Buddy, who lives with Nancy and John Lemmon, is a Havanese mix which Nancy explains as "part of the Bichon family but bigger." Buddy came to them in a somewhat unusual way.

"My friend's neighbor's son had to go back to Iraq and his ex-girlfriend just kind of left him (Buddy) and he was all grown out...up to here," Nancy said extending her hand above Buddy's back. "My friend's neighbor had two black labs but they work 12 hours a day and this little puppy was just too much to keep up with. He's too high energy so they were about to take him to the Tacoma Dog Pound." Her friend called and asked if the couple was interested but Nancy knew she had to check with John. "We had a very temperamental kitty for 18 years so we had to have her put down, so it was like, 'oh...never again,' but then this little guy came."

The Havanese, as a breed Nancy explained are "often found in the circus" because they are smart, agile, energetic and playful dogs.

Buddy has a wonderful trait that is self taught. He can absolutely entertain himself.
"He will go up the stairs, with a ball, then stop at the top and lay down," explained John, "then he lets it bump-bump-bump down, and he runs down and catches it, and runs back up."

In watching Buddy do this he first releases the ball from his mouth, then holds it with his paw. A few moments later he appears to look distractedly off into the distance and lets it go.

Buddy demonstrates his agility (and compensates for his lack of long legs) by standing up, on his hind legs. "When he wants to look at things he just stands up and he will stand there for a long time and look, and scan the horizon," John said.

Buddy eats a Pro-Plan diet, "regular kibble," the Lemmon's said, and his coat has to be trimmed to keep it short. For that they take him to Muttley Crew Cuts in the Admiral District.

Nancy enjoys making scarves for Buddy and he now has a rather extensive collection of more than 20. He has seasonal scarves, event scarves (Seahawk games will always find him in full 12th dog regalia), in addition to other items of clothing.

Buddy is a healthy patient at VCA West Seattle Animal Hospital but the Lemmons noted, "They were wonderful when we had to have our kitty put down. They had a special blanket for her and they had everybody quiet, they turned the phones off and I thought, 'oh this is so nice.' because it's not a fun thing to do."

How to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week:

Want to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week? Stop by the VCA West Seattle Animal Hospital at 5261 California Ave. S.W. and just ask for a form. A nomination is not a guarantee of appearance and your name and photo may appear in our newspaper and online.

Photos may or may not be used and our "Pet Reporter" may be in touch with you to arrange to take a photo. Pets nominated will be chosen on the basis of uniqueness of the pet and the quality of the story and information submitted.