05/05/2023
Because so many of you knew our dear “Bug” we wanted you to know that one of the bravest, kindest, most honest souls passed away on Sunday morning. I am honored to have known this dog from the beginning of his life until the very end. Bug touched so many people, I wish I could tell you his story straight from him, but what I do know is that Lacie Nyenhuis, Amanda Wickman, and Sandy Cortello, along with so many other DAP staff members, were as much a part of his special little life as I was. So this is only his story from my perspective:
Bug was found in the NC woods, guarding his mother’s dead body, when he was four or five months old. Upon finding him, New Hanover County Animal Control contacted me for an assessment to see if he was adoptable. I moved him into my home and Lacie Nyenhuis and I worked with him… to not much avail. He would sleep on a pillow next to me and then run away from me all day- all the while never taking me out of his sight. And this is how he got the name “Bug”. I’d walk my dogs and he would run around us, not allowing himself to be touched, but always sticking with us. One day Bug jumped in my car with my other dogs when we were going to Dogs At Play. When we got there, I put him in the play yard with my own dogs and I’d never seen him so comfortable. He loved the other dogs and chasing the squirrels that ran along the fence and the predictability of the day. So I moved him into DAP permanently. He made so many doggy friends and began to trust humans to feed him and care for him. The DAP staff gave him consistency. Eventually, with so much trust established, Bug was able to hang out in our lobby, often with a dog friend like Marley or Java, and this is where many of you met his “Barooroo!”. As he got older he bonded more and more to our staff members, many of whom began to take him home for the night. When the pandemic hit and everything had to shut down Lacie and Dakota, with big loving hearts, moved Bug into their home, for over a year. When it was safe to travel again, I brought Bug to live with me in Vermont. I was so worried the transition would be too much for a scared little guy used to the south, but as it turned out, Bug loved Vermont. He went on off leash runs through the woods almost every day. He befriended my daughter, Charley, and learned that toddlers have all the best food. No matter how afraid Buggie was, and he was afraid almost always, he never ever as much as bared his teeth. Bug defied all the odds. His socialization period was spent alone in the woods, he never had regular vet care or the best nutrition, he never even had “his person”. And he had to get used to snow and a family life with kids when he was 15 years old! And he did it. And oh my goodness, he did it well!
Buggie lived to be seventeen. He went on a walk in the woods the day before he died. He was born in and lived most of his life in North Carolina and he loved his final years in Vermont. He always lived in a family who loved him so much, his DAP family, Lacie and Dakota, and then my family in Vermont. My two and half year old daughter asked today, “Where’s Buggie?” And when I said “Buggie died” she said, “I love Buggie”. And she does. We all do. To know a dog like Bug is an honor. To share trust with a dog like Bug is priceless.
Thank you to everyone who knew our dear Bug and helped him trust more and more. As I buried him, right on my property, I thought about all the lives that he touched. He was a once-in-a-lifetime dog soul. He’ll be missed. Most of all, he’ll always be appreciated so much.
