Buster - Pet beagle owned by twelve-year-old
Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) on the 1960s-based situation comedy THE WONDER
YEARS/ABC/1988-93. Brian McMillan was the animal trainer on the show. On
episode No. 61 "Buster (or the Big Fix)" we discover a lot about the
Arnold's family dog as the elderly Kevin (voice of Daniel Stern) recalls
in a voice-over:
"When he was little...he was...cute. Everyone wanted to cuddle him. He was
the perfect puppy. Then something happened. Buster...grew up. Suddenly he
wasn't so cute. And just as suddenly the family dog had become my
dog."
Baby Buster & Kevin
Buster came to the Arnold house by way of Kevin's paternal grandfather. As
Buster grew older the Arnold family didn't pay much attention to him until
Buster's incessant barking disrupted the family's sleep pattern. And so,
the family decided to get Buster "fixed."
The night before Buster was to
go to Dr. Ferlinger (Cristine Rose), the veterinarian, he ran away from
Kevin while on a walk. Suddenly, the family's latent love for the dog
resurfaced and they frantically tried to find him. When Buster found them,
the family was happy and the next morning, they all took Buster to the
vet.
Again the elderly Kevin in his voice-over concluded:
"And in a way, I guess you could say Buster's loss...was also his gain.
He'd been this little stranger, who turned out to be part of our family. A
venerable member of the alliance. One for all, and all for one. And over
the years, through good times and bad...through seasons of hope and
change, he stood by us all. A silent partner. The first one to greet me at
the door...when I came home from my senior prom. The one who stared out
our front window, on the day I left for college. And my mom said he stayed
there for hours."
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