by Caroline Auth
For the most part I try to keep this website as upbeat and funny as possible, however sometimes things that just arent that great happen in real life. Today I encountered one of these sad events...
So far in my short life, I have never really had to face death right up front. My parents are pretty young, leaving my grandparents relatively young as well (w/ the exception of my moms mother). The only family deaths I have dealt with are that of my Great Grandparents, whom I werent really closed to anyways. Today that changed
The legacy of Buster began on Christmas Eve when I was in second grade; I was about 7 years old. I was getting dressed in my parents room getting ready to go to the midnight mass at St. Martins. I remember my mom going into the bathroom to put on some makeup or do her hair, leaving me alone with our dog Baron. I was probably fumbling around with my tie, when Baron a black lab along w/ some other mix, jumped on my back. I screamed, and my mom came running in and my dad came running up the stairs. Baron had knocked me down to the ground face first and I think he bit my back. The action by Baron that night forced my parents to put him to sleep, as he was just a hazard to have around, if he would attack one of us. He always had a bad history of attacking peoplemostly just trying to protect my mother from people he thought would harm her.
It was a little over a year before we took a trip to someone who bred dogs to get a new one. This time my parents sought a more human, especially child friendly dog. I remember going into the peoples house and them letting about 10 little golden retriever puppies free so that we could play with them and see which one we wanted to take home with us, as a new member of the family. There was one dog in particular that just wanted to play with me the whole time, although he was my favorite (wonder why?), we chose the dog that seemed to love all of us the same.
It was a couple days before we actually named him...Buster. Later on, hed have more nicknames that anyone could even remember. Some of the most common ones included, Buzzy, Buzz, Buddy, and of course "Baby." I dont really remember too much about all of the early years that had gone by. I do remember us taking pictures of him growing every month, and he never really stopped growing! Early on, Buster didnt really like to walk forward, he kind of just walked around backwards everywhere, it was pretty funny. Much like every other puppy, he loved to eat ANYTHING! This kind of stuff is very, very traumatizing when you loose that key part to building a Lego Castle or Hospital! Again like pretty much every other dog in the world, Buster loved to chase balls around. Especially one ball in particular, a blue racquet ball, cleverly deemed "blue ball." From the day he found that ball in the woods, to this very day, hes always had that ball. He could even tell it apart from about the 5 other racquet balls we had..."blue ball" was a little darker in color so we knew.
Busters favorite hobby was probably swimming; nothing could keep this dog out of our pool, NOTHING (not even his hip displacer hed later develop)! As soon as my mom would go upstairs to put on her bathing suit, he knew exactly what was going on, and hed run to the backdoor and begin pawing it, or even running in to it to be the first one in the pool. He didnt do much in the pool, other than drop his ball, bark at it as it drifted around a couple times, and then jumped in to get it. Buster was a very smart dog, he learned his way around the pool and was able to climb up the ladder with out any assistance. We even slid him down the pool slide a couple of times.
Now as Buster grew older, and older, he never seemed to care. He was the biggest baby, Ive ever met! How many dogs do you know that HAVE to sleep in their parents bed? Might I had it had to be right in-between my mom and dad. Also when my mom would be sitting on the couch reading the newspaper or watching TV, he had to be right there cuddled up on her lap. Now take note that this dog is...HUGE! I guess it was about 140lbs...but he loved his mommy. Another very babyish thing Buster did was, barking downstairs until you told him goodnight and to come to bed.
Golden Retrievers are prone to a lot of disease and problems; Buster was no exception to that. As I said above Buster developed a bad case of hip displacer, as well as a thyroid problem. On top of all that, he even had a few tumors. However, everyday he kept wagging his tail, and the vet said "As long as he wags his tail, hes happy." So we left it at that. However, lately, even though his tail was thumping like crazy, the way it used to knock cookies out of little kids hands so he could eat them, we knew he wasnt that happy. None of us wanted to remember him that way, Buster was never sad. Not even the 100's of times he tore up the garbage and got yelled at.
Tonight when I came home from work, I locked up my car and took out all my CDs and whatnot, and walked into the house. The moment I stepped foot into the house, I had an eerie feeling. I knew what had happened. My little buddy wasnt laying in the door way wagging his tail to greet me. My dad was asleep on the couch, I know he was taking this rough, he loves that dog more than my brother & I (Im not kidding either). I walked into the dinning room to meet my mother who was in tears still. She told me what happened, and even though I knew my heart dropped a thousand more times. I went upstairs to take a shower, and just began to remember his great life. I felt like writing it on my website, because Untitled Website is about my life, and Buster is just as important as when I was born, my first birthday, getting my license, graduating from high school, and just about any other significant moment in my life.
I know some people are going to think this is probably cheesy and that I might just be overreacting. But, Buster wasnt just a dog. He was a member of the family, my brother if you will. And just as it would hurt if I lost a close family member, it hurts that Buster isnt going to be there wagging his tail eager to see me anymore when I come home.
So on and end note...
Buster, thanks for all the great times youve given me these past 11 years. I'll always love you, and never forget that you are truly mans best friend.
R.I.P.
Buster Auth
December 6 , 1991 - March 21, 2002