Melissa Gilbert and her husband Timothy Busfield have always had dogs. They currently have a rescue dog named Chicago, and who can forget that? Little house on the prairie Actor‘S little bulldog Josephine, the inspiration for her children’s book Daisy and Josephine. But the couple used to have a golden retriever named Chevy. Because of this, they felt it best to place the dog in a new home.
How Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield came to adopt Chevy
Today Gilbert and Busfield live in the Catskills. Before that, however, they lived in Michigan, Busfield’s home state. It was a welcome change for Gilbert, who had lived her whole life in the Hollywood fast lane. She was ready for something quieter and slower. That is exactly what Michigan has provided. While living in Michigan, the couple adopted a golden retriever, Chevy, from their friends, the Smiths.
“They raised golden dogs, but they were also expecting their sixth child, and when they heard we were looking for a dog, they introduced us to the four-year-old Chevy who licked us for the first time,” Gilbert wrote in her 2022 memoir , Back to the prairie.
They lived in the woods at the time, and Busfield wanted Gilbert to have a “big bark” dog that could protect them when he was out of town.
“My little bulldog, Josephine, who would rather snuggle up on my lap or on the sofa, didn’t make it,” Gilbert wrote. “But Chevy fitted the picture perfectly.”
Chevy hated living in New York City
Chevy was happy at Gilbert and Busfield’s Michigan home.
“He was an adventurous outdoor roamer who would spend hours exploring the woods on his own, but somehow always retreated when one or both of us wanted his company,” Gilbert wrote of their former dog.
Eventually, Gilbert and Busfield moved to New York City for work.
“Chevy wasn’t thrilled,” she wrote. “Unlike Josephine, he wasn’t cut out for apartment living. He was also not intended for daily walks on the leash. He missed being outside and free. It was more than hate. I could see the contempt in his eyes. Living in an apartment in the city? You must be kidding me. This isn’t life.”
Melissa Gilbert injured her shoulder while walking Chevy
Then one night, while taking Chevy for a walk, Gilbert pulled his leash harder than usual, injuring her shoulder.
“He saw a rat run out of one of the chutes in the side of a brownstone house,” Gilbert wrote. “He jumped off and the force of his lunge and my attempt to stop him injured my shoulder.”
Add it to the list of injuries sustained by the actor in recent years. Just a few years earlier, she dropped out of the race for Congress because a herniated disc was causing severe pain that was pinching the nerves in her neck. A few years earlier she had broken her back.
Due to the injury and Chevy’s apparent dissatisfaction with life in the city, Gilbert and Busfield decided to find a new home for their dog.
“I waited months before getting it checked out,” Gilbert wrote. “The images showed a severe rotator cuff tear. An operation was inevitable. But first things first. We found a new home in the country for Chevy with our friends Pete Benington and his wife Kathy. They had a house by a lake, lots of land, and children and grandchildren nearby, and they had recently given away their beloved 12-year-old Labrador. After much thought, we proposed the idea. “Oh my god, are you 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 in a place he liked a lot better than New York City.
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