T Bone

[Kathryn]

T BONE

 

We don’t know when T Bone was born, or where. He came to live with us on April 7, 2007. He left us on June 7, 2013.

 

We got him through Cairn Rescue USA, which got him from an animal shelter in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he was on death row.  We heard that he belonged to a family with several small children who often left the garden gate open. T wandered out a few times, got picked up by animal control, and ransomed back to his family. Then one time they just didn’t pick him up. He must have been scared in the shelter, and his reaction to anything scary was always to try to scare it back. He barked, he growled, he nipped. He was considered unfit for placement, but a shelter worker saw his good qualities and called Cairn Rescue.  His photo showed up on the website, and I was smitten. The rescue folks approved us, and he became ours.

 

He joined a family with a reigning cairn: Allie, our “girl dog.” Steve drove to Batavia, Illinois, to adopt T Bone, and returned the following day.   When we introduced T to Allie, she attacked him, and he fought back, ferociously. We worked with them for weeks to teach them to get along. In the end, I think each dog decided he/she was alpha, and each ignored each other as much as possible.  

 

Their differing styles complicated dog walks. Either Steve, who was retired, had to walk each dog separately, or we had to sync our schedule to walk them together.  In the end, it was Steve who most often walked the dogs, taking our brindle Allie out first, and then returning to leash up T Bone, the red wheaten. We learned last year that the little girl down the street thought for a while that we owned a dog who could change color. Charming.

 

T and I had a complicated relationship.  Often I was the object of his fear aggression, and he occasionally bit me if I was not careful. He could be sound asleep in my lap but, if I woke him up too suddenly, he would growl and snap before he even knew who was around. Twice I had to visit the doctor when bites he inflicted infected. Several people suggested that they would not tolerate a dog that bit them, and I always just thought this:  “Too bad for you. You don’t know what you are missing.” He was a rescue; he had “issues.”  We accepted that when we adopted him, and I loved him dearly, despite and sometimes because of his quirks.

 

T was particularly indiscriminate about what he ate.  Maybe he had memories of being famished when he was on the lam in Wisconsin. The cartoon strip “Get Fuzzy,” which features a cat but also a dog sidekick, once showed the dog complaining about a stomach ache after playing “is it food or not food” in the alley.  It is a game T Bone would have adopted energetically.  In 2010, he nearly died when he ate a poison mushroom in our backyard; only the quick action of our dog sitter saved him.  This past winter I had to take him to the emergency room again when he ate a steel wool grill brush, obviously still flavored with grill drippings.  They had to induce vomiting. We could hear his growls and barking complaints about the treatment he received all the way down the long clinic hallway.

 

Though he was rough-and-tumble and often overly exuberant, T was also a cuddler. He loved spending evenings in my lap when I sat at the kitchen counter, watching Steve cook dinner. He wasn’t much of a “morning dog” either and, on cold or rainy days, Steve often carried him up to our bedroom and tucked him under the covers with me so we could “sleep in.” He loved sitting next to Steve on the comfy down loveseat in the “man cave,” getting his belly rubbed while they watched ballgames together. When Steve sometimes went downstairs without him, he apparently thought he was tricking me when he would bark to go outside and then scoot down the stairs to join Steve on the couch instead.  I let him think he was getting away with it.

 

He was a beautiful dog, with an endearing face.  He had a glorious, thick blond coat, which set off his lovely dark eyes. He was a serious dog, and never played with toys.  His time outside was spent instead looking for prey and stalking along the fence.  Just a month before he died, he finally achieved a lifetime goal of catching a small rabbit.  We told him he had earned his Cairn Terrier Bunny Merit Badge…

 

We only had him for six years – too short a time.  But we hope they were the best six years of his life.  We consider our years with him some of the best of ours.

[Hillscreek]

I love your wonderful tender remembrance of T-Bone. Thank you for sharing. Our cairns give us so much. I love the way he was so cuddly and yet so fierce. So very much a cairn. He was fortunate to have found a family who did all,t hey could to make him feel welcomed and wanted. You did great by him.

[_whits_]

What a beautiful collection of memories. Bless you for rescuing T Bone and bless T Bone for the trust he placed in you. 

[hheldorfer]

That is a lovely memorial to your dear boy.  You are a wonderful person to have rescued him and I'm sure he paid you back a hundredfold for it.  May he rest in peace, knowing he was treasured and loved.

[remltr]

What a wonderful memorial to a great friend. Thank you for taking T Bone into your lives.

[bradl]

A perfect testament to an honest, unblinking and loving relationship. The best kind. Straight-up and real. 

[pkcrossley]

this is a very, very touching tribute. you and T were so lucky to have found each other. you gave him a life better than he every dreamed of.

[Dempsy's Mom]

T Bone was a character for sure.  When I met T Bone I thought the "T" should of been for Tut - King Tut that is.   He was the controller and during our brief meeting I could tell that nothing got by T Bone unless it was T Bone approved.  He was made of tuff stuff - meant for Kathryn and Steve.  So glad the you found T Bone - he loved his life with you.

[Autumn & Lola]

What a wonderful memorial you've written. I am so glad T Bone came into your lives, and you into his.

[Carolinasmom]

Great memories of T-Bone.  Thanks for sharing.  Thinking of you!

[Tuesday]

What a beautiful memorial to a beautiful friend.  

[beccadiane374]

Beautiful...thanks for sharing.

[Islander]

I also appreciated the tribute to T Bone. Thanks.

[LindaMC]

I loved reading your tribute to T-Bone, he sounds like he was quite a little character.  You opened your heart and brought him in to your lives without a moments hesitation.  Thank you for letting me get to know T-Bone through your eyes. 

[Malcolm's Dad]

T-Bone's story really touched my heart. Malcolm was a vicious biting dog at the shelter similar to T-Bone. Nobody wanted Malcolm. There must be a Cairn Guardian Angel that protects these dogs until their forever home is found.

There is a line in a poem that goes "Some people come into our life for a season. Some people come into our life for a reason." T-Bone's story points out both of these in the case of a dog. You gave him a good 6 years just as he gave you and Steve a good 6 years. Well maybe sometimes he was not so good but that made you love him all the more. Not everyone would do that.