When it rains, it pours...

Less than 12 hours after I left Philadelphia to be with my mother during her post-surgery recovery, I get a call from my boyfriend, Bob, who was hysterical, upset and crying. He's barely able to get the words out.

"There's been an accident..."

Apparently, Bob had been watching his brother Chris's 2 dogs, Toby and Angus, in our apartment. Bob went up to our 2nd floor (the 3rd floor of the building, but with the extra high ceilings on the 1st floor it was more like a 4th floor height) and opened the roof access door to go outside. Toby, in very uncharacteristic behavior, bolted past him onto the roof and just... kept running. He went over the edge of the roof and fell. I don't know specifics of what happened past that, except that Bob called for help, called 911, but they didn't arrive in time.

EDIT: Just got off the phone with Bob, who is a bit more calm but very somber. Toby didn't die right away when he fell, and took almost 30 minutes to pass. Bob says he didn't seem to be in pain though, which is a small blessing I guess, all things considered. Bob stayed with him until he died, laying next to him on the sidewalk. He told Toby he was a good boy, and he wagged his tail one last time. Then his heart stopped, his breathing faded, and he drifted off.

Toby was a rescue dog. Chris's former neighbor actually found him as a puppy, chained up outside to a post and left alone for days through rain and thunderstorms. She used bolt cutters to free him after she realized nobody was bothering to come get him after passing by him for nearly a week. She couldn't care for him, so she gave him to Chris. He was an absolute sweetheart who wanted nothing more than to love you and sit on your lap (never realizing he was 90lbs). He was just about eight or nine years old.

This was a piece I had done years ago as part of a portfolio someone was putting together as a benefit for misunderstood and banned breeds (I don't remember who put it together, I'm sorry!) I chose to do a Pitbull for my submission, and it felt appropriate to model the dog after Toby. Toby was 100% proof to me how genuinely sweet and affectionate pit bulls really are, and everyone who has ever met him had fallen in love with him.

RIP, Toby dog. You were a good boy. We will miss you, buddy...