Goodbye sweet Buster

This sweet dog belongs to my mom's next door neighbor. My whole family has known him for about 8 years, since my parents' built their house. The land had been passed down from my grandfather to my dad, and had sat empty for over 40 years. Buster assumed it was just an extension of his home, and so his presence came with the new house.

My parents' dog, Sparky, and Buster were fast friends, and used to play together all the time. Then they got older, Buster got a sister (Lizzy), Sparky got a brother (Buddy), and they weren't together as much. But they still hung out some together.

Recently Buster started losing lots of weight. As a lab, he was a big dog, but he became very thin towards the end of his life. He spent many of his days lazing about my parents' garage, and so we watched him go downhill, especially in the last few days.

Yesterday when it was obvious Buster was even worse, and not going to get better, his owner took him to the vet to end his suffering. It was the right thing to do, yet we are all hurting because of it.

Buster, you were loved by more than just "your" family, and we'll all miss your slobbery greeting whenever we drove up, your bellowing bark calling to Sparky to come play, and your coming to the door waiting for my mom to hand out your treat.

Rest easy, old friend.