Some businesses have regulars who customers may sometimes find remarkable and memorable.

Think Norm of “Cheers.” Quark’s Lounge had Morn, along with a sly Ferengi proprietor.

At Sweet Home Barber Shop, on the corner of 22nd and Main, it was Buster.

The crotchety but loveable basset hound spent his days in the shop as a service animal for business owner Erik von Göttsegen, a disabled veteran.

The 18½-year-old dog was a bit of an icon among customers, and neighboring resident Joe Moore said the dog saved his life.

Buster died March 7.

Von Göttsegen, who moved to Sweet Home from Grants Pass seven years ago and opened his business a year later, said Buster was a Delta Society-certified therapy dog. A customer gave Buster to him 16 years ago before moving to the East Coast to take care of sick relatives.

Von Göttsegen would take Buster to rest homes, where they would visit residents with dementia and Alzheimer’s. He also took Buster to visit residents of hospice centers.

Moore credits Buster with rescuing him from a fire.

“I was boiling some eggs,” said Moore, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “I fell asleep on the couch.”

The water ran out in the pan, and smoke filled the house, which sits next to Sweet Home Barber Shop.

When Moore came to, his front door was open, and von Göttsegen was outside with Buster. The smoke had set off the detector, and Buster had started going crazy, which got his owner’s attention.

Von Göttsegen opened the door, and smoke billowed out, he said. The house had not caught fire at that point, but “another few minutes and Joe wouldn’t be here.”

“I made a pact with Buster,” Moore said. “Every day, I’d bring him a treat. He was my buddy. He was my best friend, actually. I would walk over here, he’d hear my voice and get up. I always had a piece of jerky in my pocket. He always got up to say hi to me.”

Buster would sometimes slip out to visit Moore at his house too.

“The thing he did most is he comforted people,” von Göttsegen said. With Alzheimer’s patients, they couldn’t remember family members or what they ate for lunch, but they would remember Buster.

“A lot of people can’t have dogs,” he added, and visiting Buster was a chance for them to vicariously have a pet dog.

Buster was “an accomplished co-pilot,” von Göttsegen said. The hound logged some 300 hours flying with von Göttsegen.

City Manager Ray Towry mentioned Buster, using him to illustrate a point, last week during the City Council’s goal-setting and training retreat. Since going to work in Sweet Home in 2016, von Göttsegen has been cutting Towry’s hair and he has enjoyed visiting with Buster.

“I used to stop by there and give Buster treats,” Towry said. He left the shop one day, and Buster “followed me halfway to the street.”

“Buster was grumpy,” Towry said. “The first time I met him, he tried to bite me.”

If Buster was a little famous, “a lot of it’s because you couldn’t pet him,” Towry said, and von Göttsegen had warned him. Towry just couldn’t resist making friends with the dog.

“I’m the kid who always brought the stray dog home,” Towry said.

He knows the way to a dog’s heart is through its stomach, so he started making sure he showed up with treats.

Buster is one of those small-town things, and “it’s probably the reason I kept going there, honestly,” Towry said. “I always looked forward to seeing if Buster would remember me and see if I could get my hand away quickly enough when I got my treat out.”

He added that he enjoys visiting with von Göttsegen too: “Erik’s always a great conversationalist. We talk about flying and what’s going on in town.”

Stepping into some big shoes for Buster at the shop is Bernie, a 10-year-old basset hound from Grants Pass.

“He’s great with kids,” von Göttsegen said.

“Bernie’s very friendly,” Moore said. “He’s not as vocal as Buster, but he loves everybody.”

end of article…

Well, well, well, a life well lived by Buster.  I wish Erik and Bernie lots and lots of haircuts and joy to all…

More loving basset hounds in the news later…Cat, Daisy Lynn, (Chaps and Emma ATB showing Buster around)

PS – My grandpa on my Mom’s side was a barber.  I think Buster just found his new shop!