Meet Buddy. He’s part Australian Cattle Dog, rescued from a bad neglect situation, and is about 7. The third dog adopted by us, he’s very street smart, and an excellent hunter, a skill that occasionally dismays us. He was an inside dog abandoned by his original family as their kids got older. They chained him outside in a low spot, on a very short chain. When it rained, he had to climb on top of his house to avoid the flooding. He went without food, water and attention for long periods, as the father once told the neighbor he was, “done feeding him”. This led to eventually being rescued by the neighbor, then fostered by us. We quickly figured out we suck at being fosters, and Buddy came to live with us. His social skills leave some to be desired, but he’s improved a lot. He’s eaten glass Christmas ornaments, an entire cooked chicken, toothpicks, 200 Tums, 200 Prilosec, a bag of grits, and countless flip-flops. Thankfully, that issue seems to be over. He’s clingy, and tries hard to make up for the love he missed in his first year and a half of life before us. He is super affectionate and loves to sit on anyone who’ll let him and lick them until they’re beyond tired of it. He still has a few anxiety related issues, but as time goes on, we’ve loved most of those out of him. Living with two other dogs, he struggled to find his spot in the pecking order, and he got into a couple of scuffles with his sisters, most notably, one incident with Sophia where stitches were needed to sew up a nose injury when she decided she’d had enough. He’s settled in as the middle dog, reluctantly giving Lola the top spot, and being thankful Sophia has allowed him some authority over her. Buddy shadows us for much of the day, studying our every move as if he’s practicing to become human. He hates anything that flies and does his best to either catch it, or bark at it while running underneath. He has run into a fence at full-force more than once, while looking up and barking at airplanes. He doesn’t have a normal sounding bark, but makes a silly, whiny, “Woo-Woo” noise instead. His biggest pet peeve is having his nails trimmed, and is not beyond letting everyone know he doesn’t enjoy it.