Buster's behavior has changed considerably since he became the only dog last weekend. On the positive side, his appetite is still good although he no longer eats on the old schedule of breakfast and dinner. I put the food down in the morning and he doesn't usually touch it til noon or later if we've been outside. This could be normal, since he no longer feels competition for food. There never was, but that didn't stop him from acting as if there was.

He sniffed around Benny's grave for the first two days, but that behavior has extinguished (for now). It was present for the burial and found it distressing. He also avoided Benny's body before the burial. It's as if he knew what had happened and though it was contagious or something. There's probably a good evolutionary reason for this, perhaps because death was often caused by contagious disease. I have often wondered what the experience was for the first "cave man" who saw is buddy dead on the side of the trail and thought, "geez, that will be me some day".

Anyway, Buster lifts his foot in the morning for a belly rub but makes no effort to get up and has no desire to go out. He's always been like that, wiz twice and drink water once or twice a day. The camel we call him sometimes. I take him outside with me on a leash (for his safety) and he stays close. He wanted to lay next to the logs I was splitting the other day, but that isn't safe. The rest of the time I let him stay as close as he want's to.

I'm thinking about a play date for him with a beagle. Not sure if he needs that or not, but it can't hurt. Well, unless I'm forgetting something significant it seems that he's Ok. But thoughts on the subject are welcome.