Well, Toby's cancer caught up with him and he went from
doing well, to not eating, not drinking, panting and horrible coughing - almost
overnight. He had bone cancer and we did do an amputation April 5, but
knew it would only buy us time. It did buy us time and for us, it was
worth it to have three more months that were pretty darn good for the big
guy. My husband , daughter and I took him for the last van ride (he loves
van rides) and the vet was very kind and we did it right in the back of our van
- arms around the big lug. He was such an amazing dog .. truly the Large
Stuffed Animal sort of Pyr. He was ten.
Toby was my first involvement in Rescue for the Great
Pyr Club of Puget Sound. You all might have noticed my musing on what dog
I might add to the crew around here .. maybe a smaller one? Well, Toby was
supposed to be a Corgi!~ Yup.. we had Ski - we wanted a buddy for her and I even
had a litter of Corgi pups to go look at. But in the meantime I agreed to
get Toby in Bellingham where he was a resuce - he was a working dog and the
owner had died, leaving Toby and brother w/ no home. Brother was adopted
to a new working home. toby was much more interested in people and loving
than working it seemed. He was 18 months old and as I drove home , he kept
hanging that big ol' head over my arm -- And looking at me with those
amazing brown eyes. And.. (no! I need a smaller dog!!)... and... he
never went past rescue at my place and the Corgi was never purchased.
He made a much better dog out of Ski - she quit being
dog aggressive and they always just loved one another. He worked little..
always letting her do the heavy lifting of guarding our challenging few
chickens.
But later.. as she got older and more arthritic.. he did
begin to guard more. He helped out with the Pyr club at sheep show and the
fair as an ambassador of good will for the breed and loved everyone.
So... I will miss him so very much. Ski keeps on
keeping on (age 13) and we have our new pup Sampson.. but Toby was and is in a
class by himself. I've included a couple photo links.. Hope they work and
thanks to everyone who has over time, given us good wishes and hopes for his
struggle. It is just so valuable to have a community like this to ask
questions and just share .
Linda Anderson
Night Sky Farm
Stanwood, Wash.
|