Buddy The Dog

On March 20, 2021 I came home to a dog hiding between my and the neighbors house with no collar. Went to the neighbors house to see if they recognized him and they didnt. Jokingly the neighbor said "thats your dog now" based on how willingly the dog was following me.

Reviewing the camera footage, I saw that as I was coming down the street, the dog ran between the houses. To this day, I wonder if he was sitting on the porch, and the road noise made him run between the houses.

He Is Not A Black Lab

Found out that he did have a chip. In the system, the chip came back as being registered to a Black Lab that lived in Texas. While Buddy was black, with some dark brown, he was clearly not a Lab. The owner of the Black Lab confirmed that her dog was not lost. We think some of the registration information for the dogs had gotten mixed up, but we were able to get it fixed with the manufacturer of the chip.

Even when speaking with customer support for the chip manufacturer, they were confused on how such a thing could happen and had to get the owner to approve that the information was indeed incorrect with her dog.

Lost Dog

One day, months after he showed up, my wife was walking Buddy around the neighborhood. It was on this day that we found out that his owner, lived in the neighborhood. They called him Zeus. When called by either name, he would respond. He knew that when you called both names, that he was in trouble and often would go in his kennel or straight to his bed as a form of self-timeout.

His Age

Everyone asked how old was he? We never knew cause he always had gray fur, so we guessed at his age. We did find out that he has a microchip, and that microchip was manufactured in 2010. Assuming that the chip was made before he was born, we believe that he could have been born in 2010 but it is possible that he was born afterwards.

Personality

Buddy was a small dog, but when at the dog park, would act bigger than he actually was. When the other dogs would sniff too long, he would bark at or sometimes snip at the other dog. On a few occasions, I had to reel him in and let him know that it was not ok to do that. At home, he would stare out the window and bark at other dogs that would pass by. In some occasions, would bark at people walking down the sidewalk.

He knew that good food came from the grill. Had to stop him from almost burning his nose trying to get the meat off the grill. He would get some of the meat, unseasoned of course, for being patient.

Those that knew him, could tell he had a old man spirit. Easy going, but would occasionally get fired up and feisty.

After 4 years from him showing up, escaping out of the narrow gap in the fence more than once, constant sniffing for dropped food, and tolerating having his tail pulled by a toddler, we had to say bye to Buddy on yesterday.

Adios Dog

In the mornings headed to work, I would say "Adios dog" as I walked out the door. That way he knew I was leaving for work and would be back later in the day. Here's one last "Adios dog" as I close out this post.

Buddy... Circa 2010-2025