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Some times you plan for something and before you finish the thought, you already know it is not going to happen. Anyway, you still pretend that you believe it will happen. It is the usual debate between good and bad, practical and unpractical, serious and not that serious, realistic and unrealistic….
That’s what was happening in my mind…as a matter of fact I had always believed it was happening in my husband’s mind too. The only person at home that had her mind set since the very beginning was my daughter. She did not wasted any time, making a point that she wanted the big yellow dog to stay.
Since the beginning, I was concerned between what was reasonable to do and what my heart was asking me to do. We had three other dogs. Big dogs. Noisy dogs. Dogs that ate a lot and dogs that made us incur in costly vet bills. Dogs that spent a lot of time by themselves because our jobs kept us away during the day. Plus we were kind of in charge of the strayed black puppy. Four dogs to care for. Another dog was out of discussion. Specially, another big dog. So, there was no point to even consider keeping the yellow dog. Was it…?
He was already at our house… and my husband just agreed to take him to the vet. Before getting the dog inside of a car, with human beings (us!!!), we needed to take out the smell and the dirt. Step One - bathe the dog.
No big deal…we were used to bathe our own dogs. We knew what to do, how to do it. So we did it. Two minor details that we forgot: his coat was all matted and he seemed to have an injury in his hindquarters.
We started front to back. Water, shampoo, brush, comb, scissors, water again, more shampoo, more water… The dog was not moving or pulling…he just let us do our way trying to lie down in every opportunity. Everything was OK till we got to his hips. The hair knots were awful, but the worst part was that he seriously disliked being touched in that area. He kept moving around, moaning and groaning and snapping. In order to finish the grooming, both my husband and daughter had to hold his face and body to prevent him to bite me.
Lesson learned - no matter how pleasant a dog may look and behave, be careful…he may have some issues that you do not know of!!! Dog cleaned and smelling good.
Next step - the vet. Will it be a problem to get the dog in the car? Sorry to disappoint you but no adventure here. No running, no snapping, no anything. Just open the door and he got inside the car.
At the vet, he behaved like an angel… up to the moment when the assistant tried to get the body temperature, you know…from behind. That was interesting! I had always wondered how my dogs allowed a thermometer to be inserted on them without complaining. That must be an awful sensation. Well, apparently the yellow dog thoughts were aligned with mine and he made a point of it.
Lesson learned - forget about measuring body temperature via the backdoor, unless strictly required.
The vet did a complete check including the canine shots, checked for heart worms putting him in preventive treatment, prescribed vitamins and so on. He examined the hips and recommended to X-ray him. We couldn’t afford the x-ray at the moment, so he prescribed some painkillers making a point that the x-ray was required for a good diagnostic.
Following the plan, I explained that we just found the dog and were not planning to keep him, requested permission to put a flyer with a photo to try to find the owner or a new home and, of course, since we were just doing some charity, requested a discount . The doctor, being an understanding person who actually loved animals, gave the permission for the flyer and the discount. Even with the discount, the total bill was almost $100. Forcing myself not to look at my husband’s face, I continued chit chatting with the doctor.
“He (the dog) is a Golden Retriever. I bet he is a runaway since this particular breed love to go around. Without the x-ray we will not know if he has something broken or if he has some kind of condition. So far he is using both legs, so I guess whatever happened is healing. When you find the owner or somebody adopt him, remember to mention this. ”
Lesson learned - if you want to do charity, keep a money reserve.
Back at home, the next step was to decide where he will be kept. We decided to let him stay in the front yard, running free. He immediately made himself comfortable and chose to be most of the time in the garage, head resting in the doorstep.
Days passed and for some reason I was always too busy and never got the opportunity to prepare the flyer, even when my husband kept reminding me to do so. I mentioned the dog to family, friends and co-workers, specially to explain how well-behaved he was, how he loved to be petted, how my daughter took over the responsibility to keep him clean, how intelligent he was, the way he loved to play tug-of-war, the first meeting with our dogs, how he got along so well with the youngest of them… but somehow I never mentioned that a new home needed to be identified.
For a couple of months we kept calling him ‘the dog’. I did not want to gave him a name thinking it will make it more difficult to give him away later. My daughter always persevering in her position to keep the golden dog (aha, not ‘yellow’ anymore), tried new names everyday, checking his reaction. “If he answer to a name, that means that IS his name”, she used to say. I noticed that he was more alert with names ending with the sound “ee”.
One day, I just noticed that Alanis was calling him ‘Tobbie’ all the time (from the Twister movie’s dog - ‘Toby’). And he was actually responding to the name. Inadvertently, I started to call him Tobbie too. In no time, my husband was using the name too. So the dog that was not suppose to stay, got a name.
Alanis campaign was heavy loaded. She kept taking the golden inside of the house, showing off that he did not got on the furniture, that he did not chewed-up anything, that he did not “make any of his business” inside of the house, that he was so useful warming her feet and keeping her company…
One cold and windy night she even managed to get my approval to let him spend the night in her bedroom. From that night on, there was always a good reason to let him stay inside of the house. In the mornings, he always came to our room and rested his face over the blankets waiting to be petted. It became a family routine.
On January, I had a conversation with my husband…it was more like a monologue, since I did not stop to let him say anything.
‘Tobbie has been with us for five months. He is getting along with the other dogs so well. Nobody had claimed him at all. He already respond to his name. Alanis is learning to have responsibilities taking care of him. She has become very attached to him. Her only company is Tobbie since the other dogs do not know how to behave inside the house. She is so attached to the golden that it will break my heart to ask her to say good bye….”. I continued like this for awhile till I got to my last sentence: ‘What do you think about keeping the dog?”.
‘Was ever a doubt about that?” was my husband answer.
And on Three Kings Day, Tobbie was Alanis’ present.
That was how Tobbie end up staying at our home…
Copyright © 2009 by Alina de la Torre
All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form prohibited without the prior written permission of the author.
Tobbie
I love animals, specially dogs. I used to say that “I prefer to have a hundred dogs around, than three humans“. Because a good friend spent a lot of time teaching me that those comments were not polite (thanks Ivonne!!), I do not say it anymore… But… do not tell her… I still think the same way.Dogs are always real friends…even when you forget to provide food in a timely basis, when you remember at 9:00 pm that you have not fed the dog (sounds familiar?)… you put the plate in front of him, he will wag his tail and look at you as if you were the ‘last coke in a desert‘. He will forgive you instantly. And best of all, he will hold no grudges on you.
When you are depressed, he will know it immediately…Another human, if perceptive enough to notice, will come and ask “are you OK? Is something wrong with you? Can I help?” Not the dog. He will know that you do not need questions, that you do not feel like explaining your feelings in that moment, that when you are ready, you will talk…He will just look at you with that deep sight and will lay at your side just sharing his body warmth, letting you petting him…so you know he is there for you.
That’s the kind of relationship (yes, I call it a ‘relationship’) that I have with Tobbie. Actually, is the kind of relationship that both my husband and daughter, have with Tobbie too.
Are you wondering who is this ‘Tobbie’? Haven’t you guess already? Yes, Tobbie is a dog. The most wonderful, beautiful, unique dog on Earth. OK…I’m a little biased…I admit it! But he truly is special, and the more I think on how he end up on our home, the more I believe he was send to us with a purpose on mind by God himself.We were living on our new house since barely seven months when we met Tobbie. Do I said already that I love dogs? Well, when we moved into the new house, we met a stray dog, a little black puppy that was scared to death of humans. She was as evasive as a dog can be. Still, she enjoyed very much the food I brought to her every morning. (That’s another story that I will tell you some other day, today we are talking about Tobbie.)
On an early August morning, a Wednesday, I stopped by the usual spot to leave some food for the stray black puppy. I noticed that the grass was all smashed and the puppy was nowhere to be found. I wondered why, but, as usual, I was late for work, so I just pushed the thought away, left the food and drove to the office.
I was just arriving to my workplace when my husband called. “Did you saw what was in Negrita’s spot?”, he asked. (By the way, we called the black puppy ‘Negrita’, spanish word for ‘little black’ dog.)
I just answered “No, I didn’t. Was I supposed to see something?’.
“Well, a big yellow dog is laying there and I think he or she ate Negrita’s food because she does not want to come around, she is just looking at me from a hiding place in the woods”.
“Oh, can you make him go away? Oh, please, make sure he does not hurt Negrita!!”
“ I do not think he will hurt her…as a matter of fact he is acting very friendly”
“Are you completely sure?”
“Yes, dear, I am…and I’m late for work, I have to go”, and sending a kiss over the phone, he hanged off.
I spent the rest of the day thinking on all the possible scenes I may find coming back to home in the afternoon. I could not push the worries away, so for once, I left the office as soon as the clock marked five, pick up my daughter at the daycare and drove back home.I stopped by the woods at Negrita’s spot. And there he was… the big yellow dog. He was laying over Negrita’s usual spot. I realized then that was what caused the grass to look smashed in the morning! The dog looked at me and it was the most wishful sight I had ever seen in my life. Wishing for what?I instructed my daughter not to get out of the car, I got out and walked slowly toward the dog. With my softest tone, “Hey, boy… are you ok… want some food?”.
I saw the tip of the tail behind him moving…definitely a friendly wag. That encouraged me. I got closer. He was a mess. The hair was all tangled and dirty, full of debris. He was skinny. There was a bare circle around his eyes, no hair at all, “an eye infection”, I thought. I kept talking and getting closer. He stood up, and wagging his tail, he walked toward me. I noticed he was limping. His hindquarters were skinnier than the rest of the body. “He is hurt…maybe a car hit him?”, I wondered. His face was serious, but friendly… and that wishful look… his eyes just seemed so human…there was hope in those eyes.
That day I stayed there for 45 minutes, talking and feeding him, with a daughter complaining through the car window that she wanted to join me. Since I have my own pets at home, it is my rule not to go around touching unknown animals, unless I can have myself cleaned before getting near my own dogs. So, that day, there was no touching.
My daughter kept talking about him all night making it impossible for me not to think about him too. Not that I really tried to.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual. I put another plate on the car and a big plastic bowl for water. I verified I had enough dog food in the trunk and drove to Negrita’s woods. Both my daughter and I were excited with anticipation,.. Not saying it, but the thought showing on both our faces…“will we find him again?”
There he was… and for the next two days we visited and fed and pet him.
On Saturday morning, I got out of bed as soon as there was sunlight coming through my windows. “Hey, love, what happened? Is Saturday, you can stay in bed for a while…”, said my husband’ sleepy voice. “Oh, I’m going for a morning walk, I’m taking Alanis with me. We will be back before you get out of bed”, I improvised.
I got to my daughter’s bedroom - “hey, sweetheart, want to check on the doggie?”. I had never seen my daughter getting out of bed and getting dressed so fast!
Wearing our exercise clothes, we started walking down the road… we got to Negrita’s spot in the woods by the road and there he was. We pet him for a few minutes. He was so happy, like he was waiting for us. After a while, I said that we had to walk back home, “and do not call the dog or he will follow“, I said to my daughter. Not that I wanted to gave her any ideas, nor that I wanted the dog to follow…
As we walked, me in the front, Alanis kept making strange noises that sounded just like “here, boy”. Now and then I took a look back to check on the dog…err…on my daughter. When we were near our house I “suddenly” noticed that the dog had indeed followed us home.
“Alanis, start running toward the house, I will open and close the front gate with the remote control so the dog does not get inside" I said.But he was faster than us (what else will you expect?) and he got into our front yard before us. When the gate closed, he was already inside. And all this with my husband shouting from a window “what the heck do you two are doing????”.
“NOTHING…HE JUST FOLLOWED US EVEN WHEN WE SHOOED HIM AWAY”, was our unison answer, with our eyes opened with an innocent look.
“Then take him out”, he instructed.
“We are trying love…see? Shoo, shoo, get out of here doggie”, opening the gate and making a gesture with my hands. The dog just sat in the driveway, moving his head from me to the window where my husband’s voice was coming from.
“Honey, he does not want to leave…err…honey, he seems to be hurting…do you think we can take him to the vet? Of course we will leave him by Negrita’s woods when we return”.
“Oh, yeah, and I was born yesterday! What do you two are planning to do with that dog? What do you think will happen when he meet our dogs? Don’t you remember that Hershey hates other dogs’ guts?”, referring to our chocolate Lab, who by the way was a tiny little bit of grumpy around other than our own dogs.
“Err, let’s give him a bath, take him to the vet and we can ask the doctor if we can put a sign in his office to try to find the owner or somebody that will adopt him…what do you think, baby? Will that be ok with you? We for sure can take care of him for a few days. We will not let him into the backyard with the other dogs, so no problem with Hershey.
” Surprisingly, he said “OK” without any more questioning…
We did not know at that moment, but Tobbie found a new home that day… OURS.
Being that we were just planning to find the dog another home, how he ended up staying at ours? I will tell you some other time….Copyright © 2009 by Alina de la Torre
All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form prohibited without the prior written permission of the author.
Some times you plan for something and before you finish the thought, you already know it is not going to happen. Anyway, you still pretend that you believe it will happen. It is the usual debate between good and bad, practical and unpractical, serious and not that serious, realistic and unrealistic….
