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.
