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Buster - 1992 - 2005

aka Buster Bill, B-Boy, Busterooney, Busterooneytooney

Buster entered my life one Spring morning at the park two blocks from my house. I was walking my other two dogs, and there he was, a 5-month-ish puppy hanging around the softball diamond, skittish and scared. He was curious about Chelsea and Shadow, but avoided my approaches. I told myself that he had probably gotten out of someone’s yard, and they would be looking for him soon (yeah, yeah, yeah) so I left him there. But I thought about him all day, and finally went back to the park that afternoon. As fate would have it, there he was, trying to reach up to the drinking fountain by the dugout. Of course he couldn’t reach it, and struck quite a pathetic pose. That did it. I used Chelsea to lure him into my car and he came home with us.

From the first, Buster demonstrated a gentle, calm demeanor that would impress everyone who met him. At first, when I would reach to pet him, he would sit stock-still and look away. It took quite some time for him to realize that no one was going to hit him and that he was not only allowed in the house, but on the couch, as well.

Special Memories

When he would fall asleep sitting up, leaning against the cushions of the couch, his head nodding, unwilling to give the day up.

Splicing so many garden hoses from his puppy chewing that I joked that my 75’ hose had been reduced to 25’ due to Buster’s teething.

Terry Long, CPDT

Photographer:
Chris Williams

Buster Painting

Artist:
Anne-Marie Donnefield

The look in his eyes when he realized he could actually vocalize, and that it would be rewarded. My attempts at building confidence worked slowly but surely to create a myriad of attention-seeking behaviors that I would have looked aghast at if my clients told me they promoted such behaviors.

The fun he had being the star at public clicker training demonstrations.

Training him to do something he had been taught never to do: Putting his feet up on a table. This was for a photo shoot for a library book donation project. He handled it like a pro, and the photo was run in local papers.

The time he threw up on the start line at an agility trial due to performance anxiety (I let him transition to the cheering section after that!).

The countless adolescent dogs and puppies he taught manners over his career. His gentle, but firm insistence on proper canine greeting etiquette was an invaluable lesson for many boisterous, ill-mannered pups.

His love affair with Sandy Mae, which caused me to renege on placing Sandy Mae in another home after initially agreeing only to foster the little scamp.

Ringing his doorbell, at the beginning to let me know he had to go outside, but more often than not, to announce his needs … for chewies, for attention, for, for, for …. That bell became known as Buster’s Needs Bell.

The look on his face as he proudly brought me a huge, putrified, dead bullfrog he found while we camped at Lindy’s Landing in October 2004, a short two months after he completed a 6-month round of chemotherapy for lymphosarcoma. This frog was so big, that the back legs stuck out of one side of Buster’s mouth and the front legs out the other. Where or where was my camera?

Up to the end, his happy voice announcing the presence of Charm, his favorite puppy in the world. Grandpa Buster will be missed by that little guy.

His stoicism throughout four years of various health issues.

Leaning into me when I needed a hug, absorbing my petting like it was the last time he’d ever feel so good.

Tributes:

“Well I can hear Buster now, telling everybody how he picked up this crazy chick in a park ...”

“For Buster, a beautiful mind and a beautiful soul … somewhere over the rainbow.”

“Buster was a special boy. He had a full and wonderful life with you. No one could have given him a better life than you!”

“Buster is not gone … just gone ahead. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it just changes forms. Buster will be thanking you for all eternity.”

“This is the absolute worst part of loving dogs - having to let them go so they can be free from pain.  But it is also the most loving and unselfish thing, too.  (Just to let you know, I've always admired you for deciding to put your training on hold to spend more time with Buster after he got sick.) Buster is now at the Bridge, healthy and running happily with Chelsea and all the other dogs waiting for their special people.

“I really liked Buster and was always happy to give him back scratches as he leaned into me in doggy ecstasy!!  I'm glad you brought him to class so much so I could get to know him a little.  (He was the first one I'd greet every time.)  He had a quiet dignity all his own and was a special guy.”

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