Buddy's Story (Falcor)
Yankee Hill Farm started with the love of animals. There are so many different animals in the world who get left behind for many different reasons, and we figured we had the space and the hearts to take some of them in. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. In the case of Buddy, none of us can imagine life without him in it.
It Happened One Night
Late one afternoon in December, a close neighbor posted in our Concow and Yankee Hill Community Facebook forum that they had found a little dog, but could not keep him because of their own pets. This little dog apparently had a home, but the owners had gone out of town and left him alone. According to the Facebook post, hosting the little dog shouldn't be more than a day or two at most.
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Yankee Hill Alpaca Farm has two working dogs, Gracie and Frankie. They are both Aussie breeds, Frankie with a bit of mutt mixed in, and are the kindest animals to their fellow dogs. Knowing the little dog would be safe on the farm, we volunteered to take him in.
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When the little guy arrived on the farm, our neighbor Josh was very appreciative that we'd taken him in. The puppy was pure white but very dirty. He had milky blue eyes, nearly opaque, and very light skinned paws and a nose. Knowing the Aussie breed very well, we could tell right away he is what is called a "double merle", and a mini Aussie at that. Double merles are a taboo in the breeding world because they have a high chance of blindness, deafness, or both. Indeed, our new little guy could hardly see at all and seemed to be hard of hearing. Being a mini Aussie means he weighs less than 10 pounds and is small as can be. Still, he was patient through the flea and tick bath we gave him, patiently waiting while we slathered cream around any small cuts we found. He'd obviously been on his own for a few days.
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We took the little guy down to Look Ahead veterinarian the next day to scan for a chip. Even though there was supposed to be an owner, we posed in all the lost animal forums. He was not chipped; there was no response to our posts. At a loss, we started calling him Buddy - and by the time Christmas rolled around 2 weeks later, Buddy had gifts under the tree, including a collar and tag.
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In early spring, Buddy started disappearing. He would come home after a few hours, but was so small he could squeeze through any spot he found. Finally, one of our neighbors called to let us know he was romancing their female rottweiler. We felt awkward altering him since we were still waiting for his "owners", but after the 100th time of Buddy escaping and making his way to his lady friend, we figured his safety was more important. We had him fixed, and he's a homebody now. You won't find him roaming the hills anymore, but you can always come see him on the farm!