PUPPY, CIAO

Just when Pilot was about to make a run at Mike and Benji . . . time ran out.

The German shepherd, who played the first guide dog, Buddy, in “Love Leads the Way” on “The Disney Sunday Movie” (ABC, April 4), has died peacefully of old age at 11.

Producer David Permut called the film, her first starring role, “a tribute to the dog. Pilot did a magnificent job in the picture and is immortalized onscreen.”