How a wandering pup in Arizona led to the rescue of a wandering boy

Yahoo

20-04-2025

In 2015, a brown and white puppy with floppy ears wandered onto Scotty and Dawn Dunton's ranch.
The couple already had dogs, so Dawn gave the pup to her friends.
Her friends had a female Great Pyrenees, and the new guy, Bosco, was a boxer-Anatolian-Pyrenees mix. So they let the pair breed because they figured they'd make great dogs.
They certainly did. One of Bosco's sons would grow up to rescue his own little wanderer: a 2-year-old boy named Bodin Allen lost under a full moon in the high desert. That dog, Buford, got famous this week after shepherding Bodin to Dawn and Scotty's ranch about 40 miles east of Kingman, Arizona.
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Bodin made it about seven miles on foot, but Scotty found tracks indicating that Buford had reached him from at least a mile away. It's hard to tell what happened that night, but based on the boy's limited recounting of events, Buford slept with him under a tree, keeping him warm in the cold night.
Buford is at least 150 pounds and a whole lot of fluff.
The story has captured national attention, with news outlets eagerly sharing it. AI-generated children's books about Buford and Bodin have begun to surface, along with YouTube videos featuring songs about their adventure. Meanwhile, Scotty's been fielding calls from across the country, with people asking about Buford's favorite treats and promising to send gift baskets.
Back in 2018, when Buford was just a puppy, Dawn pitched in to help her friends raise him and his eight sibling, taking over feeding and cleaning duties whenever they were out of town.
"I kind of tricked Scotty the one time," she said, laughing.
Scotty tells it that way too.
Dawn asked him once to help her feed the puppies. He obliged. While they were there, in the chaos of feeding time, she asked him which one he'd pick if he had to pick one.
"Eight of them are like, jumping on me, and running around yapping and stuff," Scotty said.
But there was one, chilling in the corner, who casually came over when the couple put the food out, ate, walked back to his corner and lay down.
That would be the one, Scotty said.
And so it was. Buford became his Christmas present. The couple named him Buford after Buford T. Justice, the sheriff in the film "Smokey and the Bandit."
"He's by far the coolest dog we've had," Scotty said.
Buford was a good puppy. He only occasionally chewed on things, and any time Dawn told him no, he acted mortified that he'd broken the rules and then didn't repeat the infraction.
He adopted his calling young. When he was just about 1 year old, Dawn spotted Buford outside instinctually watching over a calf. From then on, he has guarded them and cuddled with them.
He has since taken on an important job for the ranch. He patrols to keep out coyotes and mountain lions. He must be the stuff of legend among the animals around there because most of the time, the predators don't dare walk near the animals.
"He's a tough dog," Scotty said. "His bark wakes the dead."
He's only engaged in physical battle a couple times, that Scotty knows of. He's never returned home injured.
When Buford isn't guarding his calves and patrolling the ranch, he hangs out with family and even lets Scotty's niece paint his nails. He's gentle and patient with children.
Buford is so gentle and patient that even when other dogs — like this Arizona Republic reporter's pup, Luci — rudely made a beeline for his food upon meeting him, he didn't seem to mind at all.
"He's just always been a real mellow dog," Scotty said.
For now, Buford doesn't know he's a star. But by next week, Scotty suspects half the UPS truck will be gifts from Buford's fans around the nation.
"He'll probably figure it out," Scotty said.
Thank you, Buford! Hero dog finds missing toddler who was 7 miles from Arizona home
Reach Caitlin McGlade at [e-mail]. Follow her on BlueSky, @caitmcglade.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How a wandering pup in Arizona led to the rescue of a wandering boy