BARN DOGS

MEET BUDDY AND TUCCI

A LIFETIME with dogs.

BY LOUISE SERIO

Louise Serio, a championship rider and trainer, owns and operates Derbydown, nationally recognized as one of the foremost show barns in the country, located in Chester County, Pennsylvania. In addition to having been champion at every major horse show on the East Coast, she has been World Champion Hunter Rider twice.

Serio began riding at a young age and started showing at Devon in 1962. She was Reserve Champion on her pony, Gee Hee, and has been Leading Lady Rider, Grand Champion, and Champion many times. In 2012, Serio was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame, and that same year she and Jennifer Burger started the Brandywine Valley Summer Series at Devon.

KIND MEDIA

I’ve had quite a few dogs. When I was a kid, I had a little mutt that my father bought at an auction for 25 cents. Her name was Lassie, of course, like Lassie on TV, and my sister had another little dog called Busy Bee. They were wonderful dogs—just funny-looking little mutts—that met us at the school bus. Then my mother got a German shepherd from the police force for personal protection, but it was neither very protective nor very police-like.

The next dog I got was a miniature schnauzer named Blossom. Blossom was a wonderful dog, but she tended to wander a little, which is odd for that breed. One time, she disappeared for a month right after she had been clipped, and when she came back, she had been re-clipped and smelled like perfume. She never left the farm again.

Later in life, I got a pug named Ruby and a rescue named Emmy, and they were a pair. I got Emmy to be Ruby’s dog because I thought Ruby was lonely. But it took her over a year until she liked Emmy. After Ruby, my son gave me a dog I still have, a border collie/blue healer named Butter. She’s black, but she’s called Butter because that’s what my granddaughter named her.

I helped place one of the very first dogs from Danny & Ron’s Rescue (D&R) when they started with Hurricane Katrina rescues. That dog’s name was Penny, and it went to a client of mine. I’ve also taken other dogs from them that I fostered. Currently, I have a Cavalier King Charles named Buddy, and Tucci, from D&R, who’s a wantto-be Cavalier. I lost Ruby, and I’ve always loved the Cavaliers. I think they’re so, so cute. I was in the Dallas airport, and everybody was leading their little dogs around, and I decided I wanted to get a Cavalier, and I found a breeder in Punta Gorda, Florida, where I got Buddy. He’s just the best dog. He loves everything; cats, people, and little kids. He’s just super happy.

So, then I had Buddy and Butter, which was great, but for some reason when I saw the picture of Tucci on Danny and Ron’s website, I thought, “I need to have him too.” I called Ron, and I took Tucci for a few days. He came in as a seizure dog but hasn’t had any seizures. Now he’s fat and happy. He plays all the time and has become very affectionate and attached to me, which is nice.

I’m honored even to know Danny and Ron. Not only do they have a wonderful horse business and great horses, but somehow they manage to save all these animals. They’ve been such a rock in our horse community to do this.

Louise Serio with Buddy (on seat) and Tucci.

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