Monday, May 14, 2012

Meet My New "Therapy" Dog

Buck and Me

We've had Bouviers de Flandres for over 26 years. When Turbo died, we were without a dog, but thanks to my husband, only for 5 months. He saw a dog he liked on the American Bouvier Rescue League site www.abrl.org
Buck is 2.5 years old and is the biggest ball of fluff we've ever had.

Dogs have the amazing ability to bring a smile to your face, even if you're not feeling so hot. I brought a photo of our first Bouvier, Spree, to the hospital when I had my first baby. When I was in recovery from chemo treatments, my faithful companions were Turbo and Asta. Asta died just before my 2nd transplant. Turbo lived to be 14.5. That's ancient for a dog.

Buck's good points are that he's house-trained and has a laid-back personality. He's a quirky one though, preferring women to men, which means he "guards" me if there's an unknown male in the room. He's a rescue dog because his owner/breeder died recently. Buck also has an eye problem, which makes him clumsy and a bit skittish if someone suddenly approaches him from the left side. He likes to eat shoes. The first night, he munched on one of Marty's old deck shoes. Last night, he destroyed one of my very expensive Arche shoes. We've bought him chew toys, but realize he can't be unsupervised at the moment.

Buck is currently by my side, keeping me company and making me smile.

4 comments:

Ronni Gordon said...

Awwwwww. Congratulations! I couldn't agree with you more about dogs providing therapy. You better put your shoes away, though.

Sue said...

I was going to say exactly the same thing as Ronni. Dogs give unconditional love and companionship, but hide your shoes and anything else you may value. The first year we were married, we got a Beagle puppy named Greta who was very sweet but chewed our wedding album, Jim's NY Times World Atlas, and his mother's cookbook. Every night we came home to a surprise until we moved things off the bottom shelf. We have quite a few Greta stories we still remember and now you will have Buck stories for many years to come. Love the name too!!!

Jim said...

Hi, Buck! Welcome to a great family.

Allyson Chappel said...

Buck looks awesome! That is true. Dogs have this uncanny ability to put a smile on your face, even if you feel down. I think it’s their loving, affectionate demeanor that makes them such great companions. It’s like they’re always trying to make you happy. Maybe a little obedience training can stop Buck from chewing your shoes. It’s also a great way to improve your communication with him.