Buckshot Midnight Ranger Wilson - the registered name of our black Labrador retriever we affectionately call "Buck". He actually goes by a number of names: “Buck”, “Buckles”, “Buckers”, “Buckster”, “Buckerdoo”, “Puppy” and often just “Dog”. The great thing is that he'll answer to anything. Buck just turned 4 years old. He was six weeks old when I picked him up for Christmas in 2008.
Bringing him into the family was quite an ordeal. I'd been lobbying Stacey for a long time about getting a family dog. "Every boy ought to have a dog," I told her. "It's part of growing up." "I don't want a dog," Stacey replied. "I don't like dogs. They jump up on you and make a mess, and I'm afraid of dogs. And I know who’ll have to take care of him - me!" After literally years of discussion, Stacey acquiesced but with conditions: "I'm not going to have a dog in my house. No dog in the world is worth fooling with the stink and the mess in my house. Dogs belong outside. And I don't want a big dog. I don't want them jumping on me. And I don't want a noisy dog. I hate barking dogs. And I don't want a shedding dog - even outside. That hair gets all over everything. And I am NOT going to take care of him.”
“OK, I hear you,” I replied. “We’ll get a small, quiet, non-shedding outdoor dog. The boys and I will take care of him.” So with that, I started my research to find our family dog.
