Bucky was a Brittainy Spaniel that I rescued from my husbands family. My father-in-law would buy puppies with the intention of training them to hunt. Bucky was just one in a long line of forgotten dogs that he didn’t have the time for. My father-in-law really hated Bucky though because he was gunshy. He wasn’t allowed in the house even on the bitterest, coldest nights because of his white fur. I fell in love with Bucky and I just untied him one day and took him home and never brought him back. I lived with my grandparents at the time and my grandfather kept saying that he didn’t want anymore dogs. Well, when I grew up and got my first apartment and I couldn’t take Bucky with me. So Grandpa and Grandma kept him. Grandpa died in 2003. Then Grandma lost her vision in 2004. Then Bucky was diagnosed with congestive heart disease also in 2004.

By this time I was living next door to Grandma, so I could help her and Bucky was best friends with my new (older) dog Max, a Daschund. Grandma and I discussed Buckys health problems and decided that as long as he could still run and be happy, there was no need to put him down. Bucky would fill up with fluid every few weeks and I would take him to the vet to have it sucked out with a needle in his abdomen. We were so very, very lucky. The day Bucky died, on July 5, 2006, he died right on his feet. He didn’t even know what hit him. He just died while following my grandmother around the house and alongside his best friend Max. Now, I tell my seven year old daughter that Bucky and Great-Papa are riding around the big block in the sky together.
We are now trying to get another Brittainy Spaniel from a rescue group. You wouldn’t believe how hard these rescue groups are to get a dog from.
But I want to thank you for doing this Mark. And, I am sorry for your pain and happy for your joy.

Shannon from CT