This
is the true story of Furrari's Country Buck. I asked Cynthia and
Cliff and Andrew Phillips if I might have it for my site, as I am So
Very Proud of this boy. Buck was born as the runt baby of a litter
of 9 puppies. Because he was only half the size of the rest of the
puppies, I helped him along any time I saw he was without a teat, I
would plug him in. I called him "Mouse". His
family chose him right from the beginning, small or not, he was
theirs. Buck turned into a very striking male, large and formidable,
with warm liquid brown eyes and big grin on his huge face. Always
friendly and playful, the family often asked me when he would grow
up and mature.
This story is the day he did......
Marion
Lopizzo
My
son Andrew had just gotten out of school on a cool blustery day in
late October. He walked along the sidewalk, with his baseball hat
askew on his head, his backpack dangling from one shoulder. He
rustled his shoes enthusiastically through the dry leaves, as kids
often do in the dreary days of late fall, all the while daydreaming
about scoring the winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals in the year
2010.
When he arrived home he looked to the top of the driveway and
noticed that the wooden gate going to the backyard was open,
swinging and creaking in the wind. He found this unusual, as this
gate was always kept locked so that the two White Shepherds we owned
could not escape and wreak havoc on the neighbourhood cats. "Well", he thought, "I guess I'd better close it
before I go in and let the dogs out". So he boosted himself up
on the blue box and replaced the latch securely.
He ran up the steps and opened the front door to the joyful barking
of his two White Shepherds, Buck and Sugar. However, today, they
seemed a little different. He was not sure how they were different,
but something seemed not quite right. Instead of jumping up and
licking his face, as was Buck's customary greeting, the big dog kept
running back and forth to the hallway leading to the bedroom. Sugar,
the puppy, followed, just as she always imitated everything Buck
did. Andrew figured that maybe they had to go potty, so he'd better
hurry to the bedroom and get the French door open so that they could
go out. When he tried to go into the bedroom, however, Buck put his
body across the doorway, blocking Andrew's path into the room.
"Move out of the way you silly goof" Andrew said, and
tried to push him aside. But Buck wouldn't budge; he had planted
himself securely in front of the bedroom door. Andrew did a quick
head-fake, just like the hockey players he'd seen on TV, and
maneuvered his way past Buck. "Ha Ha" he said and laughed.
He ran to the door, and stopped dead. He peered through the glass,
all signs of the impish grin gone from his youthful face. There was
someone in the shed at the back of the garden. He looked closely and
saw a man bending down, rummaging through his dad's toolbox. The man
was dressed all in black with a ski mask covering his entire head.
Suddenly he stood up and looked straight at Andrew.
Andrew opened
the door and yelled "you'd better get outta here! Get out of my
backyard!!" The man slowly and methodically began to walk
towards the French door, all the while never taking his eyes from
Andrew. Buck had jumped on the bed and was staring the man down.
His
ruff was up, as was his tail, his powerful legs poised and at the
ready.
The man walked to the bottom of the steps, still staring at
Andrew with his piercing blue eyes. By this time, Andrew was
starting to get scared. He said to the man "you'd better get
outta here or I'll let my dogs out", but this time his voice
quivered, all his bravado was gone. The man sneered and growled,
"shut up, punk", as he put one foot on the bottom step.
Suddenly Andrew opened the door; Buck took the signal and sprung
into action. There was a flurry of white fur as Buck bounded towards
the intruder, his huge jaws gaping, showing two rows of deadly
gleaming teeth. He was gaining ground fast as the man turned and
tried to escape. Buck barked ferociously, his head bobbing up and
down with each guttural cry. The man made one final desperate leap
as he headed towards locked fence. In a split second he was up on
the garbage box. Buck jumped into the air, saliva flying from his
jaws. They snapped closed with a sickening sound, just as the man's
leg disappeared over the fence.
Andrew came running down the steps,
fear pulsing through every vein of his body, but he HAD to make sure
Buck was okay. Buck stood stoically by the fence, his head held
high. He paced back and forth along the gate, hoping against hope
that the intruder was going to come back for one more try. Andrew
held the white dog's big head in his arms and hugged him and kissed
his muzzle. Then he felt something against his leg.
He looked down,
and there was Sugar, smiling her happy puppy smile and wagging her
tail as if to say, "pet me, pet me, I'm a good girl too!"
Andrew laughed and gave Sugar a big hug and said, "You’re a
brave dog too".
Cliff and I drove frantically home, after Andrew had called us and
told us what had happened. Cliff called the police from his cell
phone, and they arrived just after we had gotten there. Andrew told
his story to the policeman, who wrote it all down in a note pad, and
he reminded Andrew that if anything like this ever happens again, he
should call 911 immediately, and stay in the house. Then the
policeman turned to Buck and smiled. He gave him a big pat on the
head and said "Good Boy!"
