Buster

Our Buster boy went to the great beyond last week. I took these photos right before he passed. He was such a wonderful dog, we were so happy to have him for almost 5 years.

He was really good at snuggling, not so good at selfies.

 Ara really loved snuggling him and spent so much time cuddled up on him.

 Papa and Buster had a special bond as well.

 Family portrait (minus our other dog blue).

He liked to lay in the sandbox on hot days.

 He truly was a gentle giant.

 He would just lay there and love to be pet by the kids.

 We went on a fun excursion to the blackberry farm. You can see his tumor on his right leg in the middle stages of it's growth.

 Cheers to you, Bust, a huge 150 pound dog. You would always eat our food off the counter, up until the last month. You would always protect us through the fence and then goose new people or lean on them until they would pet you. You only had a few folks who you weren't sure about their energy, and you would communicate that clearly and safely. Kids were your favorite, maybe because they were a gateway to food. Either way, you were so loving, so fun, and so docile. You had to have been in so much pain but did not ever once whimper. You limped along the last few months and we knew when you were ready to go. We were not ready to say goodbye but you were ready to go.

Here are some of my favorite/interesting memories of you~
1. When we first adopted you, you were 2.5 and we thought you weren't a puppy anymore. Then you ate all of Chris's work shoes. Maybe you smelled all the other people and their cooties? I dunno.
2. Since you kept eating shoes when we were gone we gave you a whole bedroom. We wouldn't leave you in there too long, but one time we were gone for about 4 hours. When we came home, we entered into a smoky house. A wooden fruit bowl had been moved onto the stove burner, and the burner had been turned on, and you were loose in the house. As soon as I saw that smoldering fruit bowl I knew exactly what had happened. I had made some amazing homemade chicken stock that morning for a baby shower and I didn't totally clean up as I had to go to the amazing baby shower. At some point during the afternoon after Chris had left, Buster broke out of the room (faux doors, darnit!) and had sniffed around the stove/counter.  I bet there were some awesome scraps on the counter. The counter was an easy jump up and those giant clumsy paws could easily knock the stove buttons on, as well as knock the fruit bowl onto the burner. WHAT AN INSANE thing to come home to, a smoky house and utter confusion as the smoke alarms weren't going off. We sent 2.5 year old Owen outside and we opened all the windows. It was a smoky mess that we cleaned up over the next few days AFTER we bought a GIANT dog crate.
3. You would always try to eat food off the counter, once I found a whole butter stick, wrapper and all in your poop! Gross!
4. You were the favorite at our boarding place, many employees would say that they updated their profile picture on facebook of you and them!
5. You were so good with kids
6. You would sit so regal it was funny
7. Sadly you hunted a few baby turkeys if they came into our yard... So sad.
8. Most people would call you a horse!
9. You would oscillate between 135-155 pounds, always outweighing me, and sometimes outweighing Chris!
10. You loved to lay alongside our wall, or in Owen's room, on the deck, in the dirt, and in the sandbox.
11. You would NEVER pee on a leash *this is why we boarded him!
12. Your dog beds would last an average of 2-6 weeks as your sheer size and fingernails would always do them in!


Buster, you will be very missed. Until we meet again, my friend.