The bond that has grown between us is tremendous, and even though there were times when he was a puppy that I would have cheerfully slammed his head in the car door because he just wasn't "getting it," we toughed it out, and then one day, miraculously, the wild puppy left the building, and a mature and sensible Buster slipped in through the back door.

He's very smart and attuned to my every mood and whim. He senses when it's time to play and when I would prefer to simply have the quiet companionship of a friend just breathing the same air in the same room. While I read the morning paper, he drifts in and out of dreamworld -- occasionally whimpering after some invisible and ferocious prey.

Sometimes he utters the biggest dog sighs, and I just know he's the happiest dog in the world. The house is never empty now that we have Buster. -- mugginsb@interlog.com

(Buster is online -- stop in for a visit!)