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This letter was forwarded to me from the editorial department. It was such a lovely note I wanted to share it with you:

Kinda hard to start this letter-guess it began  last September when my wife and I got back from a Virginia Tech game.

Our 16-year-old dachshund, who was the love of our lives, was waiting for us to get home and feed him. His name was Ramsay and he had gotten to the age that he could barely walk in our mulch. Long story short, I let him out to do his business and I went inside to get his dinner. Much to our dismay, he went missing.

We spent half the night and most of the next day trying to find him without any luck. Well, we grieved for a while and decided we needed to find another dog-not just another dog, mind you, but a rescue dog.

I was a bit skeptical until she came home with this gorgoeous little labradoodle that was listed by the (Henry County) SPCA as a male. Because of her/his listing, I named him/her Buddy after Bud Foster.

As nervous as I was about adopting a dog, I cannot express how happy I am with this beautiful lady, named Buddy, who will greet me at the door with so much love and excitement in her eyes to see me home!  We have a porch that overlooks our neighbors house and our Buddy will stick her head between the pickets to watch the children play or listen to the cardinals sing with her tail a-wagging.

She seldom barks at them but seems just to glorify in the day, happy to be alive and taking in all the sounds and smells. My message is, if you want a true challenge with much in return, adopt one of these beautiful animals that for some reason was given up on. If you are as lucky as us, you will be much surprised by the love they will give you back.

-Mark Sizemore

I was a little amazed, and confused, about the gender identificaion, so I asked Mark for a little more detail. Here's what he wrote back:

We adopted Buddy from the Henry County SPCA when she was, by their estimation, almost 6-weeks-old.  Her entire litter had been dropped off and was destined to be shipped off to the North Shore Animal [League] when they were a little older.  

Once we had checked out the puppy's 'plumbing' at the shelter we didnt bother to check it again, we simply told them we would foster the male puppy until we made up our mind or it was time to send them to North Shore. We filled out the paperwork, they presented us with a beautiful blonde furball, and we went home for a week. 

We didnt realize the mistaken gender for another week and a half when we took him/her to be neutured.   Our vet just laughed and pointed out that our furball had a "hoo-haw and not a wing-ding". 

What a hoot - Bud Foster was a girl!  By that time, Buddy already knew and responded to her name, and our hearts were already given over to her - there was no going back!