Buddy (Bud) Lewis

Profile

09/01/06: Buddy Lewis has come back into the care of RAGOM. The family that adopted him a few months back discovered that although he absolutely adores little kids, he can be a bit rough with them and doesn't seem to understand the rules of "playing" with humans. He also seems to suffer from a bit of what we call resource guarding, which means that he "protects" things that he believes are his. The family felt that because of these things, Buddy would do better in a home without young children so they returned him to RAGOM. Buddy was then boarded for a couple weeks before we gave in and decided it just wasn't fair to him and brought him home with us. He has an evaluation scheduled at the University of Minnesota's animal behavior department next week and until then we are keeping an eye on him in the house to see if we can't catch some of the behaviors his previous family saw. So far, all we've seen is a dog that is very happy to be out of that kennel and into a home!!

When we first arrived home, my husband's reaction was "Buddy?? Who named him that?" So, he has been calling him "Louie" - after his middle name of Lewis. Buddy doesn't seem to mind what you call him! He met the resident golden, Beckham, and that must have been a pretty good conversation. In doggie language I imagine it was something like this:

Beck: Wanna play, wanna, huh?? Wanna, wanna?? Let's play, come on, play!! Yea, a friend! Play, play, play!

Buddy: Listen up young fellow! I am a mature canine and will have none of this nonsense! I haven't even had a chance to sniff my new yard yet!

Beck: Oh, okay. Sounds good - but, after you sniff can we play?? Huh, huh?? Let's PLAY!!!

In other words, they are now getting along great - it just took Buddy telling Beckham off for Beck to realize that Buddy needed some time to get comfortable. They now play and wrestle, and seem to enjoy each other very much! The three of us took a nice long walk and my husband was concerned. He said "Are you going to take them both??!" Well, I couldn't leave one behind and I certainly didn't want to take TWO 4-mile walks, so Yes, I did take them both!! Imagine my surprise when they walked like a perfectly matched pair! Beckham is trained to walk on the left so Buddy gladly took up the spot available on my right and off we went. The walk was very uneventful. We passed many a walker, biker, leashed dog and not even a peep out of Buddy. The only time he even pulled on the leash was when we were nearing home and he noticed two squirrels playing in the middle of the path.

I have some idea of what Buddy is looking for and that would be a fenced yard (this is negotiable as we don't have a fence and he's been okay so far) where he can chase squirrels and not have to be bothered by passing cars and trucks, maybe a doggy friend to wrestle with as he really seems to enjoy that, and probably no children under the age of 10. These things may change as we get to know Buddy more, but we will keep you updated! We will also try and get some updated pictures to add to his bio as soon as possible.

If you think that this mature, but very active, boy might be for you - Please email

[email protected]