Don't be taken in by these deep, soulful eyes. Bubba was 85 pounds of pure de' ole cute and he knew it. This dog had his "bubba-ness" down to a fine art (ex., sudden lethargy when being moved somewhere he didn't want to go--try dragging that big boy out of a doorway). He had his own place on the couch. Bubba also loved to jump in the middle of our waterbed in the morning creating mini-tsunamis. Our parrot, Oscar would squawk "Bubba" whenever he came within an inch of the trash. (Now that Bubba's gone to doggie heaven, Oscar calls all dogs "bubbas".)

Bubba and I truly bonded when we survived a four-day trip from Arkansas to California. We were both relegated to backend of a VW Rabbit: 1. because I had a newly broken leg and it was the only place I could fit, and 2. he was low-dog on the totem pole. But despite my whining and crying, Bubba stayed calm the whole time. And when my husband and daughter were having all that fun in their very own front seat and basically ignoring me, Bubba would lay his head by me and I'd share my blanket with him and we'd fall asleep together.