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.