He Was A Good Dog

Today my mom called to tell me that they had to put Toby down. Toby was a good dog. Toby came into my life when I was in grade seven. Mom and dad said we would never have a dog, but then one day, when mom was working, dad had a weak moment and brought a little furball home to us. He was so cute and cuddly and so very much in need of a family to love him. The first night he stayed with us he cried for his mom. Corrie and I put a stuffed dog and a clock next to him (because we heard it would simulate the mother's heartbeat). He still cried, and we fell in love with him. Toby was always considered MY dog because I was the one that really, really wanted a dog. He was great fun, full of energy as a puppy and often letting his 'voice' be heard. Toby was spunky. He liked to eat peas from the garden and was very adept at eating only the peas and spitting out the entire shell. Much to mom's chagrin he also loved 'people food' but his stomach couldn't tolerate it. One day he got up on the kitchen table and ate an entire block of butter. The days that followed that event need not be described. He was smart too. He quickly learned how to spell the words "C-A-T" and "W-A-L-K" and was the only dog I know of who could complete a single axle (in a skating dress but without skates). Later in life, Toby started to develop a startling resemblance to my dad. He started developing a distinguished grey and, several times a year, he would have his hair cut into a pert little moustache. When he jumped up to sit next to dad and watch the news, you could hardly tell the two apart!

In the last couple of years, Toby declined a fair amount. He developed problems with his eyes, was almost completely deaf, and seemed to have some sort of odd short term memory loss. Along with his decline though he really mellowed out and began to actually let kids poke and prod him a little. He celebrated his 15th birthday on September 4th. When he was younger, we used to take him to get an ice cream cone from Red Rooster on his birthday. Every year he had to be reminded that the cone was edible too. He would lick out all the ice cream and only eat the cone when he saw us crunching away on ours.

Toby was put down today, September 17th, on my grandma's birthday. It seems fitting as Toby loved Grandma Kay. Shortly after she passed away, we went to her house to sort through some of her things. Toby went tearing through the house and ran right up to Grandma's rocking chair. Upon discovering it empty, the loss etched on Toby's face was almost human.

Toby was my dog. He was a good dog.