1995 - 2011
Gabriel, Amr, and Freddie in March 2010
(click on each picture to expand)
Freddie was born in Toronto on December 24, 1995. He was a unique mix of a Border Collie and a German Shepard.
His birth was witnessed by his lifetime friend and owner ‘Amr’ who chose him to be his friend and family companion.
Freddie moved at the tender age of six weeks to his first residence in the leafy Old Mill area of west Toronto where he spent the first two years of his life growing up and playing on the banks of the Humber River, while living 100 meters away in his home on The Kingsway Road surrounded by large house gardens.
In 1998 Freddie moved to Brussels, Belgium, where he spent the rest of his adult life. He changed residence with Amr five times, all within 200 meters from the infamous 1.23 square kilometer ’Bois de la Cambre’ park of Brussels and from the beeches and oak of the 10,000 acre sonian forest.
Late in his life his walks were restricted to the cosy Montjoie park adjoining the ‘Bois de la Cambre’ area due to his old age and diminishing mobility. Freddie remained a fixture of his favorite parks and is missed by many goers.
Freddie travelled extensively across Europe, with numerous trips to France, Germany and The Netherlands. He also travelled around the mediterranean to Egypt, and had played in no less than 300 parks during his life.
Freddie endured a good number of long haul flights and roadtrips throughout his life, and he made his mark in every trip he took.
When Freddie needed a residence in the absence of Amr, he used to stay in his preferred ‘Pento Pension’ a boarding residence south of Brussels by the Ijse river where everyone there was a good friend of his.
Freddie was known by many people, and especially due to his unique and communicative character, his superior power and agility, his unsurpassed speed and his outback skills.
But perhaps he was most complimented for his almost human house and table manners, and for his loving and friendly nature with everyone. His elegance and grace as he sits, stands, or runs drew many people’s attention. His good looks and black and white Symetry of his coating were definetly his trade mark and brought joy to the eyes of many.
With a boder Collie all black father and a German Shepard labrador mix brown and black mother, Freddie’s character had a sharp temperament as he was growing up, but toned down completely as he entered his adult life.
He found harmony in adapting the skills of the Border Collie, the number one smartest dog in ‘all dogs scale of intelligence’ ranking, the German Shepard, the number 3 on the scale, and the labrador retriever, the number 7 on the scale.
In adapting the Border Collie skills to the power and additional sensitivity of the German Shepard and Labrador, Freddie embodied movements and agility that 
were unmatched by other dogs like fast swimming and fly retriving, bringing down tree branches, superior guarding, extreme sensitivity, pride, and grace.
What most characterized his play was fly retreiving of long wooden logs.
Freddie was raised in the first two years by Amr Ismail and Jane Thackray. Jane took special care of Freddie and identified his unique character, and is credited with building up his character and manners. He was sent to a dog school in Toronto where he received full training and obedience programs. During his life he experienced two undesirable situations, both were almost fatal, but luckily he survived both incidents, and went on to lead his life as if nothing ever happened. When Amr’s son Gabriel was born, he became Freddie’s playmate, and especially towards Freddie’s late years; this helped Freddie to enjoy playing with children and to remain agile.
Freddie lived for a short while with a cat in the same house, when Amr moved in with Delphine, but he didn’t appreciate the experience, and found cats arrogant, touchy, and spoiled. He is, of course, entitled to his own opinion; nonetheless, he co-habited mostly peacefully with the cat, and home alone.
Freddie owes his life to Dr. Cindy Krebs of the Toronto Willowdale Animal Hospital, a brilliant surgeon, and the one who saved Freddie’s life after he was hit by a car on December 26, 1997. Freddie’s long time vet, Dr. Wilputte, took care of him throughout his life in Brussels.
Freedie began showing signs of aging after he turned 12, slowing down, taking him longer to get up, and panting in short walks. His back leg began showing signs of arthritis, and he began experiencing occasional coughing. His hair started graying, especially all over his face. At 13 he began showing lack of attentiveness, inability to swim, inability to go for long walks, and diminishing playing ability. He began to tremble much more during thunderstorms, which occur often in Brussels. Some behaviour changes and potty control began to take hold as he turned 14.
At 14, Freddie’s vision and hearing deteriorated, and he wasn’t able to see much at night and slowly lost over 60% of his vision during the day. His hearing was pretty much restricted to recognizing whistles, but was not able to hear his name anymore, and was sometimes barking at nothing. His bark was gone as he turned 15. At 15 he experienced confusion and disorientation, and his arthritis worsened, and was no longer able to use his back legs first, then all four legs gave in in the summer of 2011. Freddie became withdrawn by the time he turned 15, and he started showing no interest in any activity in addition to losing the sense of smell.
For a go-getter like Freddie, For a proud dog as he became unable to walk, hear, or see well, hurt and caused him to slowly lose appetite. He suddenly lost considerable weight shortly before he died, and he refused to eat on two occassions, he was forced to eat in the hospital through a needle in his leg. Freddie developed skin ulser, his liver was failing and became frail, refusing again to eat or drink right before he died.
At almost 16 (15 years and 9 months), he died after leading a full and rich life, and will be greatly missed for the unique character and loving friend he was. Freddie provided us all with smiles and joy, and we owe him some of the happiest moments in our lives.
It will take a long time to get over Freddie’s departure.
