This is the story of our beloved Buck. He was only with us for 2 1/2 years but when he left us, he left us with memories that will last a life time and a yearning to see him again at the Rainbow Bridge where we know he is waiting for us.
I had grown up with German Shepherds throughout my childhood and early adult years. My father instilled a love of the Shepherd into me that remains to this day. I know them to be loyal, intelligent and courageous beyond words.
Buck came into my life by chance some would say, but I know it was more than that. I think of it as fate. We weren't his first owners, nor his second, but thankfully we were his third and final owners.
Buck had been bought and raised by one young man who cared for him for the first five years. Unfortunately, this young man made a bad decision to drink and drive one night and ended up being arrested and sentenced to jail time. Having no one to care for Buck, he was allowed to take him to the Humane Society here in Tucson prior to starting his sentence.
So Buck was up for adoption and a young college girl came along and fell in love with him ~ and happily Buck got to go to his new home without being at the Humane Society long at all. At the time, I had a friend who volunteered there. She was the wife of one of the police officers I worked with for years and knew well. He was also the Sgt. of Tucson Police's K-9 unit so naturally his wife had taken notice of this beautiful Shepherd and helped with the adoption into his new home.
About 4 months after the adoption, my friend saw this young lady coming back into the Humane Society with Buck on leash. Because they were having a siege of kennel cough at the Humane Society, my friend quickly turned the girl around with Buck and went back outside to find out what was going on. The girl explained that she loved Buck dearly but that her Mother had come down with a terminal cancer and this girl needed to quit her classes at the University of Arizona and return to Ohio to live with her Mother in her apartment and care for her. She could not take Buck with her as no dogs were allowed in her Mother's apartment complex. So she was sadly, bringing him back to the Humane Society.
Thankfully my friend had the presence of mind to ask the girl if she would let her try to find him a home quickly rather than taking him back at the Humane Society where he would be exposed to the kennel cough. The girl had one week to wrap her classes and be ready to leave for Ohio so she told Nikki to please try to find Buck a good home.
It was within a day or two and I was contacted by the Sgt. Carl knew that at the time, I was divorced and living out of town on acreage about 35 miles out of Tucson with my teenage children. He said he thought Buck would be a wonderful addition to our family and able to protect us well. He knew I loved Shepherds and would provide a good home to any animal.
We set up a time to 'meet' and allow me to get acquainted with Buck ~ the meeting included Carl, his wife, the young college girl, Buck and myself. I can only tell you that the moment I saw him, I knew it was meant to be. He was wearing a kerchief around his neck (red) and when I greeted him, the tail started wagging and he did not shy from my approach. We ended up on the ground together to get acquainted and allow me to touch him at a level he felt comfortable with. He was soft and silky ~ rather long coated ~ and obviously very well cared for. I talked to his owner and found out something about Buck that sealed my decision.
She told me that after having Buck less than 3 weeks, two men broke into her condo via a sliding door in the back of her house in the middle of the night. She was sleeping upstairs with Buck on the bed with her :) She didn't wake up or know anything until she felt Buck leap off the bed and swiftly head down the stairs - never barking or making a sound. Then she heard the men screaming and called 911. She was too frightened to go down the stairs until the officers arrived.
What they found when they arrived was that Buck had run both men right back out the door they had entered. He continued after them. One was lucky and made it over the back wall and escaped. The second wasn't so lucky and he was found by police in the the backyard with Buck standing over him not allowing him to move. :) I should mention he had a few bites that had to be patched up by paramedics before he went to jail.
So Buck had proved his courage and loyalty and saved this young woman from these two criminals. I knew her heart was breaking having to part with him but I think I was able to assure her that Buck would be cared for and loved by my family until he died. I don't believe in disposable pets. My pets leave us only when they pass on. They ARE a part of our family ~ not just a 'dog' or 'cat' that we own. Our pets own us. :)
So it was that we came to have Buck join our family in April 1992.
Little did we know that the adventures had just begun....
That same summer, 1992, Buck was once again called upon to protect his family ~ which was MY family ~ my children. Buck always slept in my bedroom but when we left for work in the morning for the long drive into town for work, he would wander in to one of my daughter's bedrooms and sleep on the floor near her until the teenagers woke up and the day began. As anyone who has raised teenagers knows, often times summer days don't see teenagers rising very early.
That changed one hot July morning. We left for work at my normal 6:15 am time, got to work and then I was called off the radio to take an emergency call from my daughter Amy about 7:15 am. She asked if we were okay ~ because she had awakened a little after 7 ~ got up and then starting finding blood in the kitchen area and a bathroom and on the front porch ~ and a blood trail led right off the porch and off into the area where my car was normally parked.
It rattled me but I calmly asked her if she had checked on her siblings in the house and she said yes, she had and they were all okay and sleeping. I then asked her if she could find all the cats (3 at the time) to make sure Buck hadn't eaten one. She said yes, that all the cats were fine, Buck was fine and Buster was fine (our little cock-a-poo dog). She said that at first she thought Buck had eaten a cat too because he had what looked like blood splatters on this front legs.
While on the phone with me, she went into my bedroom and I heard her gasp and say that there was blood "all over' my bedroom. I told her to hang up and call 911 and get a deputy on the way to our house and Chris and I would be home as soon as possible. I told her to wake the others up and stay together and keep Buck in the house by their side until help got there.
Chris and I drove that 35 miles home in probably 20 minutes time. Luckily he was in uniform but we went in our private car as my home was not within the city of Tucson limits ~ it wasn't even in the same county!
We got home, he searched the outside area, the barn etc (the local deputies didn't arrive for another 30 minutes after we got there) and followed the blood trail off our property into open desert area. We still wonder if whoever broke into our home may have died out in the desert from blood loss. Sorry, I wasn't going to worry about it. I could only think of my children who were sleeping away when he came into our home.
What we found when we got home allowed us to 'piece together' what appeared to have happened. The intruder came in through an outside door to my bedroom. We suspect Buck was sleeping in an adjoining bedroom with daughter Ali who was 16 at the time. We surmise that Buck met the intruder in my bedroom intially and the struggle went on from there. Buck apparently cornered the guy on the far side of a my large waterbed - had him back up between the bed and a bookcase against the far wall. This we think because the area was covered in blood splatters and a phone book that had been on the bookcase now lay on the floor with a bloody handprint on it.
We believe the intruder hit Buck with the phone book to try to fight him off and then exited the bedroom via the closest door ~ one that lead into the main house. We believe he closed the door trapping Buck in the master bedroom with a door that only opened inward towards the bedroom. He must have thought he was safe from the dog and went to the bathroom directly across from my bedroom where he had used towels to try to stop the bleeding ~ and bled all over it anyway.
We believe that what happened next was that it took Buck a little time but he persisted until he was able to turn the door handle with his mouth and pull the door open. We believe that the two met again in the kitchen... only steps away from the bathroom and master bedroom. We had a island bar in that kitchen and it had blood on it and completely around it on the tile. We had bar stools and one of them had blood on the fabric top and on the legs of the bar stool. We believe that the bad guy was able to escape out the kitchen door to the porch only by fighting Buck off with the bar stool. Once he made it onto the front porch he pulled the door shut. This we could tell from the blood on the inside door handle and the outside door handle. The bloody bar stool was then dropped.
The most amazing part of this is that Buck apparently never barked and just took care of business. What we'll never understand is how the bad guy didn't scream and make enough noise to wake the kids. Perhaps it was some noise from it or at least from his escape that awakened Amy (17 at the time). But none of the kids remembered hearing any sounds ~ yet we had a blood bath in three rooms of a relatively small home. I had always believed that my teenagers could sleep through anything but this one really was beyond my belief. How lucky I am that they did though ~ no one confronted this man except Buck ~ and for that I am extremely thankful.
After meeting with the deputy and all of us cleaning up the blood, Chris and I returned to work that day. We were quite confident that whoever met Buck that morning wouldn't be coming back. :)
Our co-workers at the police dept had made a small banner for us ~ it was on cardboard and read:
Cole - Ilderton Home of
Buck The Wonder Dog
We proudly put our cardboard sign up in our home and still have it packed away.
From that day forward, any time we were outside, Buck 'patrolled' the fence line of our 2 acres of land ~ walking and watching always ~ till he wore a 'path' through the grass.
In 1993 Chris and I married and we all moved to Tucson to live in Chris' house.
Buck had a smaller yard to worry about now but he still 'patrolled' around the inside of our wall and left a path that ten years later is still there and reminds of us him everytime we are outside.
Buck lived out the remainder of his days without having to do anything but enjoy his life thankfully. You can tell from the picture I've put up that he was very happy to sleep on the floor and relax. In the years we had him, we only heard Buck bark a couple of times and that was only during walks when another dog would bark at him ~ he'd give one bark back and that was the end of it. If you rang our doorbell, you would be greeted by a person and Buck at their side ~ watching and letting you know that if you meant harm you weren't welcome but if you were a friend, he'd show you the way in. He was gentle and loving and our oldest grandson got to spend the first 15 months of his life around Buck. Buck was trustworthy and loyal to his last day.
That day came on 9/30/94 when Chris and I sat, brokenhearted, and hugged him and talked to him while he was being euthanized. He had cancer in his backbone that had only been discovered a month earlier but was awful and aggressive and stole his ability to walk in a matter of weeks. We didn't have much time to try to save him ~ He was our proud warrior and we owed him ~ owed him so much.
Ten years now ~ ten years of missing him ~
I believe that all God's creatures go to Heaven ~ to that wonderful Rainbow Bridge where they run and play and wait for their owners to arrive.
We are missing you Buck but we know you wait for us and we'll see you again.
Rest In Peace.
