Toby Loves his Niece Daisy

My son Greg and his family are moving to Oklahoma.  They have a boxer, Daisy, who is becoming elderly and needed to be babysat while the move was in process.  She spent some days at home in her crate, but she came to Grandma's to play with Toby during the four days of the actual move.  Toby and Daisy had their first meeting at my house on Toby's turf.  It went very smoothly.  A few days later, Toby came to Daisy's house.  Toby was doing the "play bow" repeatedly wanting Daisy to play with him, but she is approaching an elderly state and was not interested in puppy play.  Nevertheless,  they bonded right away.

Daisy is experiencing urine leakage, so she came to Grandma's house with four beds, three of them needing to be laundered.  I intended to keep her in my large master bathroom, but she whined and cried in there without anyone around, so we set up extended baby fencing around the entrances to my kitchen to keep her barricaded there.  That worked much better!  She was happy, and Toby would ask to be let into the kitchen with her.  He preferred to be corralled in the kitchen with Daisy than to be able to roam the whole house without Daisy! 

I texted my vet nephew about Daisy's leaking problem.  He said it was an easy fix if I could get a urine sample.  Actually, it was simple to capture.  $503 later, we have medication (testing, overdue shot, pedicure, and heartworm prevention meds as well for her) which seems to be working already!

I took Daisy and Toby to Oklahoma today, the day their truck unloaded.  They both LOVE Daisy's new yard, but they weren't satisfied with just two acres.  They ventured across the street to the neighbor's yard.  My yelling at them brought the neighbors out.  The neighbors helped to catch the dogs and loaned me a couple of leashes (which I had neglected to bring).  Greg came over too and another neighbor who is "next door" beyond the trees to Greg's lot.  The neighbors are extremely friendly, helpful, and eager to meet Greg and family.  Dogs are great for breaking the ice!!!  :) 

My Spirited Dog!

Toby is coming into his own more and more!  He definitely has spirit and is beginning to do things which make me laugh.  He is doing more jumping up on me, which is not necessarily a good thing especially when his nail rips the skin on my arm, but it does indicate he has more initiative.   And I feel the love.  ;-)   I was sitting on the sofa this past week; he came barreling across the room towards me and leaped onto my lap!!!!  Oh, my!  Really. . .   I tried to explain to him he is not a lap dog, but he ignored my explanation.  He received kisses on the head. 

I can no longer call him laid back or polite, although, he is learning what "Leave it" and "Wait" mean, so he is becoming polite on command!  He is an active member of the household.

The only mischief he has caused is opening cupboards when I am away.  He opened a lower kitchen cabinet which holds trays and vases.  (Probably the door was slightly ajar.)  He took a small alabaster vase which my brother and wife brought to me from Egypt several years ago.  He dropped it on the floor and broke it.  Sad, but not the end of the world.  A couple of days after that he got into the pantry.  I probably left the door open.  :\   He ate THREE bags of treats!!!!  The day that happened, I gave him his dinner before realizing he had already eaten more than a dinner's worth of food!  There were no negative reactions for all of his gorging.  Fortunately! 

Graduation

Toby passed the test for Beginner Class, but he is nothing to brag about. LOL
He has "learned" --

• Look at me
• Sit
• Stay
• Leave it (we are working on it. . .  LOL)
• Wait
• OK (release)
• Let's go (he is the worst at this!  Tug, tug, tug. . .)
• Come -- he needed no training for Come!  He already knew that command!  
• Come and Sit front

Watch Your Teeth If You Have an Energetic Lab!

Today, I wrote to my DIL:  "Toby really is a good dog.  He is so polite and patient!!!!  :-0   He doesn’t ask for anything.  Except to go outside for potty a couple of times when I waited a bit long.  He doesn’t ask for his meals and doesn’t gulp them like Hershey and Guinness did.  He gobbles it right down, but he doesn’t inhale his food.  Ha"

Her reply:  "That is good! You deserve a nice, polite and patient dog that doesn't knock your teeth out :D"

I checked to see what I had blogged about my tooth.  Nothing!  I was too busy.  I was packing to move from Canada to Texas in August of 2012!   Here is the story which MUST be blogged --

We had arrived at Petsmart.  Guinness was over the moon with happiness (as always).  When I opened the back of my SUV, he leaped out before I could grab his leash.  I bent over to pick up the end of his leash off the ground, and he bounced into my face!  OUCH!   It hurt, but I had no way, or time, to look at my mouth.  We completed our shopping, which always was a circus with Guinness.  He would pull me into the store where he would greet the entire store with loud barks of cheer!  He was SURE everyone loved him and wanted to bow at his paws!  We would spend our first minutes traversing the aisles at a quick clip, up and down, up and down, until he was more under control.  Then we would do our shopping and leave.  My teeth looked fine in the car mirror.  I couldn't wait to get home to see what he had done to me.  It appeared to have been pushed back some.  I called the dentist to have it checked.  He informed me the tooth was cracked horizontally in the center.  It would need a crown.  I called Guinness my $18,000 dog at a minimum!
$ 1,500 - purchase
$12,000 - 2 crutiate ligament surgeries @$6000 each with recovery, therapy, special equipment
$ 4,000 - crown
$ 1,200 - end of life tests and care
$18,700 + much more in food, vet bills, kenneling, training, etc.

A Growl

Toby has become more spirited as he is getting to know me, but a stranger can set him back.  My son and grandson came to meet Toby.  Toby was very laid-back and hesitant around the new people.  Such a difference from Guinness who would be jumping all over the child, or, at least, wanting to jump on him.   Then Greg returned the next morning with a different little grandson.  Again, Toby was polite and not demanding attention.  In fact, he hid from attention.  My grandson told me Toby was under my bed!  Sure enough.  There he was.  Why?   My son got down on his knees to look, and Toby growled at him.  His assessment was that Toby, from something that has happened in the past, is not comfortable with strangers.  And having Greg on one side of the bed and grandson on the other made him feel threatened.  Greg asked for some treats to entice him out.  He did come and was just fine, but not enthusiastic to have company. 

School -- Good and Bad

 Toby had his third class last night.  He is doing very well on some things and not so great on others.  He walks pretty well without tugging.  He doesn't hold anything in his mouth long enough to teach him "Drop it," and he is not doing well with "Leave it."  He does "Sit," "Down," and "COME"!!!!  Shocking about come!  He must have learned that before.  He got away from me a couple of days ago while taking things out of the car.  When I finally looked for him, he was gone.  I yelled, "Toby, Come!" and he ran to me immediately from the other side of the car!!!  And in our first "Come" exercises in class, he was perfect! 

Today, he awoke with a hoark.  He was seemingly trying to get something out of his throat, but nothing came.  Each time he awoke from resting, he would hoark.  We went to see the vet in case something could be stuck in his throat.  She thinks he picked up a bug in school at Petsmart.  The animal hospital is next door to our classroom, and he wanted to check out the hospital area during break.  Now he has two meds to take for the next several days. There is this marvelous new product -- "Pill Pockets!"  You place the pills inside the Pill Pocket, and the dog thinks it is a treat! 

Troublesome?

Well, Toby, I think, is causing some trouble.  LOL   Over the last week, my alarm went off 3 times — right after I left the house!  I have an alarm service person coming tomorrow to figure it out.  My neighbors must be tired of hearing my very loud alarm go off!  When I left the house today, he wanted to come too.  I told him, "Wait."  After I shut the door, he started barking.  That is something new.  Within minutes of driving away, the alarm company called.  Less than 30 minutes later, it went off again.  The system is regulated for a 90 pound dog to be in the house.  Toby is 73 pounds.  The alarm company has asked if something could be swinging in my house.  No, but is a dog jumping around??  When I came home, the dog cover on a loveseat was disheveled.  I think maybe he is jumping around and being a bit crazy???  I need a video camera!!! 

All of my neighbors have a dog, and the dogs all want to meet Toby.  The dog on one side of me is so eager, she has started to dig under the fence and can get her nose all the way into our yard.  (She never did that with Guinness.  ??)  I took a picture and texted it to my neighbor.  She thought it was funny and suggested we get the dogs together when she arrived home from work.  They had SOOO much fun!!!!

Home From His First Pet Resort Vacation

This afternoon, I checked Toby out of his resort.  The person at the counter was the counselor who supervised his Playtime from 9 – 3 on Friday.  She said he had a BALL playing with all the other dogs (about 10).   Saturday, she was the person to take him swimming.  He put his front paws in, but would go no further.  He didn’t want anything to do with it.  She says she would go in the water with him the next time or throw him in.  I wish I had a creek or body of water to let him see what it is like!  They said he was a very good boy and had a good time.  When they let him out of his suite once, he escaped and ran down the aisle from them.  Ha!  He has spunk!  It is showing up more and more!  He did not exhibit any anxiety.  The suites have 3 walls and a glass door.  The walls and door do not go to the ceiling.  It is about a 3'X5' room.


He expressed his happiness at seeing me by jumping on me with a bit too much energy and clawed my arm making it bleed in several spots!!! 

As usually happens when my dogs return from the resort, he has been VERY tired since coming home.  Though we did take time for some training exercises.  I can walk him with minimal tugging now!  We haven’t conquered “Leave it” yet, and I can’t do “Drop it,” because he isn't interested in holding something in his mouth long enough to use the “Drop it” command.  He is showing improvement with the "Down" command.  As we walked around the neighborhood tonight, a couple of strangers  commented he is doing much better!  LOL  Perhaps one of them is the one who asked previously, "Who is taking who for a walk?"

His report card says:
Upon arrival I was HAPPY
My activity level during my stay was  HIGH
During my stay I ate  EVERYTHING
I barked SOMETIMES
I was PLAYFUL, SWEET
My favorite Pooch Perk was PLAY TIME, POOL TIME, GROUP PLAY
Comments by my resort supervisor:  "Loves to run & play & jump  :) "