Not Just My Buddy
 

     To start off, I'll be honest. Buddy is only half Golden (on his mother's side). But that doesn't make him half special.
     He was 'donated' at a year old by a family who wanted him to be a Guide for the blind. I think they could already see he had something about him. I was assigned the task of fostering him and and assessing his temperament.
     Unfortunately, the donating family did not know a lot about puppy raising, for not only did he have some serious behavioral quirks, but he was loaded with heartworms. The vet said it was a bad case, but he was young and strong and could make it through treatment.
     Now knowing he wouldn't make it as a Guide dog, I decided to keep this charming fellow myself , have him treated for heartworms and work through his behavioral problems.
     The treatment seemed like a long process, keeping him quiet and taking him back and forth to the vet. He is very energetic and loves stuffed toys to carry, so quiet is not his favorite.
     After the treatment, he was found to still have a lot of heartworms left. So we went through the process again. He lost a lot of weight, and didn't look good at all. Then, he was found to still have what the vet said was maybe one worm left. We were able to safely start him on preventative and after about three years, his test came back negative!
     We began search and rescue during those three years and he proved to be a natural. It was almost as though he was itching to save someone's life. He couldn't get enough.
     One day as we were working a booth at a pet fair, Buddy chose a boy with Cerebral Palsy in a wheelchair out of the whole crowd that was visiting. The boy was about ten. Buddy insisted the boy pet him. Well the boy struggled to get his hand on Buddy's head, and when he did, he began to laugh. Not just a giggle, but a full blown belly laugh. The boy's parents began to cry. That made me cry. I asked why they were crying. His parents said "Because that is the first time our son has ever laughed."
     It became clear to me why Buddy's path went the way it did. It was all worth while.