Our Buddy went to the Bridge tonight. He was 14 yrs old and had been slowly losing ground for the last few months. He had a heart murmer, a mitral valve problem and heart failure. We called him the Energizer Bunny, cause he kept going and going. The vet told us he was at the point where there was no more that could be done, so we let him go. We were with him through the whole process, but before he got the final shot, he ate 3 Pupperoni sticks, he loved junk food. We adopted Buddy in September 2002, he was from the Herkimer area and had been left tied outside with little care. Linda Bills got him into GRROWLS, from what I hear he was quite a mess. She got him ready for fostering, then we were lucky enough to adopt him. Buddy ran on pure instinct, he saw an open door, fence, etc and he was gone. We used to joke that he had girlfriends on the next street, because that is where we would find him when he accidentally got out of the yard. The house seems empty even though there are still 3 dogs and 5 cats here. Buddy was the respected leader of the pack, now the pecking order will have to change. Our 15 pound cat, Sox, will probably take the lead. We had 8 great years with the Budster and he will always be in our hearts. Deb Gick & Sharon Hoff