Buddy McKiel April 11, 1995 – July 26, 2003

Buddy came into our home on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning and departed from our lives on a sunny Saturday morning also. We are not sure if he knew the days of the week but with his intelligence, anything was possible. Our dog was known by many names and answered to hardly any. He was called Buddy, Puppy Luv, Momma's Baby, Daddy's Puppy, and in times of despair; damnit Buddy. As stated before, he would not answer to any name unless it was a benefit to him. If there were a treat involved, he came to you on the first call and if he was outside and you wanted him in; well good luck. Quite by accident Jim discovered he would answer on the first call to the name Scheissekopf and that name stuck for the last few months of his life. Buddy was a stubborn rott with a wonderful personality. He loved cats, other dogs, children and most people. He was happiest when he had some children to take him on walks, play ball with or climb in his dog bed with him and rub his tummy. Buddy never refused a good tummy or butt rub. As stated before, Buddy was a very intelligent dog. When he was 2 years old, he decided to pull a book off the bookshelf and eat it. Of course it was a vocabulary book and I truly believe he was just furthering his studies. He was enrolled in puppy kindergarten classes at the age of 12 weeks, puppy training classes at the age of 6 months and agility classes at the age of 10 months. Even after all of his schooling he remained unemployed, so I guess he was destined to stay at home and become our watch puppy. Jim and I could never understand how he kept guard on the house when we were gone because he stayed on his dog bed, lying on his back with his legs in the air and his eyes closed. Buddy's favorite activities in life were barking at the UPS man and our elderly neighbor Rose. He would lie on the back porch watching Rose's house just waiting for her to open the door and step out. In summer he would have to lie at a certain angle and peer beneath the shrubs to see her back door but that didn't slow him down. He must have worn his Timex as he knew exactly when she would leave the house to pick up mail or go for her walk and he would be waiting. I recently heard the rumor that Rose was throwing a farewell party for Buddy but as stated it could be a rumor. Our dog also loved to watch movies. He would jump up on the couch, lay his head on the arm rest and wait for the movie to begin. Most of the time he would fall asleep before the movie was over and start snoring or passing gas. This usually ended our viewing of the movie as we couldn't hear the dialog and it became hard to breathe. Buddy's estate consisted of 6 tennis balls (assorted colors), one squeaky ball which he seemed to love to play with at 2:00 am, 1 kong (slightly chewed), a pull toy and 8 binkies. What you might ask is a binkie? When he came to our house in the summer of 1995 I gave him an old towel to chew on and sleep with. Thank goodness I had a set of 8 towels all the same color because he never gave up sleeping with his binkie and chewing on them. He would take his binkie with him everywhere he went. If he went to the vet, riding in the truck, or just from one room to the next, his binkie went with him. Thank goodness he was a big dog (150 lbs.) as it was hard to drag a bath towel around with him. Surviving Buddy are his mom and dad, Doris and Jim McKiel, his godparents, Mary and Thomas Wagner and numerous friends. The family requests that no dog biscuits be sent but contributions be given to any animal society of your choice.