For a dog to be named Buoy, you'd think you'd have a dog who loved the water, or enjoyed sailing but Conrad Nark's dog prefers to stay on dry land. "We named him that because it was the week we put the buoy in the water at our cabin. So the story is that I was off at summer camp for a week and my parents came to pick me up and they had a dog with them. I asked them whose dog it was and they said 'It's ours!' I'd always wanted a dog so it was amazing."

Buoy is a pure bred King Charles Spaniel and he's 8 years old. Suprisingly though, while he can swim if necessary, he's not a water dog at all.

They feed him dog food from Next to Nature in the West Seattle junction and while he likes treats, they had to cut back on them. "He started to put on too much weight. But he likes the occasional 'greenies'... they look like little toothbrushes," Nark explained.

Buoy hasn't had any formal training though,"He used to know how to sit and lie down but as he's gotten older he's gotten a little lazy."

Cooper a yellow lab is Buoy's friend, who lives up on Magnolia Hill.

in the last year or so Buoy faced a somewhat serious health challenge. "He jumped out of a standing still SUV, but he tore his ACL (anterior cruciate ligamen, a key knee stablizing ligament)," said Nark. "I'd never heard of this in a dog but he had it. So, we had the option of doing surgery but we had a friend had their dog tear his ACL. Their daughter had just gotten out of Vet school and she said she wished they hadn't. They told us to put him in a kennel for a few months he would be fine. We did that and now he's doing fine. We take him on walks now."

Buoy is full of cute moves of course but one unusual one he makes is that, "If you blow on his face he will try to cover your face with his chest. I don't know if he likes it or doesn't like it or what, but it's adorable."

Vashon, along the beach is a favorite walking spot, and he loves to get dirty there too. His favorite toy is a lobster and a toy frog.