Tobias Comes Home

Let's go back in time to when we first brought Tobias home.

It was the middle of October, and we were having an unusually warm fall. I was desperate for a new baby and had been sending pictures of puppies to my husband on a regular basis.

Finally, the day came.

He looked at one of the pictures and said, "That one. Looks like a real dog. Call them."

And just like that, the adventure began.

Tobias was approximately five weeks old when we went to meet the litter. We knew we still had about three more weeks before we could bring him home, but we were excited to see him.

We drove up to the house, and almost immediately, our hearts sank a little.

The puppy advertised as potentially being around 40 pounds was definitely not going to be 40 pounds.

Mom and Dad were huge, and the puppies we could see were already approaching 20 pounds.

At this point, we were crushed.

This wasn't the puppy we thought we were looking for.

We started counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four...

Where was the last puppy they had shown us?

Where was Tobias?

The yard looked like something out of a hillbilly horror movie. It had clearly been destroyed by countless paws running around. Boards had been laid over the mud so people could walk without completely ruining their shoes. Everything looked run-down and barely functional.

Then the humans came out to meet us.

They explained that Tobias was their favorite puppy and that they were struggling to part with him. But they needed the money. There were simply too many mouths to feed.

And then, out of the house, came our sweet little bundle of joy.

Tobias.

At this point in my life, I had only about a year of experience studying canines. I didn't recognize all of the signs in front of me. I didn't understand the enormous amount of trouble we were potentially walking into.

I saw cute.

I saw a roly-poly, squishy little puppy.

The kind you want to rub.

The kind you want to hug.

The little puppy you immediately want to take home.

But as I stood there, the red flags started piling up.

The people themselves appeared to be struggling just as much as the property. Everything looked like it was one bad storm away from falling apart.

I wasn't even sure who I was more worried about.

The mother, who clearly needed help.

The puppies, who were spending their days in a muddy, dirty environment and desperately needed veterinary care.

Or the child who was openly smoking in front of us—long before it was legal to do so.

So I did what any person would probably do in that situation.

I semi-panicked.

I worried.

Then I handed the woman a handful of cash, picked up my puppy, walked straight back to the security of my car, and drove to the pet store where I worked.

We bought formula.

Soft puppy food.

Pumpkin.

Pee pads.

A cute collar.

A leash.

Then we went home to surprise our kids.

We knew the next few weeks were going to be difficult. Tobias wasn't old enough to be away from his mom, and we were going to have to be there for him every step of the way.

We had to teach him how to be a dog.

But first, we needed a vet check.

I called our veterinarian and scheduled an appointment for approximately a week later.

Six-Week-Old Tobias

Tobias made it through his first vet check.

He was dewormed.

He received his vaccinations.

We made sure he was able to eat soft food.

We were also told he shouldn't be left alone for extended periods of time.

So, apparently, my babysitter for the kids had just received an upgraded job description.

Thankfully, my sister was my babysitter.

And thankfully, she was just as excited about our new addition to the family as we were.

Until things started going wrong.

Tobias became lethargic.

He was sleeping almost constantly.

There were no crazy puppy bursts of energy.

Something wasn't right.

My sister became worried and came to my workplace.

I handed her my credit card and said, "Do what you have to do. Take care of the baby."

So, back to the vet she went.

And this is where things became terrifying.

Tobias had received a dewormer at his first veterinary appointment. At the time, we didn't understand just how significant the worm burden could be in a young puppy.

Today, we know that intestinal worms are especially important in puppies. Roundworms are common in young dogs and can cause poor growth, diarrhea, and that classic "pot-bellied" or distended abdomen. Puppies can become infected before birth or while nursing, which is why veterinary parasite-control guidelines recommend starting deworming very early in life and repeating treatments at regular intervals.

Hookworms can be even more dangerous in young puppies. Depending on the species, they can be transmitted through nursing or by exposure to infective larvae. Heavy infections can cause anemia, weakness, poor growth, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, death.

That context makes what happened with Tobias much easier to understand now than it was back then. We didn't know what we were looking at, and we certainly didn't understand how quickly a parasite infection could become a medical emergency in such a young puppy.

Looking back, there were signs we had missed.

His rounded belly.

The abdominal distension.

The constant gurgling.

We didn't understand what those things could mean at the time. Looking back, a distended abdomen and poor condition can be signs associated with significant intestinal parasite infections in puppies.

And we weren't the only ones who missed the clues.

This was about the point when the spaghetti poop started.

And it was uncontrollable.

We had only had this puppy for two weeks.

I'd already spent more than $1,000 on medical bills.

And then our veterinarian told us something no new puppy owner ever wants to hear:

Tobias might not make it.

At the rate he was declining, there was a serious concern that he could go into shock and develop life-threatening complications. We were preparing ourselves for the possibility that he could die within days, possibly right there in our arms.

We had barely brought him home.

And we were already preparing to say goodbye.

But as you know from my introduction to this series...

That didn't happen.

Tobias survived.

And he was stronger than any of us could have imagined.

By the time he was nine weeks old, we were finally starting to see a strong future for him.

But we weren't so sure about our own future.

That $1,000 in veterinary bills had turned into $2,000.

We weren't sure how we were going to afford everything. There were moments when we genuinely wondered how we were going to feed ourselves, let alone keep up with everything this tiny puppy needed.

But like all parents do when their kids need them, we found a way.

And over the next few years, we got to enjoy our happy, needy little guy.

The dog who followed us everywhere.

The dog who loved us more than anything.

The dog who looked at us as his Ma and Pa and wanted nothing more than to be wherever we were.

And honestly?

That was everything we had ever wanted in a dog.

We didn't know it when we picked him up that day.

We didn't know how sick he was.

We didn't know how much money, worry, sleepless nights, and heartbreak were ahead of us.

We certainly didn't know that the tiny, sick puppy we carried out of that house would become such an enormous part of our lives.

We just knew he was ours.

And somehow, against all odds, Tobias knew it too.