T.S., the last dog standing

T.S. was not just a dog. He was a member of our family for 15 and a half years. He was named after Topper Smith, the mountain of a man who was our editor for 13 years.

T.S, would fit in Topper Smith’s shirt pocket when he arrived in Easter Basket on Valentine’s Day. We already had one Dachshund but dog lovers convinced us that two would get along better than one.

Pugnacity or “Mr. P” our other Dachshund was getting old and looked like he might not make it through another winter. To our surprise, Mr. P. came back to life with the young pup around. The two would go everywhere together.

It made it easy to train T.S. because Mr. P was already trained and the smaller dog just followed suit.

For the next year they became wonderful house dogs getting along perfectly, until one day something seem to change in T.S.

He had grown to about three quarters the size of Mr. P. and when they played, T.S. became more and more aggressive. The two dogs started fighting and it was serious.

We went to the dog trainer and asked what to do about it and she said put muzzles on both the dogs and turn them loose in the back yard. One would become dominant.
As the day dragged on, neither dog gave in and we were afraid there would be long term damage. So we kept them apart.

This proved difficult so we asked our brother to take care of Mr. P. and he accepted. Mr. P. lived for another five years to our surprise.

Now T.S. had the house to himself, and he took advantage of it. He sat in his mother’s (my wife’s) lap in front of the fire. He slept in our bed and he had his puppy cookie at night when he went to bed and another when he got up in the morning.

Spoiled! You might say so.

He had some characteristics. He would never allow a bird to land in his yard. He loved to bark at the squirrel which ran the electric line behind the house.

He could not tell size and he always would go after a German Shepherd twice his size.
We took him to dog obedience school and the instructor called him “cement head” because he was so hard to train. We were told to knee him the chest to get rid of his aggression, but that meant getting down on our knees because he was so short.

T.S. became a world traveler and sailed on the boat with us and traveled in the trailer. He was a good traveler and at sea when a big wave would hit the boat, he would tuck and roll to the other side.

He had to see what was going on so we stacked boxes in the back seat of our truck and made him a bed with a view. He kept the Mexican soldiers at bay when they checked the truck and they all asked politely if he would bite.

T.S. never bit once in the 15 years. Children could pull his ears, roll him over and grab his tail. He either loved it or would walk away. His temperament was the best we have ever known, but he had a mind of his own. Getting him to come to you was always questionable unless you had food.

So the many years went by and we spent winters in Mexico. He knew all the neighbors and he would go from door to door mooching hot dogs. There were other dogs in the neighborhood too but one by one the dogs went to dog heaven and T.S. became the last dog standing. He was the community dog.

Anytime anyone was sick he would lay beside them and nurse them back to health. When T.S. returned back to Mexico this year, he was not well, but most of the problems were age related. He didn’t like to walk anymore and had trouble climbing stairs. He slept most of the time.

They have an animal clinic run by volunteers here in Mexico and it was not surprising when they told us to prepare for the worst. T.S. had severe diabetes. Little could be done without extensive testing available only in big cities.

His body seem to shut down and it was obvious he was in pain as we made the decision to have him put down.

It was a glorious day and up on a hill with a clear view of the bay, we found a final resting place for T.S ... The last dog standing, who could now rest in peace.