The clean sounds of paws hitting hardwood floors and cold wet noses pressing against glass windows follow Dr. Tammie Bumgardner whenever she takes the 30-yard stroll from her veterinary practice to her log cabin. Koko, Kibo, Suki, Reba, Kojak, Rudy, Archie, Mandy, and Lolly all watch her leave and anxiously await her return.
The veterinarian runs with a pack of nine dogs, from Standard Poodles to German shepherds, to a three-legged amputee mutt. They are each a testament to her tireless work with animals.
Tammie and her husband, Buck, run Buck Creek Animal Clinic in Eubank in far northern Pulaski County.
Tammie and Buck’s story begins in Arizona where Tammie was a doctor in a large veterinary practice, treating thousand of animals a year. In 2004, she became interested in training dogs for search and rescue. Buck, who had been working with search dogs in Kentucky since 1990, took his pack to Arizona for a training session. And the rest is history, as they say.
Immediately after the week of training, the two began a long-distance relationship. They laugh now about those “$700 a month phone bills,” but marriage followed less than a year later.
The couple had two wedding services printed on their invitation: a “Kentucky Hitching” and an “Arizona Ceremony.”
“She liked me so much she had to marry me twice in one year,” Buck said.
Soon after, Tammie left Arizona and joined him on his 80-acre family farm. They used their savings to build a log cabin on top of a hill, and Tammie began a mobile veterinary clinic where she could travel and treat patients in a trailer.
With the rise in gas prices and a lack of proper post-operative care, Tammie decided the mobile part of the practice had to go, and Buck set to work on building Buck Creek Animal Clinic, named after the creek that runs along the couple’s property.
Tammie spays or neuters 40 animals a month on average. She says she made a mission of out low-cost neutering when she moved to Kentucky.
“I wanted it to be affordable to everyone,” she says. “I find many people calling and asking for a discount, but I like to think I can give everyone a discount. Because the clinic is so small and it is just me and Buck, I don’t have the overhead that many large clinics do, and I can charge less.”
When Tammie moved to Kentucky she says the amount of stray animals were heartbreaking. She offers her low-cost services for many neighbors who bring in strays for operations, limiting the number of homeless animals in the area.
While Buck works as Tammie’s unofficial assistant, helping in her in any way she needs around the clinic, he is also her partner in search- and rescue-training classes and frequently goes on emergency calls with their dogs.
The couple’s search-and rescue-team consists of two standard poodles and two German shepherds. The team is highly regarded in the state, being trusted with many urgent rescue missions.
“We do about 50 rescue missions a year, traveling both locally and out of state,” says Buck.
The couple came together over their love and passion for animals. Together, they have made a life out of it and couldn’t be happier.
“He says our time together feels like it has just been five minutes,” Tammie says with a smile.
“Five minutes on fire,” Buck says.
