You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

It was mid-April when Buddy's family first started to notice that something wasn't right.

Buddy started breathing really heavily and he had mucus in his nose.

And this was the first thing his family noticed that, you know, the first sign that he was

not himself.

That's Natasha Daly, a wildlife reporter with National Geographic.

Buddy was a German shepherd who Natasha says by his family's account was a very, very good

boy.

He loved running through sprinklers.

He just loved like running and diving right into the lake.

His family loved to dress him up for Halloween.

I saw some photos of him in a bunny costume and you know, he's just, it looks like he's

just grinning at the camera.

So when Buddy started getting sick this spring, just before his seventh birthday, his

family, Robert and Allison Mahoney and their daughter, Juliana, well, they were worried.

I mean, he'd been completely healthy and then all of a sudden in the spring, he started,

you know, struggling to breathe.

And the first thing his family thought was he has the virus.

Meaning the coronavirus, and the reason they thought that, they had also been sick.

So specifically, Robert Mahoney, the husband had tested positive.

Allison Mahoney, Robert's wife had not been tested, but she was showing symptoms.

So she assumes she had it too.

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