Sounds like Buddy is the perfect "buddy". You lucked out, getting a dog that knows all the obedience commands. Does he know the "wait" command? That was the best one I ever taught to TinyMonsters.

Tiny loved food. Only way I could feed him without becoming part of his dinner was to tell him to "sit" and "wait" before I put his food down for him. He would sit there, staring very intently at his food...occasionally looking at me expectantly with a "please! Can I eat now?!", and usually talking to me like Chewbacca. Sounded just like a Wookiee.

He wouldnt break the "wait" command. We accidentally left him sitting there a couple of times without saying "ok" to let him eat. Go back a few minutes later, and he's sitting there, drooling and looking really annoyed.

Tiny was a Bouvier des Flandres. There's a myth about bouviers that when George Lucas was writing Star Wars, that he owned a bouvier at the time and that he recorded his dog "talking" and used that for Chewie's voice in the movie. I totally believe it, because Tiny sounded just like Chewie.

I think Tiny would have been a good assistance dog. I didnt know I had MS at the time...the big symptoms didnt start hitting me until 2 weeks after Tiny died. But, I'd had a few minor symptoms happen to me before. I would get vertigo several times a year. Tiny always seemed to know when I was dizzy, because he would be really careful around me, and didnt mind if I used him to pull myself up off the floor. And, when I would be laying in bed, spinning, Tiny would lay on the floor in the room with me, and just keep me company. He'd go ask my parents if he wanted food or to go outside. Wouldnt bother me at all when I was spinny.

I think Tiny was murdered...we had this nasty neighbor who had two dogs that she was basically neglecting or abusing. She'd let them run free at night and they'd attacked Tiny at least once, and my aunt's pug 2 or three times. (my aunt lives next door to them)

We think the neighbor lady had left a hot dog or something she'd booby trapped in her front yard. We'd take Tiny and his best friend Pudge, the pug, for a walk every night. One night, Tiny ate something in her yard. He dragged me into the yard to get it. I never saw what it was.

He was dead about 2 1/2 days later. After Tiny died, my aunt found a pristine looking hot dog on her back patio. She got it before Pudge did, and threw it away, but it was weird. How did a pristine looking raw hot dog get on her back patio. (our neighborhood doesnt have fences between the yards) There was a bit of a feud going on with the neighbor. She had been letting her two dogs run free and they were pooping all over the neighborhood. They had also attacked Tiny and Pudge a couple of times. Pudge got hurt during her attacks. (both times those dogs managed to get into my aunt's house and jumped Pudge) She had neurological problems from having her back injured.

My aunt's yard was full of debris from those dogs, and she was picking it up with our pooper scooper and putting it on the neighbor's yard. (so was our next door neighbor, who also seemed to have a yard that was a favorite of those dogs)

The week after Tiny died, about 50 pounds of dog poo appeared on our front lawn. My aunt had about 100 pounds dumped on her back patio. That neighbor divorced her husband and moved out. (watched her pack her pickup truck)

Pudge died 2yrs to the day that Tiny died. (weirdly enough, that was the same day that my previous dog, a poodle, had died. 3 of my favorite dogs, all died on the same day, years apart from each other) Pudge had all that nerve damage from being attacked by those dogs...and had been run over once by an old guy who lost control of his van right in front of my aunt's house. Didnt think she'd actually been hurt then, but apparently it made the back injury a little worse.

That neighbor moved back in with her husband about a year ago. Didnt bring the dogs back with her. Which is a good thing. They were abusing those dogs. Used to chain them in the unheated garage, to the garage door. They were chaining the dogs because the dogs had actually eaten their way thru the wall in the garage and got into the house and trashed it. (wouldnt you, if your owner were locking you in a cold garage in the middle of winter? Poetic justice too) I guess they'd never heard of these great inventions called "dog crates".

We were trying to get the humane society to either catch the dogs, or fine their owners for being mean to them.

I was so traumatized by Tiny dying, that I didnt have the vet do a necropsy. He only tested Tiny's bloodwork and said that it didnt show any of the usual suspects for an accidental poisoning. We never had them check for anything else. But I talked to that vet last year, and he said he thought it was weird how fast Tiny died. He wished he'd done a necropsy too. Apparently Tiny was a favorite patient of his. Tiny was only 9 1/2 when he died. Large dogs dont live very long...10 to 12yrs most of the time. I still felt really cheated that he left. (or was taken away) I thought he'd be around for a few more years. That's one of the reasons I'm not that eager to get another dog. They die too soon for me. I really loved that drooly furball.