Tobe's Big Production
1992- 2005
your homecoming will be my homecoming
- ee cummings
Tobe and Dali at "Dog Park" Chicago.
Learning to walk on a leash
"....never allow your dog to bite or play with the leash..... "
...do not allow your dog on the furniture....
the Dog-a-Polt© is easily mastered by most dogs.
It helps keep a high energy dog from destroying your house.
Tobe and Dali at the Mackinac Bridge, MI
It's very cold in Chicago!
It's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction oh beautiful release
Memories seep from my veins
They may be empty and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of an Angel fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here
Tobe came to me from the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago. www.anticruelty.org
Any donations to Anti-Cruelty in his honor would be appreciated and will help save a life.
following are e-mails from earlier this week about Tobe's brief, final illness.
Here is an e-mail I sent out on Wednesday night January 12, 2005. I just got back from the vet with Tobe, my 12 year old sheltie/border collie boy. If you recall, Tobe had surgery on his cervical (neck) spine last winter. He was paralyzed for a few days and had an emergency surgery, and slowly recovered his function over a few weeks/months. Although not back to normal, he is able to walk and get up and down the stairs, and was feeling pretty well. A couple of weeks ago, he started to feel sore. I thought it was lack of exercise since there has been snow on the ground, and we haven't been able to walk like we are supposed to. I started him on Rimadyl, and it seems to make him feel better. Yesterday, I noticed that his belly seemed very swollen. Today it wasn't any better, so we went to the vet for a look-see, and an abdominal x-ray that showed a huge mass in his abdomen. He is also anemic. Hgb 7./Hct 17/WBC 77K. The vet thinks that is most likely lymphoma. Could be a splenic hemangioma. He needs a CT or ultrasound to be sure. The closest veterinary oncologist is 3 hours away, and booked up for at least a week.
Thursday, January 13, 2005.
Tobe slept well last night. This morning he had a hard time getting up, but managed to get in and out to potty, and snarl at the puppies. I gave him some nice beef heart for breakfast. He turned his nose up at the Rimadyl.
I left for work around 6 am, and was able to take a break around 8:30 to come and let him out to potty. I came in the house, and he looked up and wagged his tail at me, but wasn’t able to get up. I carried him outside and put him down and he took a few steps and pottied, then lay down and I picked him up to go back in the house. As I got to the door, he went limp in my arms, and his eyes glazed over. I brought him in and put him down on the rug by my bed, and he took a couple of gasping breaths and he was gone.
Tobe was my dog pound dog who taught me a lot about ‘troubled’ dogs. He almost went back to the pound every day for a month or more after I got him. He was a brat. Everything was a “big production” which is how I named him. He had every bad habit a dog can have, but he also was very affectionate and people-oriented, and I knew he would be a good dog if I could figure him out. I worked and worked with him, and he worked and worked, and between the time I got him in June, until November, he started from zero and earned his CGC and an AMBOR CD. He was my best worker. My totally solid obedience guy, who never considered disobeying me, once he figured it out.
He also did therapy at the VA hospital. We went to the nursing home at the VA, and he would go from room to room. He did a “paws up” on the bed for petting, and whenever that person stopped petting, he dragged me down the hall to the next room for more petting. He would shake hands, and did “bang! You’re dead” flopping down on his side. He also did a great “speak” with either a verbal, or a silent command.
At dog park in Chicago, while the other dogs were playing with each other, he would go down the row of owners to be petted. I told them he was always interviewing for new owners. He just loved people.
I learned more about dog-training from Tobe than from anyone else. Thanks to Tobe, I learned how to trouble-shoot dozens of behavior problems that I would not have learned otherwise. He was an every day experience in dog behavior. He taught me how dogs think and learn. He was a wonderful training partner, a hard worker, and a devoted friend, and I will always miss him.