I Lost my Buddy today

[Bobby Bass]

I lost my Buddy today

April 29th 2000 - October 1st 2014

Lost but never to be forgotten

[aanderud]

Sorry about your loss, Bobby. They really are members of the family, I just wish they lived as long as other family members.

[Dotch]

Goes double here. Very sorry for your loss Bobby.

[Ufatz]

Believe me, we understand my friend and are all sharing this time with you. It really hurts but it does mellow into fond memories even years from now.

[R. Miller]

Sorry for your loss.

[haleysgold]

Sorry to hear that.

What a cute face.

Google the Rainbow Bridge if you don't know what it is.

I believe it! I have to, I have too many buddies waiting for me not to believe it!!!

[Bobby Bass]

ALMOST THIRTEEN YEARS ago to the day I lost my lab Bud. Bud was a year and half old and my son took him out bird hunting with a buddy. They lost Bud in the woods about an hours drive from home. The son came home well after dark to tell me they lost Bud and as hard as they looked they could not find him. I called into work telling my boss I was going to be late and with the youngest daughter we grabbed flashlights and drove the hour drive and under the stars we started calling out Bud's name. My daughter found Bud or I should say she found her. At the edge of a field she saw eyes reflecting in her flashlight as Bud ran across the field to jump into her arms, no doubt as happy as we were to see him as he was to see us. On the ride back home Bud laid on the seat next to me with his head leaning up against my thigh and for the next thirteen years he has never left it till this morning.

Bud was having health problem and we knew this day was coming. Early yesterday morning Bud had several seizures and it was time. As I sat up with him during the night I didn't leave his side. When morning came I called the daughter who made arrangements with the vet and a afternoon appointment was set. I spent the time outside digging a grave in the rain, my tears mixing in with the rain drops. I made several trips inside to check on Bud, he was in good hands as Duncan the young lab was at his side. The time came and the daughter and wife took Bud to the vet, I didn't go, I could not handle seeing my Bud go.

This morning I woke up to the first time in over fourteen years and did not see Bud's face in mine. I went in search of my slippers and I could not find one. I finally did under the kitchen table where the wife without thinking said that Bud probably put it there. I left the slipper where it was and put on my boots and went outside. Going to take me awhile, everywhere I look I see Bud I grow very attracted to my dogs and losing one is o so very hard. Bud was by best pal, my wing man, the one I told secrets to as he was very good at not telling anyone them. He was always there for me and as I type this I am crying like a baby and I don't care. Bud, Buddy, The Old Man and also called Budrick when he was in trouble was a good dog, a good friend.

I went back in the house and took off my boots and went looking for my other slipper that was under the kitchen table. When I got there it was gone. I asked the wife and she said she had not moved it. I went into the den with one slipper on and in search of the other. I found it, under my desk in Duncan's mouth. He has learned well from Bud...

Thanks for reading this, pet your dog or rub your cat they are never here long enough so love then hard while you can, Bobby. Thanks for your comments, they do help. I wish you could have met Bud, he would take a pat on the head from anyone.

[JoePalermo]

sorry to hear bobby

[Ryan_V]

What a nice post. Thanks for sharing, remember the good times, he is well and healthy, waiting for you at the rainbow bridge! I promise

[Sinker]

My sympathies. A year ago last month we had to put down our 15 year old Lab, Sadie. Tough to say the least.

[LABS4ME]

Godspeed Bud!

Give Duncan an extra pat on the head! Take him out for a ride in the truck this weekend... Cool sun, fall day. Don't worry, Bud will be there too!

Good Luck!

Ken

[Fever]

Bobby,

Sorry to hear of your loss. I very much can empathize. I too lost my best friend and had to put him (Brody 10.5 year old black lab) down 3 weeks and one day ago. I still think of him every day and probably too often. I find myself looking for him etc. I never got Brody fixed and we live in a small west metro town. He got off his leash so many times and I had to drive around town looking so many times... I think I'm almost a certified / trained dog spotter. I'm way too good at it it seems. And I think it's because of the hundreds of hours I spent looking for Brody while he was out looking for a piece of tail. Anyway, It is amazing what these animals can do to you emotionally and you never really realize it until it's too late. It sounds as if your love for your Buddy was deep and your devotion and dedication to him was similar to his for you.

I learned a great deal with the loss of my Brody. No person will ever truly know what it feels like until it happens to them. I heard from many how it's tough. I never imagined just how tough it actually is.

When the day came (9-15-14), I, along with my wife, took Brody to the clinic and spent a little time with him. When "the" time came, I knelt down, petted him, gave him a few soft hugs and light kisses to his forehead while I told him just how much he meant to me and I thanked him for who he was & held him while the meds were given and shortly after - his heart beat it's last time as his eyes stared up at me. For as long as I live, I'll never forget my best friend Brody. I feel lucky to have had him in my life. Others may come in the future, but no other will ever replace him in my heart. I chose to have him cremated so he could stay with us (his family) for all time.

Bobby, my heart goes out to you and your family for your loss. I think it's very likely that your Buddy was as lucky to have you in his life as you were to have him. Bless you and yours, and do your best to think back at all the good, rewarding, fun, and funny times. Your time with Buddy and those memories will be with you always.

That's what I'm focusing on.

[Bobby Bass]

Thank you Fever and every one else for the kind words. Yup Bud for me was one of a kind and it will take a long time to get over not having him around but I am hoping that I never take him for granted. Now I don't have an excuse to go through the drive through and order double cheeseburger's. Bud would always get the tops!

[Arago]

I know how you feel....heartbroken. Had to put my lab Gunther down almost 2 years ago. One of the hardest periods of my life.

[Bobby Bass]

FIRST OFF I believe that nothing is impossible but a lot of things are highly improbable, Having made that statement I believe in ghosts. During my long stay in the hospital any kind of really good sleep was next to impossible to get. With the drugs I was taking I had more than a few wild dreams interrupted. Most dreams were quickly forgotten but one has hung with me now for more then a week, I was in my hospital bed and the room door was ajar. The bathroom door was open a crack with the light on. The sliver of light from the bathroom that fell into the room was just enough for the nurses and lab people to check on me, It was past two in the morning when I woke up. I didn't open my eyes all the way as I was expecting a nurse was going to be the reason I woke up. Instead I got the impression someone was in my room but I did not see anyone, I rolled on to my side and looked through the side rail of the bed to see my old dog Bud looking back at me.

　

White face and his sweet old tired eyes looked back at me and his tail was slowly waging with a purpose brushing the curtain that hangs from the ceiling in front of the door. I blinked my eyes trying to get them in focus. He stood looking at me like he had been there for awhile. Bud took a few steps closer to the bed and was in reach of my hand that I had stuck through the side rail, I heard him whine his familiar whine and he leaned forward to lick my hand, just once, I asked him if he wanted me to follow him but instead he turned away from the bed and walked to the curtain. He looked over his broad brown back and me and gave me a soft little ruff growl that sounded like a no. Then he walked into the curtain and was gone.

The dream is the only one of many that I had, but it is the only one I remember, I think he was telling me that Bud and his brother Barney are not yet ready to show me their new hunting grounds. Was it a dream or was it Buds ghost checking on me, I want to think it was his ghost. Here at Lake Iwanttobethere anything can be possible.

[rustysetter]

Deepest sympathy BB, it sounds like Bud had a great life and you and you both were great companions. Hold on to the memories a good dog is very special. I regret the day I have to face it with mine. 

[Ufatz]

If you are a dog owner and have not been through this yet do not treat it lightly. It is more painful than you would think.  It  is hard to understand the bond between a man and a dog and good writers or poetry and prose have remarked  upon it for hundreds of years.

I have been through it twenty times or more and I swear it is worse today,   when I'm an old man, than years ago when I was much younger and did not think as much about other things as I did myself.

My wife knows that my final wish is that I go to a place where the sun is beaming down on warm green grass in a meadow that slopes down to a small bright stream and all across the meadow,    fat little black puppies whose names I know,,,,,Mike and Jake and Annie and Lucky and......are running to greet me.

Your pal will always be with you my friend-fear not.

[Bobby Bass]

Two years and a week ago I lost my Buddy. Would have written something on his anniversary but I was not near a computer. I have a big picture of Bud over my desk and I look at him every time I have to wait for a page to load on my computer. I think of all the times we went hunting and all the times he was at home doing what dogs do. It was hard to lose him after fifteen years, I wanted him to stick around for another fifteen. I may be a tad strange to still be thinking about him but a good dog is hard to find and Bud was one of them good dogs. So Bud my friend I am remembering you on your passing, sleep well my friend.

[Ufatz]

I still think about ALL my dogs,  and some of them have been gone for over fifty years. Each one had an individual personality' each one had  a particular habit or trait.  There are pictures of all of them scattered about the MN house including some big 20X30 framed full color. Every now and then a particular scene along a stream or slough or across a woodland or field will remind me of one and when I think of one , all the memories come back. My black dogs have been one of the joys of my life and while I'm typing this out Abby,  the latest, is laying on her favorite little rug.

They never go away. They will be with you forever.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Ufatz
correct errors