So long my friend....

"No heaven will not ever Heaven be. Unless my dogs are there to welcome me."-Anonymous

Buff lost his battle with bone cancer today. It has been a tough 8 weeks since his diagnosis, but the Labrador Retriever breed is as tough as they come. 

You were from a litter of eight, four boys and four girls. When she let the four boys out of the pen, three of them went their separate ways. But you came straight to me, put your front legs on mine and licked my face...the choice was made. But as I left the breeder's home, I put you in your travel cage. You started screaming. Not barking...screaming. I then put you in the front seat where you promptly fell asleep. Buff 1, Dean 0.

When we finally arrived to your new home, you prompt bolted into the house...and did a dookie in the living room. Buff 2, Dean 0.

When it was time for me to leave you at home for the first time, you promptly pooped in your cage (possibly many times) and proceeded to project this poop in many directions, also turning you into a chocolate Lab. Buff 3, Dean 0.

When I went to a Packer game in 2003, you proceeded to eat (not chew) my dining room table, kitchen dry wall and my patio door. Buff 6, Dean 0.

You cheated skin cancer in 2004. You cheated death in 2005, cutting your tongue while running with a large stick, narrowly missing a major artery. Buff 8, Dean 0.

Over the course of the Winter of 2008, you proceeded to pee away my central air unit into oblivion. Buff 9, Dean 0.

And over the course of almost eight years, you killed every shrub around the patio.

Buff 10,11,12,13, Dean.........fuck it, you win.

You were the real alpha dog, AKC Candlewood's Absolutely Buff. You were fiercely independent, but you always looked back to make sure I was always in sight, no matter how far you ranged in front of me.

So goodbye my friend. I will miss you more that you can imagine, but I take solace in the fact that you are somewhere playing with your brother, AKC Candlewood's Absolute Tsar.

I hope to see you again someday.