1 Year Old!

We can’t believe that little Toby is already 1 year old!  It feels like just yesterday it was spring and the little Tob-man was running around the back yard.

Unfortunately for Toby, this wasn’t the first birthday he was hoping for.  As symbolic as his day of birth, today was also just as important as he had his coming of age surgery (neuter).

You can tell from this picture that he’s still a little under the weather…but most importantly he is well and recovering.

Happy birthday buddy.  Love Mom, Dad, and Vinnie.

 

 

Looking back

I was looking back through some old photos of Toby’s littermates and remembered that Toby wore a black collar.  Here are some of the pictures of all the pups and some of Toby.

Intermediate + Canine Good Citizen

Lots of great news to share this week.  Toby passed his intermediate test with near flying colors on Thursday night.  He scored a 3rd place by only losing 3 points.  It was quite close - second place was only a 1/2 point away…. 

This morning Toby also passed his Canine Good Citizen certification from the AKC!

Anyone who has met Toby, knows that he loves people…maybe a little too much.  He’s a wonderful boy who just can’t help loving everyone he meets.   “puppy disorder” we say.  However, these two milestones are proof of his intelligence, character, and our hard work in training.

We’ve recently been dumped with about 1 foot of snow and Toby couldn’t be happier.  His new favorite thing is playing catch with snowballs.  Though he gets confused when the snow ball quickly melts in his mouth. 

I plan on taking lots of pictures over the holidays…so stay tuned.   Until then, Happy Holidays…stay warm and safe.

Toby for the Holidays

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Turkey Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving/holiday weekend.  We took Toby down to Lori’s mother’s house in Mankato.  She has a beautiful ravine lot with a creek at the bottom. 

We’ve officially diagnosed Toby with PD (Puppy Disorder).  He looks like such a big, full-grown dog, that we forget too often that he is only 9 months old!  Just like any puppy, he’s excited to go anywhere in a car, crazy about meeting people, and requires 12-16 hours of sleep a day.  Enter Toby nap time…



On Thursday, Toby got to hang out with the whole family.  He learned that ping-pong balls taste great, turkey tastes even better, and that garbage cans look scary at first, but they’re really not so bad once you get up close.

On Friday morning, before we left, I took Toby down to the ravine for some pictures in the woods.  The morning light was superb and I got some excellent pictures.  What a beautiful boy.  Here are some of my favorites.

 

Lift Off!

Lots to update on...

Puppy-ness
We've made the first major step into adulthood the last few weeks.  Toby has begun consistently lifting his leg while eliminating.  In a couple more weeks, he will be going in for his surgery..."shhhhh"...we haven't told him yet.

Training
Toby recently passed his beginner obedience and just started his intermediate class.  We will be working on longer sit/down stays, off leash healing and more perfection in our commands in general.  Toby is probably the youngest in his class by a month or two.  He definitely has a lot to still learn, but he doing extremely well for his age.

Sleeping/Crate
On a recent visit to his grandparents' house (Madison), Toby was left for his first full night away from Mom and Dad.  He was under the watchful eye of his grandmother who graciously slept on the couch so he could sleep out of crate.  We have also been experimenting with sleeping in the living room.  Besides a couple "stand up, turn a circle, lay back down" he basically sleeps through the night with us.  In a couple more months, we'll be testing him by leaving him out unsupervised for small periods of time.  Maybe by his 1st birthday, he can spend his first night out alone....  but we'll see :)

Just sharing one picture taken recently...  Now that's a fan!!

Dancing Badger

We snagged this cute little video of Toby just completely occupied by a little dancing badger toy.

 

Notice the permanent SMILE on his face.  LOL  We may already have Toby's stocking stuffer picked out in August.