Today is the Boopster's 10th. birthday.....It's hard to believe that it has been ten years (on October 31st.) since we rescued him from a mud pit with no shelter and no water up in the good old North Georgia mountains...We had gone the weekend before and after looking over the place and seeing Boo's mother and father in an old chicken wire fenced in area, matted fur beyond belief, we left without getting a pup....There were only two left, Boo and his scrawny litter mate. We talked about him all week about the cons of getting a pedigree dog living in such awful conditions. The people were nice enough, country folk and Boo's parents were "herding" dogs for their sheep, but it still wasn't any place were you would buy a dog, let alone one that came with papers..... I also, for some strange reason, had a hard time deciding that if we did buy him what would we call him?? I have no idea why this was confusing me so......On Friday the 30th...a day before our 28th. wedding anniversary (yes, we were married on Halloween) I was walking into the post office and a women was walking out. I held the door for her and noticed a sweatshirt she was wearing.....There it was in big orange and black letters....BOO.......perfect I thought, we'll call him Boo.....So on Halloween 1998 we drove the two hours back to that ratty old farm and Boo was there waiting for us....The farmer tried to make us a "good deal" if we took both dogs off his hands but we declined and left with only the Boopster.....On the ride home we stopped at a Hardee's and got him some mashed potatoes and gravy.....he seemed very happy and spent the rest of the ride home with his chin resting on the husbands shoulder.....That night he slept behind my head on my pillow shivering and shaking and then moved on over the years to just getting into bed between us....At 135 pounds we had to finally break down and upgrade to a king size bed...When he could no longer make that jump onto the bed we went out and bought those fancy doggie steps...they collasped under his weight on the first try.........Ten years have gone by very fast. He's been, at times, a royal pain in the ass, and most times a wonderful companion...He took away Buster's loneliness and tormented him all at the same time. He became second in command and the one that could most scare away the Fedex man....There was the time when the mailman came to the door to deliver a package and when the husband answered Boo was behind him and promptly stood up and put his paws on the husband's shoulder, yes he's that tall...... Poor Wang thought we were harboring a bear.....Boo hasn't been doing to good these days. He's having trouble walking and we realize that he's getting up there in age.....We hope next year this time we will be celebrating birthday #11 but in the meantime I promise to tend to his every needs....that includes cooking him chicken when he doesn't feel like eating his dog food, taking him out the front porch so he does'nt have to climb those big back stairs, even if it's 3:00a.m. and raining....and letting him have as many cookies as he wants....HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY...........
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