From Baby to Buddy: Senior Souls, Endless Love

We adopted a senior German Shepherd (GSD) in 2024 named Baby. At almost 12 years old, we knew we had to enjoy every single second with her. Although she was older, she was the sweetest, smartest, most “smiley” girl ever- and we enjoyed an amazing year together. After her passing (knowing we needed some time to heal & mourn), we knew how to pay homage to her. The thought of her spending the rest of her life in a shelter because a lot of people don’t want to adopt older dogs sent us on a mission. If we had overlooked her due to her age, we wouldn’t have experienced the happiest year of our lives together. We knew, when we were ready, we wanted to adopt another senior dog.

Enter Buddy (formerly known as Garrett). He immediately stood out to us- an almost 8 year old senior GSD male who just wanted to be loved. We began our journey by fostering him, very quickly realizing he was exactly what we needed. While Buddy will never replace Baby, as he is most certainly his own dog, the love and space he takes up both helps her legacy live on as well as fills our hearts with pure joy each and every day.

Buddy earned his name as he is truly our best buddy! He was an emergency drop off, so we don’t know what his name was. While East Bay SPCA gave him the name Garrett, it just didn’t quite fit. He was very anxious when we first brought him home to foster, often needing words of reassurance. We would constantly pet him and say “It’s okay buddy!” Before we knew it, Buddy had become the name he responded to. If you ask me, it suits him well.

We knew we were going to foster fail Buddy the night we walked into our bedroom and saw him laying in the same spot our former GSD, Baby, used to lie in. While Buddy has his own funny little quirks, like rubbing up against your leg like a cat demanding pets or his love for howling at an ambulance like he’s a Husky, it made us emotional to see him love the spot slightly under the side of our bed. It was at that moment my husband and I looked at each other and said “We’re keeping him.”

The staff was very accommodation when we inquired about fostering to adopt. They answered all of our (numerous) questions to the best of their ability and were extremely helpful at the adoption. Thank you so much- we can’t wait to continue fostering once Buddy gets settled and is able.