Meet a Lowcountry Dog: Bosey

Miss Bocephus is the best $20 I’ve ever spent—and most likely ever will spend—in my life. While waiting for the saddle-bronc riders to begin on a rainy Saturday night at a small circuit rodeo in Kremmling, Colorado, I spotted her in a cage in the back of a rancher’s trailer. As I held this tiny red heeler and pit bull mix puppy up in the air by the back of the neck, a passing truck’s headlights crossed over her. It was love at first sight. I handed the rancher—whose name was Hank Williams, hence her name—a crumpled up $10 and two $5, put her in the pocket of my oversized Carhartt coat, and we sat in the grandstands, wet and cold and sharing French fries.

Bosey grew up on the ranch I worked at that summer, gnawing on horse hoof frogs and chasing ducks. She has since lived in Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania with me and is the best road companion a woman in her early twenties could ask for. Bosey has been one of the few constant and resilient factors of my life over the last six years; she’s outlasted boys, trucks, jobs, states, and friends. Never judging and always listening, we’ve had beautiful talks together while driving into another sunrise, the car loaded down with our belongings as we embarked on yet another across-the-country move.

About to begin our third summer in South Carolina, Bosey and I are the happiest we’ve ever been. We’ve found our family for the rest of our lives, and we’ve finally found our home. From the moment Bosey first met my fiancé and his son, she has done nothing but deliver love and smiles. In return, she has never had a better boy to play fetch with, a better dad to ride shotgun with, or a softer bed to claim as her own.

Sometimes when the sunshine catches her polka dots just right or when she covers her face and snorts into the couch cushion to be silly, I think about what a mistake it would’ve been for me to walk by that rancher’s pickup six years ago. I think about the day she got stuck under the water heater, the first time she got head-butted by a goat, the look on her face when she stepped, gingerly, into the ocean for the very first time. Every day, she’s a reminder to me that life is good, and I’ll always thank her and remember her for that. Bosey is my copilot; she’s my good girl.

submitted by Laura Saylor.

Would you like your dog featured in an upcoming Meet a Lowcountry Dog spotlight? Send us up to 3 photos, and a short {500 words or less} write up of what makes your dog so special OR fill out the Meet a LCD Questionnaire posted on the website.  Email the info to gillian@lowcountrydog.com using the subject line: Meet a Lowcountry Dog.