|
MIKE'S NOTICE OF HOBBES' PASSING He had pancreatic cancer, and his pain was getting worse with each passing day. He was a fine dog and good friend. May 6, 1991 - August 7, 2006 
Rest in Peace 
We had to put Hobbes down today. He turned 15 years old in May. He has survived Addison's disease, Cushing's Disease, a terminal lung disease, a malignant liver tumor, and gall bladder surgery to name a few. Last week we received news that he had pancreatic cancer. He had three pain episodes, two of which were extreme. Our vet spoke to us about euthanasia on Saturday, but tactfully stopped when I fell apart. We went home to research the cancer. It seems that it causes the release of a hormone, gastrin, which increases the production of acid, causing all sorts of ulcers in the stomach, esophagus, et cetera. He was uncomfortable yesterday and threw up what appeared to be blood last night. Early this morning he did a projectile vomiting thing in bed. We decided that it was inhumane to try to make him live through this. Even if we did surgery, the prognosis was poor. We wanted him to die on a relatively good day. We took him to the vet in our RV. I held him in my arms as he died. I know that he is in heaven now, mostly likely chasing crickets and cats. Please keep him in your prayers. He was a gentle, lovely soul - the best doggie in the world. I know that I was blessed to have him in my life - doubly so because I had him so long. I am including a picture below of Hobbes as I like to remember him: mouthy and bossy and truly deserving of his name "Mister Hobbes."  Unknown Author I give you this one thought to keep— I am with you still – I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow; I am the diamond glints on snow; I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning rush I am the swift, uplifting rush Of quite birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night Do not think of me as gone – I am with you still – in each new dawn. 
Hobbes had quite a presence on the web. As you can probably guess, the site was originally devoted to him! I only diversified when it became necessary to have a home page within which I could include links to all of my other webpages. At any rate, here are a few pages that are devoted to Hobbes: 
The button above links to the very first page that I created for Hobbes. Hobbes was three months old when I got him. He was a gift from Mike -- combination graduation (my B.S.) and birthday present. He was born in May and I got him in August. I saw him in a pet store. We didn't know about puppy mills and that sort of thing. To tell you the truth, I don't think it would have mattered. Hobbes was in a crate on the upper level in the doggie section of the store. He was sitting on his haunches when he caught my eye. He was studiously observing the crowd -- he had HUGE ears, which I didn't really seem to notice until some time later. At any rate, one of the employees of the store walked into the area and Hobbes stood up and started wagging his tail. When the employee walked by him without saying hello, Hobbes sat down on his haunches, threw his head up in the air and started howling and stamping his front paws. He ended his howl with his trademark "rah rah rah rah." I said to Mike, "that's my dog." We interacted with both Hobbes and another dog, a Cairn Terrier, but Hobbes was "it" for me. They gave us an hour cooling off period. When we returned to the store, another couple was playing with him. That closed the deal. Mike drove up to Athens the next week to help me move into an apartment building that would take pets. 
His Growl: You can hear his trade mark growl on the above webpage -- the link is between "The Hobbester-Man Song" and "The Bathroom Song." You click the picture that is centered between the two songs. Be sure to listen to the sound file to the end. There is a pause and then you hear "umph!" I used to have that as my error sound on my computer. It's a scream. If you scroll down below the "Bathroom Song" you will see two small links -- "Hobbes sings Low Rider" and "Hobbes sings Low Rider with War". I was especially bored and frustrated one night (I believe I was in the first part of graduate studies at the time) and started playing with a music program that came with my computer. We irritated Hobbes until we got the growl out of him. Then I broke it up in the music program so that I could make it sound like he was barking to the song. The sound files are kind of funny -- if I say so myself.
 Why did you carry him like a baby: The short answer is that is the way he liked it, sort of. I remember being at the vet with Hobbes when Hobbes was a little fellow. He stood on his back legs and scratched on my knees -- my cue to pick him up. I leaned down, picked him up and he crawled to my shoulder as usual. I heard a lady say to her husband, "he's sitting up like a baby." The husband responded, "he's used to it." Well, let me tell you that it was Hobbes who instigated the way I held him. From the time that we got him, he did not like to be held the way normal dogs like to be held. He wanted to be up on my shoulder. The problem with the way that he initially liked to be held was that his hind legs would dig into my stomach. So, we worked out a compromise with him sitting on my hips as shown in the picture below: 
If you look at the picture to the left of "The Hobbester-Man Song," you will see that his ears were almost as big as the rest of him. He looked link a miniature donkey when he was little. I didn't "see" this when I first got him. I didn't understand why everyone kept commenting on his ears. I remember one vet asking "do you think he'll grow into those ears." I thought it was offensive. Then I got that picture! What a hoot. For the first time I saw what everyone else was seeing. I just thought it made him that much cuter! I was at a dog show within the last couple of years and someone told me that it has to do with him having a narrow skull. Whatever. When his hair is cut in a certain way he looks like a rabbit!
 I think people who don't have dogs don't realize how much personality they actually have. Hobbes was an incredibly expressive little guy -- vocally (listen to the growl) -- and with his entire body. He would throw that head in the air, growl and stamp his front paws when he really wanted us to know that he was not happy with whatever had happened. But, he also let us know when he was really happy. One way he did this was with his ears. When he was pleased to see someone, those ears would go back and he'd dance on his little legs. If you were really special, he'd throw in his "Elvis smile" -- one side of his upper lip would curl. It was hilarious. Here's one of my favorite "fold-ears" pictures:  This is sort of what it looked like when he's stamp his paws:  Hobbes is a terrier. For those of you who know dogs, you know that just about says it all. He was inquisitive and smart! He was ALWAYS into EVERYTHING! When he was a little fellow, I had to put baby locks on the cabinets because he would bounce the cabinet door with his nose until he got it to open wide enough to stick his muzzle through and open it all the way. Once he had it open, he would pull everything out so that he could sniff it. I put baby locks on the cabinets until he figured out that the doors wouldn't open anymore. Another thing that I did was to sing to him. I figured out that he responded to music, particularly if I said his name every fourth word or so. The Hobbester-Man Song is one of the songs that I would sing to him. Actually, it's probably the only non-nonsensical song that I had. At any rate, if you read the lyrics, you find out a lot about "Baby Bobbas." He was a trip. As you can guess from the song, he had all sorts of charming behavior:
There is one verse to "The Hobbester-Man Song" that we didn't include on the online version because we considered it to be a violation of social norms for acceptable conversation. What the heck, it goes like this: Who can make the stinky Sprinkle it with pee Eat it all up and then breathe it on me Chorus: The Hobbester-Man can The Hobbester-Man can The Hobbester-Man can 'cause the mommy spoils the doggie and he's very confused. Believe me, when he outgrew the potty-eating stage, we were very, very proud!
Mister Personality: They called him "Sparky" at the store because he had such an electrifying personality -- very cheerful. I saw a dog show recently and they said that they call the cheerfulness of Westies "Westietude." Boy, did he have it! Not that he didn't have attitude -- by the bucket loads. We belong to a Westie Rescue group. I remember the first time we were at a meeting, one of the things that a member said was that you have to earn the respect of a Westie. Most of the people who met Hobbes thought he didn't care about them at all. He was very aloof... unless he wanted something from you. Mike and I always thought it was a hoot -- he didn't care if you breathed or not if there wasn't something in it for him. Alice, the lady who used to keep him, said that his personality was very cat-like. He asserted himself LOUDLY. So, he was cheerful -- that is, cheerfully indomitable! This is not to say that he wasn't a sweet boy. One of my best memories of Hobbes was how gentle he was. When he was a little fellow, if I cried, he would cry and jump on me and lick my tears as fast as they came. Mike and I thought it was really cute, so we kept fake crying to get him to do it. Hobbes figured out that it was fake and quit doing it all together. He was not one to bite. In fact, when we got Andi, she growled and lunged at him. His response was a yelp as he jumped into Mike's arms. Note that he is almost twice as large as Andi. The real point here is that the Mister portion of his name came from his personality. He was so assertive, it was clear that he was a cut above the rest of us. So, while his name was initially Hobbes (after Calvin and Hobbes), I added the Mister in order to acknowledge his rightful order in the universe. This next picture is totally unrelated, but cute. When I would see the car down the road, I would start saying "Daddy's home." Hobbes would run to the front window to look: 
Hobbes was a Westie through and through. One thing I've heard over and over about westies is that the will NOT be ignored. It's absolutely unacceptable. We had a big kitchen in the last house within which we lived. I would stand at the stove, speaking on the phone or whatever. If Hobbes felt ignored, he would back himself up as far as he could go and then run as fast as he could to bounce off my legs. I used to stay with bruised legs. But, the story that most people find to be truly appalling involved a number of rather expensive textbooks. When I was in graduate school, Hobbes would get a little irritated with me for studying over "x" number of hours -- whatever he defined on a given day. His pattern was to come in and stand by my chair and huff and puff. He would go off and then come back and put his front paws and my legs and scratch and then jump up and down, "uhhhh, ummmmm." I would pick him up and put him in my lap as I worked. He would get sick of that after a while and then we had to stop and do something Hobbes-oriented. When I was studying for comprehensive exams, I was pretty pressed for time. So, I wouldn't always get up and do Hobbes-oriented things. One day, I had told him "no" and then decided to go ahead and break with him. I followed him out to find him urinating on my statistics and research methodology textbooks. I started looking through them -- all of the texts were saturated with pee. I guess that was his way of letting me know that all was not right in his universe. This is not to say that Hobbes was passive aggressive. He was quite direct in letting us know what he wanted and when he wanted it. That's why I love what I call "the mouth" pictures: 
He let us know - quite vocally - what he wanted. If that didn't work, he got dirty. I think that's one of the things that let me know how bad things were getting for him. When he was a little fellow, I had the hardest time getting him to eat. He simply didn't like food. Everyone said not to worry about it, but I knew something wasn't right. He had a pretty bad case of worms when he was not quite a year old. They put him on a bland diet. It was a veterinary diet, but it was bland. I had tried wet food before this time, but he always turned up his nose to it. Boy did he like the bland diet. After that, I didn't have as much difficulty getting him to eat - I found what he needed. Of course, his diet became ever more restricted as he grew older; however, once he started to like his food, he demanded it! He wanted it when he wanted it ... period. And he was pretty obnoxious about expressing it. This got worse after he was put on the Prednisone because he was hungry a lot of the time. He became pretty indiscriminate about what he ate. In fact, he would dive into your plate if you didn't watch it. At any rate, his habit was to bounce off of the bed and onto the floor and huff and puff and bark and crawl on the bed, over me, scratch at me, bounce down and bark and huff and puff.... until I got up to feed him. He was unrelenting. He stopped being able to bounce down about two months ago. It coincided with his gall bladder surgery, so I didn't think much about it at the time. But, once he had healed sufficiently, he would get tangled in the bed covers and just cry. I thought that it was likely due to the increased prednisone and the weakening of the muscles associated with that. Still, he wanted his food. The night before he died he tried to snatch a bagle out of the hand of my foster daughter. 
The food thing reminds me of one of the funniest things that he ever did. Actually, it's Mike's part in it that's really funny. Mike baked a chicken one night. We decided to eat it in the living room so that we could watch a movie. I ate mine with my plate in my lap. Mike put his plate on the coffee table. After a while, Mike looks down at his plate, thinking something looks funny. He looks over to the side and Hobbes is sitting there, licking his lips. Mike looks back at his plate and realizes there simply aren't enough chicken bones on the plate. So, we go into the kitchen, get the bones out of the trash and start reconstructing the skeleton of this chicken. When we finish, we realize that it's missing some significant bones. We were living about 45 minutes from our vet at the time. It was late on a Sunday evening, but they had an emergency vet clinic. So, we load up both dogs (because we weren't entirely certain which dog had snatched the bone -- the evidence pointed to Hobbes, but we didn't actually catch him with the bone, so reasonable doubt and all that). They x-rayed Hobbes and found the evidence. Thankfully, he had chewed it just enough that it could slide through but not too much that it would splinter. Mike was livid. He said, "now, look at this. He didn't learn a single thing. He got to eat chicken and then he got to go for a ride!" This reminds me of another food story, involving Mike, of course. Hobbes was with Mike during one of these major ice storm things that shuts everything down. Mike took Hobbes into town to purchase supplies. He bought a ton of food for Hobbes. Then, he bought things like steak, etc... for himself (he wasn't thinking about the electricity thing). So, he gets back to the house and realizes that he doesn't have any food that he can cook for himself .... except for just enough pimento cheese to make a sandwich. He makes the sandwich, sticks it on the coffee table so that he can go to another room to look for a book. When he comes back, Hobbes is sitting there with an orange face, licking his lips. Mike was really mad. He said "he has enough dog food to last him until next year and yet he eats my only sandwich!" Mike was always entirely too optimistic about the behavior he could expect from Hobbes around food. A couple of years ago Mike made some jambalaya. To really appreciate this story, you need to know that Hobbes was allergic to pepper. If he got around it, he would do this snorting, shaking thing that really scared me until the vet told me what was happening. Mike's jambalaya had some pepper in it. So, Mike takes his bowl of food into his study so that he can eat it on his futon. Hobbes was sitting on the futon. Mike carefully sits down, gets distract as he's going down. The next thing he knows, Hobbes dives into his bowl of food. Mike pushes him off. Hobbes had rice up his nostrils, all over his face and he is snorting! Actually it was a snort, snort, lick, lick, snort, snort thing. After we got him settled down and I finished getting the rice out of his nose, I thought the whole thing was hilarious. Needless to say, we had to warn everyone who visited about our little food thief. He had no shame. My nephew was eating something while walking around, accidentally swung his arm down and -- snatch -- Hobbes grabbed it and swallowed it before we could blink. He was something. He would listen to me about a lot of things, but compliance wasn't always guaranteed. It just depended. If it was food, I could just forget it. I learned early that you should do something to catch his attention before giving a command. There were various suggestions like a tin filled with rocks, et cetera. Well, the problem with that idea is that I needed to be able to do it at the exact moment that he was doing what he was doing. So, I finally settled on clapping my hands. It worked really well. I would clap my hands and say his name. He would look at me and I would give the command, like "clap, Hobbes, drop." I remember that he had stolen some socks. I did "clap, Hobbes, drop." He dropped, I said, "good drop." He picked them up again, so I did "clap Hobbes drop." He dropped them and then started his howl-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah thing. He really wanted those stupid socks, but he did what I told him to do -- he just had to let me know that he wasn't happy about it! What a good boy.
He used to hate it when Mike went out to work in the yard, probably because he was left out. It didn't matter if Mike was gone for four minutes or four hours, Hobbes stood at the door and barked, totally outraged. I remember telling Mike that the problem with some of the discipline suggestions is that they don't take the tenacious terrier into account. Hobbes would NOT shut up. And, the minute Mike walked in the door, he only reinforced Hobbes for his bad behavior! Why? Because in Hobbes' mind, Mike was doing exactly what Hobbes thought he should do.... even if it was four hours later. Case in point: the vacuum cleaner. Hobbes HATED it. For some reason, we left it in one of the common rooms for a while. Hobbes used to love to "mark" his territory on it. One morning Mike fussed at him about something -- made him drop a toy or something. Hobbes did his howl-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah thing, stamped his paws and then positioned himself right beside the vacuum cleaner and glared at Mike. Mike looked at me and said, "I am not going to look his way because he's going to pee on the vacuum cleaner." So, Mike and I ignored him. He stood at the vacuum cleaner for over 15 minutes, glaring at Mike. Mike slightly turned his head in Hobbes' direction and Hobbes threw his leg up and urinated on the vacuum cleaner! He had the stupid thing hostage because we knew that if we moved in that direction or looked in that direction, he would urinate and that would be reward enough for him! I learned pretty early that Hobbes was a pretty tenacious little guy. There are any number of funny stories - that weren't so funny at the time - related to puppyhood. Like, for example, the first time he noticed his reflection! It was the first week I had him, which means that I was still living in the no-pets apartment (because Mike was coming down the next weekend to help me move). I woke in the middle of the night to hear Hobbes barking and going nuts. I kept hearing him bang into my closet door, which had a floor length mirror. I look over the edge of my bed, and Hobbes was just attacking himself in the mirror! It was a scream. It didn't take him long to figure that out. I had a coffee table that had clear glass on top. He was sitting under it, but saw some food on it. So, he jumped up to get the food, and busted his head on the glass. He didn't try that again. That's the thing about Hobbes: he was a fast learner. He was annoying when he was learning, but once he had it, that was it. As he noticed each new thing in my apartment, he would go bananas with the barking and attacking -- this usually occurred in the middle of the night, which is why it was annoying. If I was to get any sleep at all, I had to get up and introduce him to the object that captured his attention -- a chair, a shirt that was on the floor, whatever.  One time we were watching a nature show on television. He was all ears and attention. There was a scene with a tiger or something chasing the rabbit. The rabbit went off to the left of the screen and Hobbes dove after it! He was pretty confused when the rabbit wasn't on the other side of the television. He never did accept animals on tv. In fact, we haven't really watched a lot of shows with animals in it, particularly dogs, because he would go bananas. He was just so incredibly tenacious about things. If he got it into his head, he didn't let up. He once heard a cricket in an air vent and hunted it for over a month. At times, this was a good thing. For example, one time he found a slow burning wire in our house! He started barking at the fireplace. This went on for two days. We couldn't see anything (he was scratching through the plaster of the wall). On the second day, he was still going wild and just being obnoxious. I was standing by the fireplace and heard something weird. So, I called the fire department. They found the wire fire. Apparently the fan had been set off and burned out.  We are convinced that Hobbes was never in doubt that he was the center of the universe. People came to our house to visit him. Of course, particularly when he was a little fellow, if he wasn't given the attention and adoration that was his due, he was unhappy. I remember that my major professor came to visit one time. She greeted him, but it was apparently not enough. He jumped on the sofa behind her head and proceeded to pull her hair with his teeth. It is for this reason that we think Hobbes was so incredibly laid back. Everyone else was a subject of his. And, Hobbes was a pretty laid back little fellow (when he was getting what he wanted, of course). Sometimes he was literally laid back. Check out the next photo: 
Even in the crowded waiting room of the vet, Hobbes would sit on my lap so that his chest was against mine. That was one of his favorite positions -- Mike would do a laying down version of this when he was a little fellow and Hobbes just always associated it with relaxation: 
At any rate, I would lay forward with him and then sit back up. So, he was literally laying in my lap, with just my hand supporting his head. And he would just stay like that! Here's another version of the above picture (I just found it): 
He looked like he was in a lounger. Everyone would laugh. Hobbes would either just observe what others were doing or go to sleep! For a doggie in a crowded waiting room with other doggies, this is an amazing thing. Here are some other pictures of Hobbes relaxing: 
 What's the deal with the stroller: Anyone who saw Hobbes in the last four to five years would see him in a stroller. We took it everywhere so that he wouldn't have to walk. We even used it as a place to feed him. Here's a picture of the stroller: 
The stroller came about quite accidentally. When I was in graduate school I would do research in the library, which often involved lifting twenty to thirty large books, carrying them downstairs for copying, et cetera. This was pretty hard on my back. So, I tried various methods to reduce the physical toll it took on my back -- more energy, less pain meant that more work could be done. So, I found this stroller at a charity shop. It would collapse, which meant that I could carry it on the bus. It was a lot less bulky than the suitcase I was using. I brought it home and put it to the side for when I needed it. Of course, Hobbes had to be WITH the person who was doing the most non-related Hobbes activity in the house. Mike was working on taxes one night. He had everything spread out. Hobbes decided that Mike's lap was where he wanted to relax. Not only did he want to relax there, he wanted to be cuddled, which meant that his head needed to be on Mike's arm -- which meant that Mike couldn't write. Here's a pretty good picture of HOW he INSISTED on being held when we were working: 
When Mike tried to put him down, he would do his version of a two-year-old tantrum. So, I told Mike to try to put him on a chair beside him. That didn't work because Hobbes couldn't get quite comfortable enough. So, Mike pulled out that stroller. Hobbes was on the same level as Mike and could be near Mike. He was a happy camper, Mike was a happy camper, the stroller started going where we went. It was truly a blessing because, with the onset of the lung disease, it was hard for Hobbes to walk. So, when we took him to different places, we would take him in his stroller. He could enjoy looking around without having difficulty breathing. Later, we used it to feed him. At first it was meant to keep Lanie away from his food. Later, we used it to keep Hobbes from Andi's food. It all worked out in the end.  A lot of people said that Hobbes was spoiled, and he was. But, what was difficult for a number of years was the impact of stress on him that we could see but others could not -- not even his vets. He would get so very upset and we could tell that it was physiological. There was something really wrong -- it wasn't just that he was a spoiled little doggie. After we bought the home within which we currently reside, the symptoms intensified. You could look at him and tell that something was off -- he was aging more than what seemed to be normal to us. He would have these spells where he would walk around the house kind of crying, fussy. He would lick the floor and we could hear his stomach rumbling. It was really hard to watch. And, of course, it always followed some sort of thing where he wasn't getting what he wanted or he wasn't getting enough attention -- for example, if we had visitors and weren't as focused on him as we were normally. After we moved to our new home, we got new vets. They weren't sure what it was, so they sent us to a specialist. It turns out that it was Addison's disease, cortisol deficiency only. It's really hard to diagnose because they usually just look at electrolytes and this version of the disease will be missed. Basically, Hobbes didn't have the biological capacity to cope with stress. His body didn't produce the cortisol which would allow him to cope with good or bad changes or stress. This is probably why it went out of control when we moved -- it was a huge change for him. After we started him on prednisone, he turned into a puppy again! It made a huge difference in his life. We are certain that it is the help he received after the diagnosis that gave us so many years with us. FYI: President Kennedy had Addison's disease. I started collecting links to help me when it was apparent that Lanie was really aging. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of those links in computer transitions. So, I had to start again when I was lookng for things for Hobbes and Andi. I made a little page. Sparse as it is, the page does include few links to pages with information on Addison's, aging, skin issues, arthritis, et cetera. I was looking for really practical things like having several water bowls in different parts of the house because older dogs find it painful to walk and may become dehydrated. At any rate, there aren't many links. And, I haven't checked it out in a while, but here's the link if you want to try it: 
Mister Hobbes turns 13-years-old The button below goes to the page I made on the occassion of his 13th birthday. 
We were really concerned about Hobbes on this birthday, so we really, really wanted to make it special. We had lost Miss Lanie six months prior to this birthday. He had suffered a severe bout of pneumonia about 8 months before that time. We almost lost him. Two months later -- around the time of Lanie's death, Hobbes had been diagnosed with the Westie Lung Disease. At the time, we thought he only had about 12 to 18 months to live. He was in pretty good shape at the time, so we had a lot of fun. Mike made fresh lamb for him. His leg tremors (from the White Shaker Dog Disease) weren't so bad at the time, so he was slower but definitely mobile. We had adopted Andi two months prior to the birthday. 
In the above picture, Hobbes is sleeping on the pillow above Mike's head -- his favorite spot.... unless he wanted me. He loved sleeping on our heads. When he was a little fellow, he would position himself above my head and then slam his head against mine until I moved to a position that was more comfortable for him. He would steal Mike's entire pillow if Mike got up in the middle of the night. Most nights, he would switch back and forth between our pillows -- until the last year or so, when it became a little more difficult for him to get around. In the last two months in particular, he had a really, really hard time negotiating the blankets on the bed. He would plop himself down and cry in frustration. Mister Hobbes turns 14-years-old The button below goes to the page I created for his 14th birthday. 
In some of the pictures he is playing with his big white bear. We called it "Hump Bear," the reason for which should be obvious. Hobbes loved to play with stuffed animals; however, his teeth were so strong that he would rip them apart pretty easily. So, I saw this bear for 75% after Valentine's one year and got it for him. He had a lot of fun with it while he could, but he never managed to rip it apart. 
These pictures are some of the last that we have with him and Hump Bear. He didn't have the lung capacity or the strength to play with it much over the past months. Some of you have wondered how we give him the breathing medicine. It was flovent -- a medicine given for asthma. We gave it to him with a gadget that is used for infants and small children. Here's a picture of it: 
You will notice that there is no birthday page for his 15th birthday. He was on a restricted diet, which we could not violate without causing him a tremendous amount of pain. So, we just spent the evening hugging him instead. For those of you have known us a while, you will remember Lanie. Lanie was a "knee high gray dog." She was about 40 pounds, a terrier and collie mix. She would have chewed her arm off before doing anything she thought might be cause for disapproval on our part. She died in November of 2004. We have fewer pictures of her than we do Hobbes, primarily because she freaked out every time she saw a camera. At any rate, she was a pretty sweet doggie. She loved Hobbes, who didn't care if she breathed or not. He would be sleeping in a chair. She would walk by him and lick him on the face and keep on moving. He wouldn't stir. Early in their relationship, they would play tug of war. Hobbes soon figured out that he couldn't win when he played with her. So, he just stopped playing. If he had a toy and she walked in the room, he'd drop the toy. I guess he figured if he couldn't win, it wasn't worth the effort. The "news article" below is about this sore-loser thing. It comes from a holiday paper that Mike and I wrote as a Christmas letter the year before my dad died. For those who don't know, my dad had a brain tumor. He died in January. By November before he died, things were pretty tense. One side of my family tends to use humor to deal with really horrible things. I decided that Daddy and Mom needed a few laughs. I started the newsletter for them, then Mike thought it was a fabulous idea, so we had a good time working on it together. At any rate, here's the story: in Tug-of-War
Here's the announcement that we sent out when we adopted Lanie. The pictures of Hobbes and Lanie that accompanied the announcement appear below the announcement itself. 
In the picture above, it looks like Lanie was had only three legs. She had all four -- she just had a habit of holding one up off the ground. 
The above picture of Hobbes after his first haircut. Well, not right after. The one below is right after -- he still has the red ribbon in his hair. 
Note the bell hooked over his tail. My dad did that. Daddy loved playing with Hobbes -- and Hobbes loved it too. They had great fun. Dad actually thought that Hobbes would care about the bell and try to get it off. Of course Hobbes did not care about the bell. He had bigger fish to fry -- mom and dad had a pet bird at the time, and Hobbes was much too interested in the bird to care about the bell. Additional Links to Pages with Pix of Hobbes Here are some other pages with pictures of Hobbes: 
Notes from Hobbes' Veterinarians and other Caretakers Dear Carla & Mike: How lucky Mr. Hobbes was to be part of your family for so long. You did so much for him for years. I know he returned every bit of affection. I’m sure Lanie was waiting for him - wondering what took so long!! I’m thinking about you all. Much love, Jane Dear Carla & Mike & family: Just wanted to let you know how much we all share your grief - we are missing Mr. Hobbes too! But he is definitely pain free and frolicking somewhere – keeping all the rest in line! Sincerely, Ella Dear Carla and family: We all sure will miss Mr. Hobbes around here. He was so lucky to have had such a wonderful family for so long. Fondly, Susan Dear Carla & Mike & Family: Thank you for the opportunity to take care of Mr. Hobbes – he had been a rascal at times and an angel too! I know it was so hard to let him go - but you guys knew when it was time. Will miss him - so much - but I look forward to helping take care of Andi and Molly! Be strong, remember the good times - I know you have lots of good memories of Mr. Hobbes! Sincerely Angela Dear Carla and Mike and family: I am so very sorry for your loss. Mr. Hobbes was such a character when he was here. I know it was a hard decision to make, but he deserved to rest. Please know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers. Sincerely, Karen We are so sorry for your loss. Mr. Hobbes was one of a kind and we all loved him. You will be in our thoughts and prayers. Love, Dr. Olsen and all of us at GAVM  Notes From Our Friends & Family Many people sent us notes that have brought us comfort. We are putting them here so that we can view them when we need to see them. I am SO SO sorry - I know how much he meant to you. He was a definite part of the family - I know ya'll have been through so much with him. But I can't help but agree with your decision. He'll no longer be in pain. Love ya! Dottie Mike, Anna, and Carla: Ramona and I just wanted to know that we were thinking about you. Mr. Hobbes was a part of the family. We love you all and you are in our prayers. Don and Ramona Carla, I remember Hobbes from the westie club picnic a couple years strolling around in his baby carriage. Words can't express how sad we are for you. Take time to grieve and maybe when the time is right, another westie will come into your lives. Mr. Hobbes is in a better place now and 100% healthy! Donna & Jim We are praying for you through this hard time of losing Mister Hobbes. Our pets are our children too and it is so hard to lose them. Janis and Steve Harmon (your mom's Michigan friends) So sorry to hear about your loss as it is very hard to let them go. It is a nice note and I remember talking to you on a couple occasions, you are special people and Mister Hobbes was loved that is for sure. We are just busy as ever with work and our westie world! Maybe we will see you at a show sometime in the future. Deepest Sympathy from all of us... Suebeth and Bobby Hi Carla! I'm sorry to hear about Mr. Hobbes. He was such a sweet dog. Take care! I'll talk to you soon. Kathryn Dear Carla, and family, I'm so very sorry to hear of your loss. Please take comfort in knowing that you gave him an exceptionally wonderful life. I know it was a difficult decision, but you loved him enough to let him go. God blessed you with a special little soul, and you took him in, loved him, and you sent him back with a life time of happy memories. I will keep you all in my prayers, and ask the Lord to ease your pain during this very difficult time. I hope you will find comfort in knowing that you are loved and I am here to help you carry the burden of your loss. Your pain is great, because the loss is great. God bless you for holding Mister Hobbes, while he transitioned. He moved from the arms of his loving family, to the arms of God. It shows your inner strength, and deep love for the little guy. In spite of all your pain, you made certain Mister Hobbes, drifted off feeling safe and warm. You may not now, but you will cherish those final moments with him, for the rest of your life. God be with you, John Sorry - He was a good doggie. Little Frank oh you poor thing..i feel so sad for you..... although i know he is in such a better place with our Lord and Savior (the mighty physician), I know you are missing him terribly.....Give Yourselves time...As I have learned, time heals all wounds..... He will be in my prayers as well as all of you..... Cindy Thats terrible...sounds like you did the right thing though...gonna miss him, he was my main man; who else is going to follow me around the house so devotingly! Loved him dearly, sorry for your loss, I honestly can't imagine...he was such a great dog; wont be the same without him. Misty Carla Really sorry to hear about Mister Hobbes. I know you and Mike will miss him. Wilton & Diane Ahh Carla I am sorry to hear that. Kim and I was talking about Mr. Hobbes a few weeks ago. Eric Hi Carla, Sorry I missed you when you were in but looks like ya'll had a great time. I just checked the web site and was very saddened to hear about Mr. Hobbes. As an animal lover I truly understand your loss. My most sincere condolences. It's great to know that every time someone e-mails you or goes to Tyler's web site they will be seeing "MR. HOBBES". It's a lasting tribute to a wonderful companion. Luv, Jack Carla, I am truly sorry to hear about Mister Hobbes. My heart goes out to you. I am aware of the pain, when you lose a pet, it is almost like losing a part of your family. I will pray for comfort & peace to help you in this time of grief. Sincerely, Kecia Hey Carla, Just a note to let you know people love you and are praying for you. I had a sweet little dog (Kojac) for 17 and 1/2 yrs so believe me I know how that hurts. Sometimes I still cry and that was 3 years ago. Now that I have made you feel better?!?!?!?!?! Put a little smile on your face, that's what I always told my daughter when she was going up and had sad times. Tyler is in my prayers and I'll check the site daily for updates. Your new church friend and otherwise. Nicky I want to say thank you for keeping us up to date on Tyler. My husband Daniel & I are neighbors & friends of Marcia & Maurice. I cried when I heard about Mr. Hobbes. We had a shitzu named Simba & we loved him very much. He was sick with heart trouble that couldn't be cured & we had to have him put to sleep also & he was one of the joys of our lives. I will be keeping you in prayer as well as Tyler. We have a new addition to our family. I am sending you a picture. "Baby" we call it because we don't know if it is a boy or girl yet. Baby is 3 months old and is a Quaker Parrot. They talk soon & they say they are smart too. He can't take Simba's place in our heart, but he does some funny antics & is helping to heal our broken heart. We appreciate the sharing you do on line. Praying God blesses you as you have blessed us. Darla & Daniel Miller  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
