Tom Dog

Ginny purchased a couple of bricks in the first round, and now she's back to memorialize another of her MANY animals.  I'm going to repeat what I wrote last time - Ginny is a dear friend who lives about an hour from me.  She and her husband Jim have known our family for years and years.  They board their dogs with us when they get to take the occasional trip.  Ginny is an animal lover, and she has both dogs and cats.  She also feeds the strays and gets Jim to build shelters for them.   This time Ginny's brick is for a dog from her past whom I never had the privilege of knowing.  Of course, now I feel like I DID know him.  Here's his story, in Ginny's words.

My brick is for Tom-Dog Wells. He was a lhasa Apso Mix. He walked out of our corn field into the back yard – a dirty, hungry, little beige mop of a dog. He had a large infected sore on his back and his hair was matted with burrs. He came toward me and he seemed to know I would help him. I took him inside the house and fed him and gave him water – then I let him rest a while. Later on he got a bath in flea soap. The next day we went to the vet – he got shots and his sore treated, and later on he was neutered. We named him Tom-Dog, because he acted like a big house cat, a (i)tom/-cat, if you will. He would wash his body with his tongue like the cats and let them lay down beside him and soon he became our little house- mop dog. He was so sweet and he would flop down on the cool tile and watch everyone.  We all loved him dearly.  He traveled with us and even went to live in Arizona when we moved. Time went on as it does and he grew older and lost the sight in his eyes.  Our new puppy (rescued from the pound) would take Tom-Dog’s leash and lead him outside and back inside. The new pup was a golden retriever named Mc Cloud – Tom-Dog lived another 2 years with his seeing-eye dog (McCloud) by his side. When we moved back home to Kentucky he came with us- we tried every thing to make him comfortable in his ancient years. He began to hurt and got to where he could barely walk. One very sad day we knew it was the time to let him go to the Bridge – he was our love dog and is still loved to this day. The saddest thing was that we could not tell Mc Cloud (aka Big Mac) where he had gone and Mc Cloud would lay down in the spot Tom-Dog slept in and kept looking around for him for a long time.  I don’t have enough words to tell his story – I had no idea where he came from or what kind of life that had been.  We guessed him to be about 3 or 4 when he came to us and he never seemed to miss his old life at all so I don’t think it had been very good.

Well, I know it was good with you, Ginny.

Ginny and Jim ~ THANK YOU.

Tomorrow is Trex’s Transport Day.  We’ll be driving down into Arkansas to meet up with Anita and turn over her new boy to her.  Have a great weekend.  See you Monday.

Comments

[Madeline]

What a wonderful story Ginny, it seems like animal recuers are always in the right place at the right time, I think that's what we are here for.
God bless you Ginny and all your fur babies.

Have a safe trip Chrystal.
Give Trex a kiss for me.

[Random Felines]

That is a wonderful tribute to a great dog!! Sometimes it is about finding what we need rather than what we thought we wanted. :)

Safe trip and kiss Trex!!

[ginny& the Fur Family]

I love Tom-Dogs brick. I want to thank Chrystal for telling his story and giving us the chance to honor Tom-Dog. I wish every one out there could have seen him once we had him groomed and he had the front of his hair tied up in a big red bow. He hated that bow like crazy- he would rub his face in the shag carpet until that bow came off -I told the groomer not to put any more bows in his top hair. like I said - I don't have enough words to tell what a super sweet and loving little mop he was but just one more funny to brighten animal lovers day - when we went to Arizona to live they had what they call goat eyes it is a little burr that looks like a kidney stone - I took him to the groomer and told her to get all those goat eyes out of his hair. When I came to pick him up after work - I looked around and didnt see him- I saw this naked little fellow with a collar dangleing around his neck - he was shaved bald all over and I ran over and read his tag - Tom - Dog Wells and I could have had a crying fit right there but I just paid and left with my naked little friend -I stlll loved the ugle little kid just as much. yes the other dog laughed at him --It took Mc Cloud almost half a day to realize it was his little friend. Animals are so smart. Smarter than we will ever know. Warm wishes to all - thanks again for telling his story and for the super good looking brick...Ginny & The Fur Family - I have a family albumn of dogs and cats for bricks.

[Cat's Cats]

Thank you Ginny for sharing the beautiful story of Tom-Dog and Big Mac. I was so touched when I read how Big Mac helped Tom-Dog when he lost his sight... couldn't we all use a good friend like that!!!

PS - I laughed hard at the groomer story because I've experienced the same thing :-)

[Kat and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde]

What a wonderful story of love! And of the love of one animal for another, I loved the story of Big Mac being Tom-Dog's seeing eye dog! OTOH it's not too surprising given his breed. ::smile::

And I'm so excited about the travel you'll be doing on Saturday!! Whenever I read about another cat going to a Forever Home it brings back memories of our own Audrey coming to us!! I have a smile on my face right now and my eyes are twinkling. She's the only cat that I let stop me and twine around my legs. But she does seem to know when I have time for her to do it! Thank you SO much for all you do.

[Lana]

These stories just make my day. Thanks, Ginny (and Chrystal) for sharing about Tom-Dog. :)

[Andrea and the Celestial Kitties]

Aw, what a sweet doggie! A doggie with a seeing eye doggie! How great is that! Wonderful Brick!

Yay for Trex's transport day!! Good travels for both of you!!!

We need more days like tomorrow, more transport days! More kitties in new homes! More cats out of the cathouse! Spread the word so the kitties can find their forever homes!

[meowmeowmans]

What a great story and tribute! Thanks for putting a big smile on my face.

[Jan (Milo and Alfie's mom)]

What a wonderful tribute to Tom. He was clearly well loved. xx