A TRIBUTE TO TEDDY

It is with heavy heart that I share this with you. Many who I have talk to every morning knew that we had rescue an abused Sheltie who we took into our home on September 4, 2001. When he arrived that day he was the saddest dog I had every seen. When we reach down to pat him he ducked his head for fear we were going to strike him. He probably thought there is no hope for me.

His story had started 5 years before when he was born. How he came into this world I don’t know but the five years before we adopted him he was with a very abusive owner. He had been turn in to the Grand Rapids Humane Society and this is where he was found by Carol who rescued him. He was very fearful of every one but seem to adjust well with Carol, her husband and son. But all was not well. For he had some bad habits and Carol wasn’t aware of them till one evening when the dog was chewing on a chew bone and she reach to move it and he bite her. He bite her so bad that she had to have fifteen stitches. Now here the story get interesting you would think the first reaction would be to have the dog put down cause he was a biter. But not so Carol call her good friend Jobeth and ask her to come have a look at this dog and tell her if she was making the right decision to have the dog destroyed. Jobeth got the same reaction from the dog as Carol had but Jobeth knew what the dog was going to do so she didn’t get bite. Jobeth told Carol that she knew some one and that before putting the dog down she would like to contact this person and see if she could and ask her to come have a look at this dog and tell her if she was making the right decision to have the dog destroyed.

Jobeth got the same reaction from the dog as Carol had but Jobeth knew what the dog was going to do so she didn’t get bite. Jobeth told Carol that she knew some one and that before putting the dog down she would like to contact this person and see if she could get him to work with the dog. If this person couldn’t do any thing with the dog then the dog would have to put down. It would be next day that I call Jobeth to see how things were going, she said I am glad you call I was going to call you then she started telling me about this dog that had been rescue and was a biter she was wondering if break him of his biting habit. George was at first reluctant to take the dog but with me nagging at him I got him to agree to take the dog for a month and see if we could make a different. So on September 4, 2001 and Jobeth brought him out to our home.

What a gorgeous dog and we just couldn’t believe someone had been so mean to him he was so sweet and had a wonderful disposition. Other then his biting there seem to be nothing else wrong with the dog. So began our watching hoping that she was wrong in his biting and that it had only because of the chew bone that cause him to bite Carol. We had him about two weeks when the true dog in him came out. George was reaching for the dog’s food dish when out came this meanest ugliest dog you had ever seen gone was the sweet dog, teeth baring he went for George with a vengeance. George and the dog had a discussion that I didn’t stick around to see. He was never mean to him but he was firm that the dog wasn’t going to bite him ever. After the dog and George had their round with one another I figured this dog isn’t going to make it, he a biter and their is nothing any of us can do. You have thought the dog wouldn’t want any thing to do with George but from that moment on him and George were best buddies. Over time we were to find out he was deaf and could only hear vibrations and hand signals. That certainly brought a new light to why he had been biting people. If he couldn’t hear you coming and you went to reach for his things he got upset, well can’t say I blame him. It would be like saying boo to some who you didn’t expect to be there. His reaction was the same. As you can Guess by now that George and I didn’t get rid of the dog and we adopted him ourselves. We figure because of his handicap it wouldn’t be fair to place him with someone else so we decided that the best was for us to keep him. So Eddie who we name Teddy came to us and stay and was a part of our family. All the time we had him he never offer to bite any one again. We knew his limits and we make sure other knew them too so that we didn’t have a problem. We were lucky to have Teddy for almost three years, but

On May 10, 2004 our dear Teddy left us. He put up a valance fight, but in the end cancer was to claim him. He was such a calm, sweet dog and you couldn’t help but to fall in love with him when you met him. There was so many things about him that I will miss. Him sleeping in the path way where you were. If George wasn’t here especially. If I was in the office on the computer he would be right in the door way watching me and napping. If I got up he didn’t move he would lay right there and make me step over him, then he get up and follow me to where I was going. If it was time for him to go out side before I go to bed he would make me come in and get him where ever he was laying any other time he get up when the other dogs started moving for the door.

It would take him almost a year before we really truly knew he was happy with us up till then he never slept in our bed room or would go into the bathroom. As long as I have live in this house (27 years) I never been able to go to the bathroom with out at least one critter who think he has to go in there too. lol!! One day I am in the bathroom and go to turn around and guess who was standing behind me watching me put on my face. He was so cute! He would some time come in and lay his head on my knee and the first time he did that it was greatest joy knowing he had finally figure out we weren’t going to hurt him. From that moment on at night he slept on George side of the bed and Cody slept on my side of the bed and Coco slept between us on the bed. Was pretty crowd in the winter time when the two cats decided they should join us also. You got to love it all them critters. Most of all is all the time I had to move him out of the way or step over him. One of the things he took joy out of was when Deb came to clean for some reason he fell in love with her and never let her out of his sight while she was here. She would get the vacuum out and he would bark at it as she use it more or less begging her to vacuum him. She would then sit on the floor and him laying beside her run the vacuum hose over him. If he had been a cat at that moment he would have been purring.

I guess the one thing I will remember the most will be his last day with us. He was so sick all that day but there was nothing I could do about it till George got home from work. At noon I thought he come to the end, but my sister-in-law Deb who was here got down on the floor with him and he lifted his head and wagged his tail and so we thought well he doing okay. I kept a watch on him as the day went on and I could see it was getting more difficult for him to breathe so when George came home I told him I had called the vet and they had told me to bring him in. So when we got to the Vet the place was filled up and so we set outside on the bench and Teddy started to tug as his leash and I thought this can’t be the same dog. So George took him for a stroll and Teddy did all the leading and they walk for probably 10 minutes and then came back to where I was sitting. By the time they had come back we were able to go inside and find a chair to sit in. When I set down Teddy drop to the floor and stay there till we were call in to see Dr. Seidl. It was very hard to watch him go and he didn’t go easy. He was in such bad shape his veins, heart and lungs that Dr. Seidl had awful time getting the shot into his veins. But what compassion this man has and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful person caring for my pets.

When I call Jobeth later that evening to let her know our Teddy was gone and told her what Teddy had done with George she said that’s it was his way of saying his good-byes. I believe that was exactly what he did with his walk with George. It was a special memory for both of us. Teddy may have started his life out rough but in the end he went knowing that he was loved. He will be sadly missed.

IN MEMORY OF MY SPECIAL FRIEND TEDDY

WHATEVER THE WORDS WE SAY AT A TIME LIKE THIS CAN NEVER LIFT THE WEIGHT THAT IS SO HEAVY ON OUR HEARTS.
YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR FOOTPRINTS SO DEEP IN OUR HEARTS, AS YOU HAVE SO MAY OF YOUR FRIENDS AND ALL THOSE YOU HAVE TOUCHED AND LOVED.
WE CAN ONLY HOLD ONTO OUR MEMORIES THAT WE SHARED, FOR AT THIS TIME WE HAVE NO TOMORROW.
OUR MEMORIES ARE LIKE STARS IN THE DARK NIGHT OF SORROW.
OUR DEAR FRIEND, YOUR WERE ALWAYS LIKE A BRIGHT STAR TO US, AS YOU WILL ALWAYS BE.
SO WHEN WE GO OUT AT NIGHT AND SEE THE STARS SHINING BRIGHT, WE WILL ALWAYS LOOK FOR YOU, THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE NIGHT.
YOU ALWAYS DID DO THINGS JUST RIGHT.
MAY TIME SOFTEN THE PAIN UNTIL ALL THAT REMAINS IS THE BEAUTY OF THE MEMORIES, AND THE LOVE, ALWAYS THE LOVE FOR YOU.
OUR SPECIAL FRIEND, TEDDY.
I WANTED TO SEND THIS ALSO AS I THINK IT GREAT FOR ALL OF US WHO RESCUE A ANIMAL OR LOVE A PET AS I HAVE.

THIS POEM WAS WRITTEN BY Jeane Illsche

I WASN’T A PUP WHEN I CAME TO YOUR HOME (Teddy was 5 when he came to our home.

I’D BE BEEN DUMPED ON THE ROAD, LEFT TO ROAM. (Teddy was dump at a pound for unwanted animals.)

DON’T REMEMBER THE PEOPLE EXCEPT THE PAIN,(he had a lot of pain you could see it in his eyes.)

THEY LEFT ME TO DIE IN THE COLD AND THE RAIN.

YOUR WERE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY, IT WAS LATE AT NIGHT.

WHEN YOU SAW JUST THE FAINTEST GLIMMER OF LIGHT.

YOU TOOK A CHANCE AND TURNED AROUND,

GOT OUT OF THE VAN AND KNELT TO THE GROUND.

MY QUIVERING BODY FELT THE GENTLEST OF HANDS

I KNEW I NEED NOT MAKE ANY DEMANDS.

IN YOUR HEART AND YOUR HOME, THERE WAS ALWAYS ROOM, FOR THOSE WHO WOULD FACE A CERTAIN DOOM.

YOU HEALED MY BODY AND YOU HEALED MY HEART, YOU GAVE ME WHAT I NEEDED, A FRESH START.

WHEN I CRIED AT NIGHT, YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE.

WITH SOFT WORDS, A KISS, AND A HUG TO SHARE.

WHEN I MISBEHAVED AND WOULD COWER WITH GUILT, YOU ONLY SHOWED LOVE...UP TO THE HILT.

YOU LOVED AND CARED FOR ME IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH, OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER WAS MORE PRECIOUS THAN WEALTH.

EVEN WHEN YOU WERE TRIED AND HAD A BAD DAY, YOU’D ALWAYS COME HOME TO ME AND SAY, "I MISSED YOU, MY BABY. I’M GLAD TO BE BACK."

THEN YOU’D GIVE ME A KISS, A HUG AND A PAT.

WE’D HAVE A NICE DINNER, THEN GO OUT TO PLAY, THERE WAS SO MUCH LOVE I WANTED TO STAY BUT OVER THE YEARS, MY HEART GREW WEAK AS MY TIME GREW CLOSER, YOU COULD NOT SPEAK.

YOU HELD ME TIGHT, TEARS FLOWED FROM YOUR EYES.

WE BOTH HAD T SAY OUR SAD GOOD-BYES.

THE RELEASE FROM PAIN WE KNEW MUST END, NO MORE TIME ON THIS EARTH WOULD WE SPEND RUNNING IN THE FIELDS, AND PLAYING BALL. SITTING QUIETLY TOGETHER IS NOT THROUGH, BECAUSE I’LL BE THERE WAITING FOR YOU.

AT THE EDGE OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE I’LL STAND UNTIL I ONCE AGAIN SEE THOSE GENTLE HANDS.

I’LL RUN TO YOU WITH TAIL HELD HIGH, AND WE’LL NEVER AGAIN HAVE TO SAY GOOD-BYE.

MY LOVE AT DEATH, IT DOES NOT END, BECAUSE YOU ARE, INDEED, DOG’S BEST FRIEND.

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