[Dailydrool] Pw. Tasselhoff

Mon May 9 07:23:26 PDT 2011

 Some of you may have already heard this through the grapevine but I wanted to let you all know That I had to put Tas down Friday evening. It all happened very quickly he went from limping on Tuesday to barely being able to have anyone touch him on Friday even though he was heavily dosed with pain killers. 

   I had the pleasure of first meeting Tas when he was one day old and being with him during his finally moments. He was the most easy going dog I have ever been around. All he really needed to be happy was a belly rub. If you wanted to really make his day he loved to go fishing, fresh caught trout was his all time favorite meal. I have many  memories of standing in mountain streams, tossing Tas a fish I had just caught, and watching him carry it aways from the bank and then chowing down. Then there were the times when, Lord forbid, I lost the fish, Tas would give me such a look of disgust and then start scanning the water hoping to somehow find the fish that I had so carelessly lost.

   Tas was a therapy dog with Intermountain Therapy Animals for the last 5 years. He started out visiting at St. Joseph's Villa but really found his niche at Primary Children's Residential Treatment Center. He spent the last 4 years putting smiles on the kids faces, if they wanted to give him belly rub in return he was happy to accept. They years we've spent visiting the kids have been amazing for me. It's incredible to watch both Tas and Fiz interact with the kids, they seem to know exactly the right thing to do for each kid and would let the kids do anything to them. Tas didn't really liked to be snuggled with, belly rubs, chin scratches and petting were adored but snuggling just wasn't for Tas. One boy that we visited would take over to a corner and spend the entire hour snuggling with Tas, we're talking full on body hug. He did this, with this child, for a full hour, twice a month for three months and never once pulled away. In the twelve years Tas owned me I don't think he ever let me actually snuggle with him for more than 10 minutes.  Tas had a large heart-shaped marking on his side. I think God stamped him with that heart, before he was born annoucing to all the world how much love he had to give and Tas really lived up to it.

   Tas was also an incredible brother to Fiz. He wasn't very happy with me when I brought Fiz home, but he still let Fiz snuggle and play with him whenever Fiz wanted. He wasn't shy about letting me know that he wasn't very happy with the situation but he never showed that to Fiz. Tas also allowed Fiz to create a strange pack hierarchy. Most dogs need very defined and structured packs, but Fiz wanted to be the dominant dog at home but not out in the world. Fiz was bit in the face quite severly when he was 5 months old and he lost a lot of his confidence when that happened. Tas was very much Fiz's big brother, he always went first so Fiz would feel safe and very much watched over him. Tas once attacked a pit bull that attackedgoing after Fiz in Murray Park. It didn't matter that the other dog was 10 bigger, stronger and faster that he was, no one was going to mess with his brother. Once we stepped back into the house Tas calmly gave the role of leader of the pack to Fiz back to Fiz and let Fiz boss him around to his heart's content. Like all brothers Tas also knew how to get the best of Fiz. When I gave them bones Tas would let Fiz choose his first then take whichever bone that Fiz didn't want. Then he would quickly eat all the meat off of his bone, he would then causually walk away as if he didn't have a care in the world. Fiz would run over to Tas' bone to steal and while Fiz was busy investigating Tas' meatless bone Tas would casually sit down at Fiz's bone and proceed to finish Fiz's bone. Poor Fiz fell for it every time and always had a slightly stunned look on his face and he watched Tas finish off his bone. I won't go into the details but I was putty in Tas's paws as well, many of you may remember a certain story involving bacon at 2 am.

   Needless to say I could go on and on. Tas was an incredible dog. The stories are endless, in fact Tas in the newspaper twice and also has stories about him in two books and made a cameo appearance in a third. Heaven is a much brighter place today than it was last week and my world suddenly seems much dimished.  Please keep Fizban and I in your prayers, especially Fizban, our hearts feel like they've been shattered into a million empty pieces.

Rest in peace until we meet again Tasselhoff, I love you.

Pw. Tasselhoff Burfoot, C.G.C, I.T.A (4/23/99 - 5/6/2011)

Mary Mischelle, Pw. Tasselhoff Burfoot and Francis' Lil Fizban

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