Dobby was a fiercely sweet and loyal member of the family. The continuing love shared by him and his family is ineffable. Our sudden loss of Dobby is a wound that will never fully heal, but we know that Dobby is with us and that we'll see him again someday.

Dobby was born on November 16th, 2018. He was initially adopted by a young woman who loved him dearly. However, even by Doberman standards, Dobby was a staggeringly demanding dog. And so, Dobby's first parent had rehomed him to a family who had the time and resources and to give Dobby the best life possible.

On August 3, 2019, Dobby entered the Logel family. From the beginning of his time with us, Dobby was a handful, but (usually) in the best possible way. To keep him busy, we took him on walks, dog park adventures, hikes, car rides, play sessions, sniffaris, vacations, and occupied him with training tasks. We also consulted multiple trainers and veterinary behaviorists to give him the most fulfilling and comfortable life.

Dobby's favorite hobby was spending time outside with his family. He loved big open dog parks and hikes. He hiked in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia. Some of his exploits included:

1. Summitting the highest peak east of the Mississippi, Mount Mitchell in North Carolina;
2. hiking the Blue Ridge parkway in North Carolina and Virginia;
3. "defending" our camp cabin from a family of black bears while on vacation in Michigan's upper peninsula; 
4. running on frozen Woman Lake in northern Minnesota;
5. exploring every dog park within 90 minutes of Madison, Wisconsin;
6. hiking in more than half of the state parks in Wisconsin; 
7. stomping out his own custom trails on the 2 acres of heavily wooded forest at our family home in Virginia; and
8. hiking on numerous trails in Shenandoah National Park.

In June 2023, we welcomed our first (human) child, Isadora (Izzy) into the Logel family. Dobby instantly bonded with her and didn't leave her side until the end. He was always a big help throughout her (still very young!) life. There was a time when Izzy would refuse to settle down and sleep for the night unless Dobby tucked her in. And in the mornings, when Izzy woke up to have her morning meal, Dobby would always lay down next to her and chew a bone for as long as Izzy fed.

The circumstances of Dobby's untimely death are still difficult to accept. On the morning of February 14th, 2024, Dobby went in a for a simple dental extraction. As is standard, he was anesthetized and intubated during the procedure. 

Several days later, Dobby developed an extremely mild and infrequent cough; he was acting normally in other all other respects. Two veterinarians agreed that his mild cough was very likely due to a non-serious irritation from the intubation tube.

Unfortunately, on the morning of February 18th, Dobby vomited once and began acting lethargic. Later that evening, Dobby's began acting strangely and we rushed him to the emergency room. The doctor diagnosed him with pneumonia and possible sepsis. All the veterinarians we consulted concluded that Dobby likely developed aspiration pneumonia or had become infected when bacteria traveled from an extraction site to his lungs during his dental procedure. Both of these are extremely rare complications for an otherwise completely healthy 5 year old dog.

Following his ER visit, Dobby was admitted and transferred to the internal medicine department, where he was treated by a world class team of respiratory illness specialists. Despite everyone's best efforts, on February 20th, at approximately 3 PM, Dobby passed away.

At the time of this writing, we are all still in shock. Dobby died far, far too soon. We love him dearly, and we miss him every second. We couldn't have asked for a better canine partner through these years.

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