Melissa Gilbert and her husband Timothy Busfield have always had dogs. They currently have a rescue dog named Chicago, and who can forget the little house on the prairie actorIt is the little bulldog Josephine, the inspiration for her children’s book Marguerite and Josephine. But the couple had a golden retriever named Chevy. Here’s why they thought it best to rehouse the dog.
How Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield came to adopt Chevy
Today, Gilbert and Busfield live in the Catskills. But before that, they lived in Michigan, Busfield’s home state. It was a welcome adjustment for Gilbert, who had spent his entire life in the Hollywood fast lane. She was ready for something quieter and slower. That’s exactly what Michigan provided. While living in Michigan, the couple adopted a golden retriever, Chevy, from their friends, the Smiths.
“They raised goldens, but they were also expecting their sixth child, and when they heard we were looking for a dog, they introduced us to four-year-old Chevy, who had us with her first lick,” Gilbert wrote. in his 2022 memoir, Back to the meadow.
They lived in the woods at the time, and Busfield wanted Gilbert to have a dog “with a big bark” who could protect her when he was out of town.
“My little bulldog Josephine, who preferred to snuggle up on my lap or on the couch, didn’t measure up,” Gilbert wrote. “But Chevy fits the bill perfectly.”
Chevy hated living in New York
Chevy was happy at Gilbert and Busfield in Michigan.
“He was an adventurous wanderer who spent hours exploring the woods on his own, but somehow he always returned when one or both wanted his company,” Gilbert wrote at about his former dog.
But, eventually, Gilbert and Busfield moved to New York for work.
“Chevy was not thrilled,” she wrote. “Unlike Josephine, he wasn’t cut out for apartment living. He also wasn’t wired for daily walks on a leash. He missed being outside and free. It was more than just hate. I could see the contempt in his eyes. Apartment living in the city? Tell me this is a joke. This is not a life.”
Melissa Gilbert hurt her shoulder walking with Chevy
Then, one evening, while Gilbert was walking Chevy, he pulled on his leash harder than usual and injured his shoulder.
“He saw a rat run out of one of the vents in the side of a brownstone,” Gilbert wrote. “He took off, and the force of his push and then my attempt to hold him back hurt my shoulder.”
Add it to the list of injuries the actor has suffered over the past few years. A few years earlier, she had dropped out of the congressional race due to extreme pain caused by a herniated disc pressing on the nerves in her neck. A few years earlier, she had broken her back.
Between the injury and Chevy’s obvious dissatisfaction with living in the city, Gilbert and Busfield decided to find a new home for their dog.
“I waited months to have it checked out,” Gilbert wrote. “The footage revealed a badly torn rotator cuff. Surgery was unavoidable. But first and foremost. We found a new country home for Chevy with our friends Pete Benington and his wife, Kathy. They had a waterfront home. “a lake, lots of land, and kids and grandkids nearby, and they had recently dropped off their dear twelve-year-old Lab. After a lot of soul-searching, we came up with the idea. ‘Oh my God, you’re kidding ?’ they said. ‘We already love Chevy!’
And that was it. Gilbert still had a long way to go to heal, and Chevy found a new home somewhere he loved far more than New York.