It was an early Friday morning in 2011. I was getting ready for school – which was one of my last days in 4th grade – when all of a sudden we got a knock on our door.

It was my grandfather, a.k.a Papa, who came by and told us emphatically, “I got y’all a dog!”

I looked outside where we have a fenced-in area, and there he was. A little white pug howling out of confusion of his surroundings.

Later on that day as we all returned home from school, we loaded him up in the car. My memory is fuzzy on why we took him in the car with us, but I remember petting the then-unnamed new dog and said ‘Hi, Buddy.”

And there began the story of my best friend, Buddy.

Through elementary school all the way onto my professional career now as news editor for The Covington News, the one constant that remained in my life was that Buddy was there. It was a certainty that I was blessed with for nearly 13 years.

But nothing that amazing can last forever, and this remained true with Buddy. On Jan. 24, 2024, Buddy passed away at 13 years old.

I remember the first time that Buddy got to come into the house. It was hours after being left outside all day in the scorching hot Georgia sun. Admittedly, we didn’t know that pugs were not outside dogs until we Googled it. We then brought him into the house, where he would call his home.

I sat with him by the fireplace in our house while he was on a pillow shaking with fear and uncertainty of his surroundings. Truthfully, he was probably annoyed that a 9-year old kid was pestering him, too.

Nonetheless, he quickly settled in and became somewhat of a troublemaker. He would constantly get into stuff he wasn’t supposed to and didn’t listen to any of our commands. But I guess that’s all puppies to an extent.

As he grew older, he began to mellow out significantly and morphed into what we called his “old man” persona. At five years old, he acted like he was 20 years old.

When I left for college in 2019 no one was more sad to see me move out than Buddy. According to my mother – who was Buddy’s favorite person by far – he moped around the house all day, waiting for me to come back home.

I would sporadically come back home for the next four years as college progressed, before being home more regularly upon graduating from college. This was some of the most valuable time I got to spend with him, as I knew he was getting up there in age.

While he was widely healthy for a good period of time, things began to go downhill quite fast. A cancerous growth in his mouth combined with old age took him out very quickly.

Amazingly, it was also discovered that he had a diaphragmatic hernia – a condition where his intestines were seemingly combined in the chest cavity. Our veterinarian said that in 30 years in the field that he had only seen it twice ever.

The fact he lived to be 13 years old with all of those odds against him is incredible.

But even as he defied the odds, 13 years doesn’t seem to be long enough. Selfishly, I want him to still be around, but I know that he’s no longer in any pain. That makes me feel at the most ease as possible.

Buddy taught me a lot of things growing up in life, but if I had to narrow it to five, here’s what I’d say.

Continue to be you no matter what - Two things never wavered from Buddy as he got older – his sense of smell and his unique personality. He never changed despite all of his ailments and always was the only thing he knew how to be – himself.

Loyalty is everything - No matter how many times we annoyed him or made him sad by leaving for school or work, he was always happy to see us come back and hang around with us. His loyalty never failed.

Seek support in your family - This was Buddy’s primary love – his family. He was a part of the family and he took pride in it. That’s something we can all take a little bit of from him.

It’s OK to take naps all day - Who doesn’t love a good nap?

Eating snacks is OK - Snacks can be a tricky topic, but I say it’s perfectly fine to eat snacks no matter what. Buddy thought the same thing. His favorite snacks were peanut butter, cheese and Chick-fil-A nuggets.

While Buddy’s story may have begun back in 2011 when he came to our family, his story didn’t end upon his death. He will always be remembered and treasured by so many, and I hope that some of things I learned from a Buddy of mine can be things you remember in your everyday life.

Evan Newton is the news editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.