Buddy has had some rather down days in the past week. Plain and simple he has not felt well. He has spent pretty much all week sleeping in a crate--unusual behavior for a one and a half year old dog. Especially since we leave the door open for him. After some phone calls and a few trips to the vet he is now on 2 antibiotics and ear drops. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the medicines wipe out all of the infection(s) quickly.

Buddy is looking for a home without small children. Because of his size and the fact that his previous owner neglected to teach Buddy that people are not chew toys, he could frighten or accidentally injure a child. Buddy is not aggressive, just not completely trained. We've been working with him on this, but in all fairness, he needs to feel better before anyone can expect him to learn much of anything.

Buddy is behaving like a big overgrown puppy today. If I wasn't so darn happy that he seems to be feeling better I might be frustrated with him. This dog definitely likes to play! His favorite game is to lay down in the middle of the back yard and wait for you to come up to him. Then, powered by spring loaded long legs he jumps up and grabs you as if you were another puppy. Obviously, he needs to learn people are not dogs. But, darn it, it is so good to see him wanting to play!

Buddy needs a home with people committed to teaching him some rules. Don't all dogs? Obedience school would be wonderful for this big guy. Consistent training is a must...I don't think he had that in his past. I'll update again after we've had a few more days with the almost better Buddy.

Buddy the oversized puppy is getting better. He sleeps less plays more. He is still fighting a skin infection which has caused him to be overly flakey and to smell too much like a dog. He's not as flakey as he was and he smells much, much better than he did. With his 2 baths a week, antibiotics and some more good food (he is up to 83 lbs!), he should be better than he's ever been in a really short time.

That said, it is time to talk about the type of home the Bud-ster would like to have. Because he is a tall guy with puppy traits (he is a little chewy and jumpy when he wants to play), he'd be best in a house without small children. He is learning that people do not play the same way dogs play, but it's going to take him some time to get "appropriate play with people" down pat. Older children -- ones not afraid of dog behavior and willing to teach would be fine for this guy.

He is really pretty good at leash walking. I've only used a collar on him (not a Gentle Leader) because the skin on his nose was a little troubled by the infection. He pulls at times (don't all Goldens?) and he likes to play tug of war with the leash at the end of our walks (don't all Goldens?). Other than that, he is a very good walker -- especially for a 1.5 year old. Again, he wouldn't be a good candidate for a small child...He's 83 lbs now, but he could easily put on a few more pounds and still be svelte.

He likes to retrieve (yea!--maybe he can teach our Golden Taker how it's supposed to be done). He always gets and brings back, but needs some work on giving--I keep thinking I just don't know the command he was taught. We've tried "give" and "drop" and "let go". He doesn't mind having tennis balls forcibly removed from his mouth.

He would do well in a house with a dog. He will try to be alpha, but he doesn't seem to really want to have that role. He loves to play with our Golden named Buddy. Behind their backs we call them Slim and Stumpy. They have a sort of Laurel and Hardy or Fred and Barney look about them. Our Buddy/Stumpy is short and solid and blonde. Buddy/Slim is tall and thin and gold. They love to play-fight in the back yard--especially in the muddy parts. If you don't have an extra dog laying around, I think Buddy would still be fine. He might just want to spend more time playing with you.

To sum it up, this guy has so much potential. He has tons of love to give and would hardly be a problem. With food, water, love, and a dog bed, I have not doubt he will blossom into someone's very best Buddy.

Buddy has been adopted by Peter C and Duane F. He is off to the good life in Minnesota with his new family, which includes a big brother Golden named Zeus.

On April 9, 2005 we got up at 5:30, packed the Explorer with our 6 year old Golden named Zeus said goodbye to Mo the cat (she knew something was up) and drove from Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids, IA. We spent the 4 + hours in the car talking about a prospective new member to our family named Buddy. We had spent the last 2 weeks talking to his wonderful foster mom Melissa about his fit into our family. Buddy had some medical issues that we wanted to be sure of before we took the trip. We didn’t care if he wasn’t perfect we just wanted to know everything we could about him. What a surprise we got. He was perfect. Maybe not physically, but perfect for us. As he came running down the backyard hill with his foster brothers & sister to meet us, I knew he was coming home with us. He went straight to Duane and buried his head in Duane’s hands. He and Zeus hit it off right away. We all got back in the car and made the long trip home. What a great dog. The only change we made was to his name. He just didn’t seem like a “Buddy”. We renamed him Gus (short for Gustavus). Melissa his foster mom had said he has so much potential. She was so right. Over the last 3 months he has become such a good boy and learned so many new things and made so many new friends. Everyone who meets him falls in love with him. He races to the truck on Friday night to make the 2 hour trip to the cabin. He will sneak into anyone’s lap that sits on “his” couch. Each weekend he becomes a better swimmer and when he is tired he climbs aboard his dad’s lap on the air mattress and floats a while until he sees a lily pad he likes or has to greet his brother. I could spend hours watching him swim in tandem with his brother Zeus.

I want to say a big thank you to his great foster family but an even bigger thank you to all of the folks that saw his picture and bio on the Web site and didn’t respond. Thanks for saving him for us.

Sincerely,

Peter, Duane, Zeus, Mo and Gus

Dear RAGOM,

It has been 5 very short years since the former Buddy 05-058 came charging into our lives. First of all his name was changed to Gustavus (Gus for short) and Gustavus Naughtius when he isn’t on his best behavior.

I don’t think he looked back for a second. I know we didn’t. Okay, he probably missed his foster Mom Melissa for awhile. She did a great job getting him ready for us. Thanks again Melissa for giving us the final okay.

Here are a couple of pictures of Gus (on the right) with his big brother Zeus last Christmas at the cabin in Wisconsin.

For Gus it is not just a cabin. He thinks of it as “HappyWorldLand”. He just loves it there. There are a bunch of neighbor cabin fur-buddies to play with every weekend and tons of visitors stopping by just to say hello to him (at least that is what he thinks).

We can’t even begin to describe how much he has improved and changed our lives. He is what you would call a “character”. If he doesn’t like something he wrinkles up his nose and talks back. God forbid if we give too much attention to his brother or 18 year old feline sister. He forces all 95 lbs of himself up on your lap to grab all of the attention. Because he has been known to help himself to the unattended food on plates he was nicknamed The Sandwich Bandit.

He has turned the most fervent of non-dog lovers to best friends. People have said, “I don’t really like dogs but I really like Gus.” He is funny, smart, friendly and at times a bit of a prima donna but we wouldn’t change a thing. We knew the minute we saw that face he was the one for our family.

Thank you RAGOM for letting us adopt this wonderful dog and completing our family.

Peter, Duane, Mo, Angel Zeus and new little brother Ozzie (Moe 09-436)