He was a dog man

None of you will have known him, and I'm not sure why I'm posting it
here other than that I feel I have to honor him somehow. His name was
Mike, and he was our schutzhund training director over the past 2 years.

ceb...

Thank you for sharing this, Robin. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Off the training field and away from dogs, Mike was restless. Always on
the move, never able to focus and settle, couldn't sit still. On the
field, the hyperactivity became focused energy. On the field, he could
be still, he could be calm.

One of the new generation of positive trainers, Mike found something to
love in every dog he worked with, and was willing to work with any dog
that came to him. From Min Pins to Poodles, from world-ranked SchH3 GSDs
to Samoyeds. He gave them all patience, time, and energy. He especially
loved my Cala. "Did you bring my dog?" he'd say. "I really want that
dog." Where others see hectic and lack of focus in Cala, he saw drive.
Maybe they were a bit alike he and she.

TaraG...

Oh Robin, I am so very sorry. He sounds like he was worth a lot more than
perhaps he believed.

Yesterday Mike killed himself. The reasons were critical to him,
baffling to the rest of us. Today we are all in shock. He is such a
loss--to us, to the schutzhund training world, but more than anything
else, to the dogs he loved so much.

TOTE...

Damn - it is hard enough when it is accident. It is triply harder when it
happens that way. You did honor him. It is a sad day.

He was, after all, a dog man.

Paul E. Schoen...

It is sad when someone you have known well ends his life. We may never know
the reasons, but he is most certainly now in a better place, and finally at
peace. I have known two people who took their own lives, and those who were
closest to them had dreams or were told by spiritual advisors that they had
moved on to a more peaceful existence.

My friend Jay, who was bipolar, had two wonderful big dogs, Rex and Bear.

TaraG...

That he was. Thanks for sharing a little bit of him.

Paula...

May he finally find peace. And may those left behind who will miss
him find strength.

flick...

So sorry for the loss of a fine man.

flick 100785

pfoley...

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Nicely written; very sad; I am sorry.

sighthounds & siberians...

What a tragedy. I'm sorry for all who feel the loss.

Mustang Sally