So..here is the problem. The day Buddy passed away, Bogey became a totally different dog. He went from being this independent "I don't need you to make me happy" mentality to a dog that NEVER leaves my side....and if I'm not around, he will find someone else and then he won't leave that person, until I get home. When I say "never", I mean "NEVER". Yesterday, I had knee surgery, I wanted to get a good night sleep before the surgery. Well...I woke up yesterday at 3:30 in the morning, rolled over thinking I'd find
my lovely wife (and best nurse in the world)...but instead I found Bogey. Not quite what I had in mind. I mean, ok, he's not a bad kisser but the dog has some serious bad breath. When I walk around my house during the day, he follows about 6 inches behind me ALL DAY LONG. He cries all night, he cries all day. He wonders around the back yard looking for his best friend Buddy. A few weeks ago while we were away he paced around the back yard for so long that he actually wore his back nails down on his paws to the point that his nails were bleeding. My neighbors, the Murray's and my sister Cheryl took him to the emergency vet at 9:00 pm to have the bleeding stopped. On a side note, I want to thank my next door neighbors for helping take care of Bogey while we were away. Bogey thanks you as well. I am sure you didn't sign up for all that drama when we asked you to watch him for the week we were away. Thanks again..and my sister Cheryl might just be the best doggy nurse in the world. Without her taking care of Bogey those 3 days after the trip to the vet a few weeks ago Bogey would have been even more miserable and my vacation would have been totally ruined. Thank you Cheryl!! You're the best. Bogey thinks so also.
So...back to the Bogmeister. Bogey lost his best friend and has become totally miserable which in turn, has turned family life at the Byrne residence totally upside down. He sleeps only during the day, for a few hours at a time...and is up most of the night. Whoever gets the Bogey detail during the day hours ends up kicking poor Bogey at least 5 times a day as you never expect to find him directly behind you at every turn. I've opened the door the refridgerator so many times slamming the door into poor Bogey that I lost count. Try going to the bathroom with a 80 lbs Basset Hound closely on your tail. Yes...he comes in with you. If not, he sits outside the bathroom door barking until you finally surrender and let him in. FYI, if you've never experienced a Basset ound bark, you're in for a shocking surprise. Send a Basset Hound to Gitmo if you want a terrorist to spill the beans....5 minutes of Basset barks will do him in. Waterboarding is for wimps, Basset Hound barking is serious torture. I feel terrible watching poor Bogey long for the good old days with Buddy. He has NEVER been alone since the day he was born...until now and it hurts. When he does get out into the front yard, he just plops on the ground and sits instead of taking off for the river like the old days. And...in what might be the saddest sight of all, he has somehow found the spot on the concrete in my garage where Buddy spend the last few minutes of his life and sits by that spot when he spends time in the garage. Buddy's scent must somehow still be on the spot. Basset Hounds look sad even when they are happy...but Bogey has true sadness in his eyes these days. He looks lost and my family is now paying the price for his sadness through lack of sleep. So..what are we planning on doing to help? Now you know why I started my Dog Blog by saying.."I can't believe I am doing this again".
Yes..We went puppy shopping. After Kathleen and I saying we won't do this ever again...I went to visit some puppies a few weeks ago. White Cream Golden Retriever puppies. What was I thinking. Am I nuts? Well, I walked into the den of 9 puppies....there they were. Trouble..lot's of trouble. I remembered seeing Buddy for the first time almost 12 years to the day. The mother of these 9 puppies came over to see me. She wanted to check me out to see if I was good enough for her babies. Then...it happened. She sat down in front of me...looked at me...and suddenly I had 2 paws in my lap. This was Buddy's favorite move to make me smile....and it worked. I smiled. Life was good again. Somehow for a few seconds, Buddy was there with me again. She looked at me and I was hooked. In my mind I thought..."Ok...who told you about that move being Buddy's move". This had to be a set up. I then checked out the puppies and I saw him. Pudge...Chunk...Buddy Jr?..this little chunky white ball of fur waddled over to me and licked my hand. He was biggest of the 9 puppies...starting to sound familiar again? I was hooked, I had to have "Max" as he was called by the breeder. She only named one of the puppies. It was Max.
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She said he was the Alpha Male of the litter and she warned me she would only give Max to a family that was familiar with raising a dog like that. He wasn't just a puppy, he was DogZilla. I brought Kathleen and one of my sons Michael back for a visit a few days later. Max put on his charm once again..as did his mother. They did their best to sell on the new puppy idea and it was working big time. We took a vote and Max won again. The final vote took place a few days ago when I brought out Kathleen, Mike and his twin brother Tommy. Max won again. We sent a picture to our son Sean, who is in the US Coast Guard in Cape Canaveral Florida. Max won again. It official.
Max will be coming home with us next Wednesday the 19th. We're doing it again. Bogey doesn't know yet but he did do something that he hasn't done since his best friend passed away. Bogey has refused to walk inside his dog house since Buddy died. Well, the while visiting Max we took a towel and wrapped it around Max trying to pick up Max's scent on the towel. We brought the towel home and placed it inside the dog house. It worked. Bogey went inside the dog house and sat down. We are hoping Bogey and Max become best friends....Max will never replace Buddy, but we hope at least Bogey finds a new best friend and we hope it's Max. Wish us luck. We're going to need it.
Back to my knee...I had surgery yesterday. It went well although my knee was a bit more messed up than the Dr. originally thought. He cleaned up some cartilage damage and also found a few small cracks in the bones in my knee. He drilled a few holes, filled them with some high tech filler material (probably just some cheap glue from Home Depot) and sent me on my way home after a few hours. I just want to say..My wife Kathleen is a Saint. She now has me to nurse back to full strength, she will taking care of my son Mike who is also having knee surgery on Friday and then taking on the duty of taking care of baby Max starting next Wednesday....and of course..the Bogart, and she never complained about any of it. She makes this house a home everyday. Just so you know, he slept in my son Tommy's room all night. I'm afraid to go inside and look at what was going on in there all night.
So...now you know, stay tuned for the next installment of "Preparing for Max"...or Buster..or Reilly...or whatever the name of the day is. If you have any name choices, sent them my way. We still haven't taken the final name vote yet. Thanks for listening...and Cheryl, thanks again for the help with Bogey and being my sister. You're the best. Love you all.
Good Morning...ok you not only have me hooked but now I reach for the power button on my computer first thing every morning not to read my e-mails but to read...yes you guessed it, your "dogsmywifefamily and me.blog". Once again, I found myself laughing hysterically one minute and crying the next. I'm glad I was able to share "Bogey Moments". We bonded and I've never bonded with a Basset Hound before. There is nothing like it. Bogey made me feel special, well...at least needed for those 3 days, inspite of stepping on, tripping on, and falling over either his ears or Bogey himself. He did an excellent job of making me feel like crap when I had to leave for work everyday. Those sad eyes, the cry and yes, the bark, goes right to your heart. And...yes the trips when I had to go upstairs or into the bathroom were unbearable moments for Bogey. Actually, he tried many times to follow me upstairs. That's another funny expereince, watching a Basset Hound going upstairs. I wish I would have kept the picture of the day I wanted to lay by my pool. I was able to do that but...not without Bogey by my side underneath an umbrella. See I had to keep his long ears that were hanging over his bed, from burning on the hot cement. Talk about spoiled but then I guess that's what a good Doggie Aunt is suppose to do. When I woke up every morning Bogey was there right by my side. He's the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. He's not my idea of a perfect partner and falls way short of my night in shinning armor but one thing about Bogey...he's "faithful". It was nice to know I could at least feel connected to some type of male. And...the other thing about Bogey, he understands what it's like to feel lonely. So...see in spite of your Basset Hound frustrations, Bogey does have a purpose in his lifetime...he makes us feel loved. That in and of itself is a wonderful feeling. On my vote for the puppy name...I'm still voting for "Putter". Bogey and Putter, sounds like a great dual to me. On the brotherly side...I'm glad you came through your surgery okay. I'm willing to fill in as the 2nd best nurse and give you rides to work if need be. Cuz see...You're The Best. And...I'm ready for those one legged races with you. Behave yourself on those crutches...I love you, your Sis.
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