The story of our Buddy and how he came to be part of our kennels.
It was back in 2018 in mid December I can remember that cold morning clearly. I got up at daybreak just like any other day except our dogs were having a fit howling more than usual. I spotted a big dark looking dog at the back of our kennels running back and fourth around one of our kennels that houses 4 of our girls. Two of the girls were in heat. Crap I said to Mary Lee, somebodies dog is out here and he will end up tearing into our kennels trying to breed one of our girls. I was afraid he would free the girls. I had a very bad experience not long before this with a dog that was roaming the neighborhood.
I ran shouting and screaming for him to go home. He ran back into the woods and disappeared. Problem solved, doggie went home. Not even close, this was just the beginning of our cat and mouse game with Buddy. It was just a couple hours later I look out and there he was back again. So I ran screaming and off he went. An hour later he was back yet again. I got on the ranger and ran him across the field into the woods and was right on his tail and he was terrified. I knew that would be enough to keep him gone for good this time. He was gone for about the same time as always. He got so use to me running him off that he would see me come out of the door and go ahead and trot off on his own. He always came back though. Some of our neighbors said to call animal control and one said shoot him. I know both solved my problem but as a dog lover I can’t just shoot him because his owners are irresponsible. I can’t call animal control because he would be off to a kill shelter and most likely die there. I would not sleep good at night not knowing if he made it out or not.
So I kind of came to terms that he was not going to leave for a while and just spent a few hours running a hot wire across the bottom of our kennels. That way I didn’t worry about him breaking out any of our girls. We made calls and contacts over the next few weeks to anyone we thought may be missing a big dark red husky. He was never claimed. Mary Lee said we needed to name him and I said absolutely not! So she named him Buddy. By this time we figured out he was homeless and had no family, and that he had already adopted us and we just didn’t know it. I forgot to mention that after a few days in the beginning we did start feeding him.
Buddy had a lot of matted fur balls hanging off him the size of Soft balls. It’s the worst matting I had ever personally seen. We slowly went to work on his fur trying to get the matting off. We were over our head it was so bad and decided to call in a professional groomer. She worked on him for 2 days. His coat is now beautiful and soft like it should be.
By Spring time of 2019 he had a blue barrel for a dog house and a food bowl of his own. He was still here and the most remarkable part is he never left the back side of the kennels. He had paradise back there. A large pond and shade trees and plenty of dogs to be around.
Buddy loves Mary Lee. He does me too now, but for the longest time Buddy would not let me touch him. He remembers who was screaming at him and chasing him off. He held a grudge against me for a long time. After a couple years he was still here never leaving this area back here at the kennels. We have always went and played with Buddy and started vaccinating him, de-worming him, and giving him heart worm prevention just like all the other dogs in the kennel just a few months after he arrived here. He greets the people who come on kennel tours and those that stay in our airbnb rental property. He has the most gentle nature about him and he is so beautiful. I can’t imagine why anyone would have abandon him. He does not run cows, he has not bothered the chickens that run lose here, or mess with the wild ducks that raise ducklings every year on the pond. He does not even get into the garbage can at the outdoor kitchen over at the Pond View cabin.
We seen so much potential in Buddy as a sire. He was healthy and had the best temperament.He was very smart. We had a few questions about him though. Was he a purebred husky? Was he genetically sound for breeding? How would some of our customers react to us being an Akc kennel of registered huskies and have some pups without papers if we bred him? Papers mean very little to anyone who just wants a great pet. We decided to dna test him for purebred and health. We got the results back and he was 100% Siberian husky and he passed all 210 genetic tests for disease. We were so happy because now we could actually breed him and see what kind of pups we could produce. I was able to trace his bloodlines back to a really good kennel in North Carolina. They are not in business now but have put out some really good dogs in the past. His pups have been remarkable and we are so happy he is part of our kennels now. He is still the free spirit and roams the back of the kennels but has his own kennel he eats and sleeps in just like all the rest. The only difference is we do not lock him up at night because he is a free spirit dog that’s not going anywhere.
I could not now imagine life without Buddy. Buddy roaming around the back side sitting with me on the pond dock or chilling in the grass while I BBQ. Buddy is part of our pack and he is home. He knew that way before I did. He chose to be in our life even when we thought we didn’t want him in ours. He was patient with us until we came to realize he was our dog. I am so glad he did! This is the story of Buddy our free spirit dog.
