Tori Mae - A Life Well Lived

Tori Mae helped pick a winner for my blog ~ 2009

It's so hard for me to post this, but we lost our Tori Mae to stomach cancer almost 2 weeks ago.  Once we found out she had this evil disease (mid-October), our time with her was short.

Tori was a strong force in our house.  She kept Trixie Lou and Ringo in check - yes, believe it or not, she was our alpha dog, and even Ringo paid attention to her!

Tori was the absolute queen when it came to fetch.  We had to put her toys up in a cupboard, because she would not stop bringing them to us, 24/7.

But that girl was a smart cookie and decided that she called the shots.  And so an empty toilet paper roll became a fetch toy.  A stray sock laying on the floor became a fetch toy.  Even bones became a fetch toy! ANYTHING had fetch potential in her book.

Her soft frisbee was her #1 favorite toy.  Tori's frisbee created a spark in her eyes and a focused determination that was unrivaled.

She was determined to play fetch.  In the summertime, we had to make her stop or I honestly think this girl would have fetched herself to a frenzied hot faint!

Our hearts are hurting, and yet, I know that Tori had a spectacularly good life. I adopted her from an Australian Shepherd rescue near Columbus, Ohio, in December 2004.  She was only a year old and I wanted Trixie to have a playmate.  They became fast friends, although Tori did take over supervision of the household from the very beginning.

Tori (left) and Trixie - southern Ohio cabin getaway

The house seems a little less full, and lot more empty, without her keeping everything in check.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving I shot some video of her playing Frisbee with her dad -- Tom was Tori's person.  (As a side note, Tori defected from me shortly after I moved to Kansas.  She liked Tom way better than me!)

Note:  There are actually two videos of Tori playing Frisbee on YouTube. They are both rather long, but I was trying to capture her focus, which shows up better in the 2nd video above.  You'll also see the horses, and a bit of the guineas and the chickens.

Tori ate less and less as the cancer invaded her stomach.  Her last two weeks she refused to eat even a bite of anything - and we tried everything.  You might be able to see in the video how much weight she had lost, and yet, amazingly, she still wanted to fetch her  Frisbee!

Just writing this blog post brings tears to my eyes and a hurt to my heart.

She finally lost the spunk for her beloved Frisbee two weekends ago, and we knew it was time.

As we held her at the vet's office, she turned her head to me for one last kiss, and then we let her go.

I will never forget that last kiss from one of the best dogs in my life ~ she may have been a lucky girl to find a home with us, but I know the truth of the matter is that WE were the lucky ones to have this beautiful and smart girl grace our lives.

Tori Mae,  2003 ~2012
Her memory will live forever in our hearts