like some little kid that had lost his best friend all the way home.

I was talking to YuYing telling her what had happened and other things I had done today when the phone rang. It was the vet, "Ron I am very sorry, but Bud didn't make it this time." I was always told all my life it was three strikes before you were out of the game, Bud was out after two. I am going to miss him, for something I thought I was never really attached to to begin with.