Buddy/Guinness

I had just joined the “L” and saw a post from Gwen Arthur looking for someone to foster a dog located in NYC. I responded to her and was given the info on Buddy and asked to contact the owner. Little did I know what I was getting myself into with this crazy young guy.

Buddy’s owner had rescued him from a kill shelter in Brooklyn but was finding him impossible to deal with. Buddy had gotten into a bad fight at the doggie daycare center where he was staying for the weekend so his owner decided that he needed to turn him over to WIN. I picked Buddy up on a Saturday in July and found him to be an unneutered male about a year old with tons of wound hair. He was very thin and really really active. He honed in on Reilly immediately and chased him all over my apartment. He screamed when put in the crate and didn’t appear to like other dogs so walking three became difficult in a dog friendly apartment building. The first thing I did was to have him neutered in the hopes that it would stop the incessant humping (it worked) but didn’t slow him down.

After a month of working with him, Gwen started sending me names of prospective homes. I drove Buddy up to Hartford to meet an older couple who had lost their Wheaten mix. I didn’t like the way they interacted with him and he seemed very nervous so back he came to further terrorize Reilly.

A couple of weeks later, Gwen told me about a couple without children living in Sewell, NJ. I started speaking with Derek and Mary, told them all about Buddy and they were really interested in meeting him. They were coming up to Northern NJ for a wedding two weeks later so I told them to stop by and visit this guy. They passed all of my tests with flying colors. Derek and Mary got down on the floor with all 3 dogs immediately, didn’t get upset when they were jumped on and had a wonderful way about them. Less than an hour later, Buddy jumped in the back of their car for the ride to his new home after a visit to meet the “grandparents”.

Buddy was renamed Guinness. It turns out that he had a hormonal imbalance so after working with some specialists, Guinness was put on a special diet and some medications. He now is a strapping, very dog-friendly young guy with a beautiful coat. Derek and Mary have created a website featuring Guinness. Please be sure to check it out and thank you Derek and Mary for loving him as much as you do!

Holly Craig