I write about Bailey regularly in this blog even though it may not seem to fit within the overall theme of this website. The primary reason is, as a writer and aspiring author, I need to write consistently. I write daily during the week with four of the five days devoted to my novel. However, one day each week I use my time to write about something different and that appears in this blog. Today I want to tell you about another of our dogs, Toby the Wonder Dog.
Toby was a Golden Retriever mix and the only male dog we have owned. He was big, weighing over one hundred pounds and his wagging tail would hurt if it hit you. My wife would hike with Toby on the U.S. Air Force Academy grounds, (pre-2001) when access was easier. On one occasion they were walking on the West side of the Academy around sunset and my wife looked up and saw a mountain lion on the hill above watching them. If you live in mountain lion country, you know that is a perilous situation. Toby also saw the lion and took off running up the hill after the big cat. Here in Colorado, mountain lions occasionally kill pets. My wife called and called trying to get Toby to return, but he ran out of sight. She finally started back to the car and Toby eventually joined her. After that, she didn’t walk in that portion of the Academy at sunset again.
Another time my wife and Toby were walking on the East side of the Academy down along Monument Creek and the railroad tracks. My wife heard a train coming, so she leashed Toby until the train passed since he liked to chase them. Unfortunately, she let him off the leash too soon, before the last couple of cars completely passed. Toby took off after the train and caught up to the last car going under it between the front and back sets of wheels. The car tumbled Toby underneath it and when it had passed Toby was lying between the rails. He was too big for her to carry, so she went up the hill to a construction site to get help. When she got there, she asked if one of the workers could help her because she thought she had killed the dog. The worker looked at her and asked if it was the one behind her. Toby had followed her up the hill. One of the workers took them back to my wife’s car. She got Toby into the car and went to the vet. Toby only had a couple of broken ribs, some bruising, and a few cuts but was okay. The vet called him Toby the Wonder Dog.
We had a good laugh sometime later when the Farside cartoon Toby vs Godzilla was published in our local paper. This was just like our Toby.
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buckjones1951
Thank you