Kacie Hanson

Buddy & Me

I had dreamed of having a dog for at least the last three years of my life. I begged and pleaded with my dad, but he kept his stance firm and wouldn’t budge. I could imagine my dog and I playing in the yard, but my dad always said no. I really wanted a fluffy, curly-haired golden dog. I was so absolutely in love with the idea of having a dog that I thought if I didn’t have one I would die. Then, even if I didn’t know it at the time, everything changed.

I was so excited one weekend because my family and I were going to Virginia Tech to watch the University of North Carolina’s and Duke University’s women’s lacrosse game in the ACC playoffs. It was a warm day sitting in the son, with a slight breeze blowing across the field. When we got there my stepmom said she had to go to the pharmacy because she didn’t feel good, so my dad gave her directions and she was on her way. We entered the game a few minutes after it started, and as soon as you walked into the stands you could hear the yelling and screaming of the fans and parents. When someone scored, the noise was deafening. The game was almost over and my stepmom wasn’t back yet, so my stepsister, Lainey, my sister, Kellie, and I thought she had gotten lost. Eventually she came back and watched the lacrosse game. North Carolina ended up winning the game. When they scored the winning goal, the felt like an earthquake had irrupted.

We went home that night and the first thing my dad did was show us a picture of a blonde little pudgy puppy.

“What do you think of this puppy?” Dad asked.

“Oh my goodness he’s so cute!” said Lainey, Kellie, and I.

“Whose puppy is that?” I asked

“Well,” Dad said, “He’s going to be our puppy.”

The excitement that came after was unbelievable.  There was so much joy, everyone was so stoked. The thought of finally having my own dog filled my heart with joy and excitement! Here I was thinking I would never have my own puppy and then out of the blue my dad and stepmom announce we are getting a male golden doodle. I couldn’t wait for the day that I finally got to meet him.

It was finally the weekend to go and get Buddy. Buddy was the name we had all agreed on for our new puppy. I was bursting with excitement and happiness! I couldn’t believe the day had finally come. I was headed over to my dad’s house where I would finally meet Buddy. My dad and stepmom had gone to get him the day before, but were pretending like my dad had just gone to get him and was coming back right as we arrived.

I was sitting on the floor in my kitchen waiting for my dad to bring him inside. The door opened and this little cotton ball can hurdling toward me.

“Oh my goodness! He is so adorable!” my sisters and I screamed.

We sat there for what seemed like forty years playing with Buddy and all his new toys. He went crazy when we rolled and threw his toys. It was as if his toys had all of a sudden woke up and started running from him. He would exert all of his energy into chasing down the ball. The laughter that filled the room was flowing easily from everyone. Buddy was a small, fluffy, light coated golden doodle. He was super sweet; he always had to have someone petting him. When he walked he would sometimes just fall down on his face, which sent everyone into another fit of laughter.

A few days after we had gotten Buddy he started acting weird. We were all worried to death about him. We took him to the vet, and they couldn’t find anything wrong. But there was obviously something wrong. We took him to the Virginia Tech Veterinary Clinic, and they decided to keep him there to study him to find out what was wrong.

He had been there for about a week, and they found out that he had caught distemper from a raccoon that was around the breeder’s house that he came from. We had been to visit him once to see how he was doing, and I remember the place vividly. He was in a higher crate in the back of one of the rooms. The whole room reeked of dog pee and medicine. Buddy looked sick and dirty. His fur was all matted and he just sat in his crate the whole time we were there. We knew that he probably wasn’t going to get better because not many dogs recover from distemper, for there is no cure. 

I was riding to basketball open gym one day with my dad and Kellie. That’s when I found out that Buddy was too sick to keep going, so we had to put him down.

“I know we only had Buddy and short time, but he was really sick. So we had to put him down today,” Dad said.

I was completely devastated. I cried a cloud full of tears because I couldn’t believe what had happened. I eventually pulled myself together, and I went to basketball practice.  We looked into getting a new dog from a different breeder. We found another golden doodle to get and soon enough we had another dog. Even though Buddy was with us for only a short time, he received a life time of love. Blue, our new dog, came to us a few months after Buddy, and we moved on, knowing Buddy was somewhere better.

After all this happened I learned you just have to keep going. Bad things happen in your life all the time, but you just have to pick up the pieces and keep moving. That’s the only way things will ever get better. If I think about losing Buddy, then I’m not going to be able to truly appreciate Blue and all the joy he could bring. Life is like a roller coaster I’ve heard, so you just got to hold on tight for the ride during all the ups and downs.