The Story Behind the Art: Buddy

In this third installment of The Story Behind the Art, I am sharing the tale of Buddy, one of my rescue pups. As I’ve stated in my prior blog posts, I am a dedicated animal lover and have spent most of my adult life either working as an animal shelter volunteer or a foster parent to homeless pets. The story of Buddy is like many others - it starts at the animal shelter.

Buddy (2023). 24” x 24” Oil on canvas.

By 2015, I had spent a year working as a weekend volunteer at my local SPCA in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the week, I had a high pressure job as a project manager for a software company, and I looked forward to visiting the shelter animals as a distraction from my work.

Every Saturday, I would drive across town to the shelter and start my shift at 9:00am. First, I would review the intake list to see which dogs had been cared for and others that needed special attention. Many of the cages were overcrowded - one kennel would have up to 4 medium-sized dogs struggling for space to just sit down. The dog section of the shelter could have over 100 dogs in a single run, and with only a handful of volunteers and staff, many of the dogs would go days without seeing grass or sunlight. It was a horrible reality of how it’s too easy for people to forget animals in need.

One particular day, I noticed a black and white dog that just arrived in Kennel 1. He seemed like a happy fellow always smiling and barking at me as I walked the kennel run. The dog in Kennel 1 was persistent - always barking and making eye contact with me to walk him next, so I did.

Though he was older, the dog had a happy disposition in spite of his situation. I spoke with the shelter staff about his history, and he was a drop off by a family – his owner had passed away and no one could take care of him anymore. On my way home from the shelter, I called my spouse and said we have to adopt this dog. She had hesitation as we already had 2 dogs, but she folded under my persistence.

I returned to the shelter the following day to apply for adoption. To my surprise, another family had already submitted their request to adopt. The shelter staff wanted to make it fair for both of us, so they did a coin toss. I never considered myself lucky, but that day, the universe was shining on me - we won the adoption for Buddy.

Over the course of the next year, Buddy really thrived in his new home. We found out after his adoption that he had some health issues, and was older than what the shelter told us. Regardless, we were committed to giving Buddy the best life no matter how long he had.

In 2017, my spouse accepted a job in Seattle, so we had to pack up our family to move across the country. At the time, we had lost our dog, Mazy, so it was just Buddy and our schnauzer. He was a perfect little gentleman on the trip - it was a long haul going 2500 miles into the unknown.

Buddy in the camper with us on our cross-country trip.

Once we got settled into our new life on the West Coast, Buddy started to fade - his energy and mobility started to decline rapidly. I took him to 2 different vets, then a specialized veterinary facility for additional tests. They gave me the most devastating news - Buddy had terminal cancer. No pet owner wants to hear these words and having to make the decision to euthanize is heart wrenching. On December 9, 2017, Buddy took his last breath in my arms.

Though Buddy was only with our family for 2 years, I believe that we gave him the most wonderful years of his life.

I have completed two portraits of Buddy of the course of 4 years. The first was a graphite drawing finished in 2019.

His most recent portrait was a large scale oil paining. I wanted to infuse as much color into the artwork that would reveal the love and happiness that Buddy demonstrated in life.

In conclusion, I will continue to advocate for homeless pets: Please adopt, don’t shop.

Share This Content!