Our sweet Bucky fought a good battle, but at 17 he was tired and ready for a rest.  



We brought Buck home when he was 3 months old. We did everything the books tell you to do when picking a puppy. We looked at both of his parents and decided that looks aren’t everything. His father had a huge nose, but fortunately, Buck didn’t inherit his looks from Daddy. We had our choice of four little boys and watched them play for awhile. The books told us to look for the active one. While his brothers ran around, Buck sat and watched us. He was interested in us and, obviously, we were interested in him because we brought him home.  When we got him home we put him in a barrel with dog food in it. He ran around in the dog food like he thought he’d gone to heaven.



We had many adventures with Buck. He liked to hike with us even when he picked up so many stickers that it took hours to remove them. Then there was the time we took him to Lincoln when the grass was wet and he came home with about a hundred ticks. They were even on his eyes and lips. He went goat packing/camping with us and chased the cows away. He thought that he was pretty tough until they decided to chase him back. He was a great swimmer and loved to chase sticks at the lake. Once while boating at Folsom Lake, we slowed the boat abruptly and Buck flew off the front. We didn’t notice that he was missing for a few minutes, but saw him in the distance and were able to get back to him. He had been hit by the propeller, but wasn’t seriously injured. He put up with a lot from us. I guess it’s amazing that he lived to be 17.



Buck’s favorite game was fetch, especially Frisbees. He always won. We could never outlast him. Once on the beach at Monterey he played Frisbee until we noticed that his tongue was raw from the sand. He still didn’t want to stop. Then he decided to chase the bait of the nearby fisherman, but fortunately, he didn’t catch it. That would have been another story.



Buck was the first dog we knew who would watch TV. His favorite was animal shows, and often “talked” to the other dogs. In fact, his bark was well known in the neighborhood when he was younger. He especially disliked the sound of windows opening and closing. With his excellent hearing, he not only objected to the sound our windows made, but to that of our neighbor’s as well. 



Buck had a good, long life, but we will miss him every day.