MEET BOBBY November 1995 - September 2009
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Bobby, Bobster or Mobster as we call him was adopted from a rescue center in Wales called Rhos Goch Animal Sanctuary, where we were helping out at the weekends. Heterochromia sealed the deal, different coloured eyes. |
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Bought for a farmers wife along with his brother, Bobby found himself in kennels, where the owners paid ten pounds per day for them to be fed and trained. When they were found they were bones with skin. |
| They were starved and beaten regularly, Bobby had few front teeth, his brother had a broken jaw. All that changed when Rhos Goch got them out. I knew as soon as I saw him he was mine. |
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They did the home check and brought along Bobby, then left him with us. He was very shy and confused at first, he was about 18 months old. Regular meals and walks soon settled him. |
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He soon made himself at home, using Tessa for a cushion. Although he was still very frightened if you raised your voice, or lifted your arm by him. Bobby too went dog training at Bloxwich Dog Training Club. |
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He enjoyed the socialisation with the other dogs and people. He passed beginners in December 1996 and went into Intermediate. Unfortunately in Intermediate the heelwork had to be tighter, but no matter how I tried he would not heel by my leg. |
| Because he had been kicked he didn't like me trying to get him closer, so we stopped going. He went on the holidays with us to the caravan, of course. He liked the river walks. |
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Unfortunately on one of these walks he got bitten on his back leg, not sure by who, but the skin was torn, we took him straight to the vet in Scotland, who cleaned the wound and stapled it, with no anesthetic! Bobby was brill. |
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On another occasion we were returning to the van with the gate in (see left) when Bobby tried to jump in the back. Unfortunately the gate was closed and he broke a tooth! Vet here we come. The elderly lady vet looked at it and said no problem. |
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She got her extracting tool put it on the tooth and pulled. Out came the root and Bobby buried his head in my arms. There was a little bleeding, but the vet said it would be better than a general anesthetic recovery. |
| Bobby still liked sleeping on the futon in the lounge. He also adopted the cuddly elephant (see picture right) it was in a cardboard box to go to the charity shop, he removed it, we put it back in the bottom of the box. |
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Bobby went digging, kicked all the other toys out and found his elephant and took it back. We let him keep it. In the picture on the right we welcome Merlin. (See Merlin's story) |
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Unfortunately Merlin was a little bossy and he and Bobby never really gelled. But Bobby got on really well with Tessa, Roxy and Corrie. |
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However, when we lost Roxy I went out and got another White German Shepherd. Crystal (see Crystals story) and Bobby got on very well from the start. |
| Bobby like the others loved the snow, he would try and catch the snowballs that were thrown in his direction. He would also try to catch the snow flakes. |
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Christmas would come and the doggies would get their jumabones for Christmas, not to mention a few new toys as can be seen on the right. |
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One of Bobby's, and for that matter Tessa's favourite hobbies at the caravan was watching for bunnies through the window, he would sit there for hours. Of course he liked chasing them, but usually he never caught them, except on one occasion. The bunny in question was very ill, probably myxomatosis, and Bobby managed to catch it. He just held it in his paws, my poor husband had the task of putting the rabbit out of its misery. |
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We were looking at the map in the caravan one day, trying to decide where to go, Bobby came to help, he looks like he knows what he's doing, we looked where he touched with his nose, and it was Mabie Forest, so that's where we went that day. We packed a picnic, for humans and dogs, water, leads and stakes. We found a quiet patch and pitched camp. It was a great day thanks to Bobby's nose! |
| Unfortunately Bobby had a passion for sticks on the beach. We tried to discourage it, but when a Bobby dog drops the stick just in front of you, then looks at you, you pick it up and throw it! |
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The cost for poor old Bobby was an abscess on the right side of his face. He had to have a general anesthetic and have the abscess drained. He was fine, but no more sticks we said, try telling him that! |
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On walks Bobby was the best behaved Border Collie, he did't pull on the lead, he come when called, no chasing other dogs. In fact the thing Bobby did best whilst out walking was keep the rest of the family in a small group. How? Well, he is a Border Collie bred for working with sheep, we are just his sheep! He ran rings round us to try to keep us together! |
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We tried to get him out of the habit, but it was not easy, eventually he only did it if we give Crystal her ball. (see Crystal's story). When we threw her ball she chased it closely followed by Bobby. Sometimes he got there first and then continued running round us, followed by a Crystal. This usually left a panting Bobby, as you can see, he had a very long tongue! |
| In 2004 on Mothers Day we intorduced Gizmo to our group. (See Gizmo's story) Bobby was very interested in Gizmo, because when we found her she was in season. |
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Bobby was most interested in this. A girl dog smelling "so nice" because she was in season, he kept trying to find a way to do what comes naturally! But Gizmo is so tiny! |
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Apart from staples and the abscess Bobby was quite healthy, until the beginning of January this year 2007. We woke up on 4th Jan and normally the dogs are milling around us. But that morning Bobby could't stand let alone walk. He had been getting stiff hind legs after walks, but he was 13 years old. |
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But that morning was different, he couldn't get up by himself, we helped him up but he couldn't walk straight, his whole left side seemed paralysed. Stroke we thought. Guess where we were going? To the vets, a new one. We told the vet what had happened and we thought he had had a stroke. The vet agreed, told us to rest him. |
| The vet didn't even examine him. We left and took care of Bobby, this wasn't easy. He seemed to improve but went off his food, so out came tuna, sardines, chicken, this he ate, but he wouldn't have his bedtime bonio. |
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We were concerned about his progress, and being not that impressed the previous vet, we took him elsewhere. Here they were brilliant, the lady vet gave Bobby a thorough examination. We told her about the other vet. |
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She got the blood test results from the other vets, listened to his heart etc. Told us he was in good health other than the symptoms described. Then she said it probably wasn't a stroke but something called vestibular disease. |
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She checked his ears and he whimpered, he had a slight ear infection, ear drops were given. Vestibular disease causes motion sickness hence he didn't always feel like eating. The ear infection had cleared when we went back to the vets. |
| He recovered really well, his head no longer tilting, eating much better, but still refusing his bedtime bonio, so he started having small milky bones which he seems to like. |
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If you read the beginning of this story you will know that Bobby has few front teeth, hence in the photo above his tongue sticks out when he is asleep, cause there's nothing to keep it in! |
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| Now in April of 2007, Bobby had fully recovered from vestibular disease, although the vet said it could happen again at any time. He was running round like a 2 year old, then has a sleep, then when he needs to get up he has difficulty, but he seems perfectly happy. The 1st of April saw Bobby celebrate his 13th Birthday. |
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During the rest of 2007 Bobby was doing well. He was going for walks regularly, then he started limping a bit more, so the vet increased his painkillers to one a day. This worked until around July 2008. At this time Bobby started to limp heavily on his left leg. On close inspection I found a small wound and a fair bit of swelling. Off we go to the vet. |
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The vet squeezed out the puss and examined him. He changed his painkillers to a stronger one, gave him antibiotics, and told us to keep the wound clean and to excise the puss at least once a day. Poor Bobby. |
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This we did for a week, cleaning, antibiotics etc. He seemed to improve. On his check up at the vets, they were pleased with his progress. So were we, we had a Bobby dog doing circles on walks again, like he did when he was younger! |
| Then a friend suggested some manipulation for Bobby. So we made an appointment and took him along. It was a room with a hydrotherapy pool in. There was a boxer having a swim, and this kept Bobby happy. |
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As he was getting his massage he just watched the Boxer. The next day he was a bit stiff (like the lady said he would be), but after that he picked up even more, he was more interested in walks. |
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The new painkillers the vet has him on have got a quantity of steroid in them. It is quite odd because Bobby has never really been a food oriented dog, but now these steroids have increased his appetite. The vet told us to be careful of his weight. So far so good. |
The muscle degeneration on his back legs and the arthritis in his front legs has been getting worse over the last 12 months. He was a good age but was getting more and more wobbly and finding it more difficult to walk and to stay upright. Overnight on Friday 4 September 2009 he had a bad night, I had to get up several times to pick him up and bring him back inside the house. It is clear he is not happy, he has hardly eaten for a few days (despite trying turkey meat) and this morning he can’t stand and he doesn’t look happy. So the decision was not too hard, at over 15 years old he we took him to the vet for the final time. |
