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down and endured it. As he grew, more batches of kittens came along, and Buster became more protective of each one. He grew to roughly the size of a small horse, and any stray dogs that tried to chase the kittens quickly learned the error of their ways. At times he faced down as many as three at a time. And each night, the mother cat and her kittens climbed on top of him and snuggled down into his fur to sleep. For my part, I watched this with great interest, but I was determined I would not become attached to him. More than once I had grown to love a dog only to lose him. But one day, despite all my efforts, he did something that ended my resolve. I knew Buster thought the cats were his family, but I hadn’t realized how much he was part of ours. We had a llama that grew viciously territorial. Though he had learned that it was not a smart thing to attack me, he had no fear of the others. That day he broke down the fence, and when my wife went to hang out laundry, he attacked. Buster fought back and was able to keep the llama away from her until my son could join 6