Toby

1 Year Old!

2009-02-27T19:55:00.001-06:00

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

2009-01-04T10:09:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-20T21:20:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-12T11:55:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Turkey Day

2008-11-29T09:15:00.001-06:00

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!

2008-10-26T18:42:00.001-05:00

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

2008-08-24T22:56:00.001-05:00

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.

Someday....A Lake House

2008-08-24T21:41:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we all drove down to Lake Okoboji (Iowa) where Lori's mom has a beautiful house on the lake. Toby LOVES it there. It was a little chilly for swimming, but he got to walk out on the dock, watch the ducks swim by, and stay up a little past his bed time. My parents also joined us for the weekend and we all got to go out for dinner and drinks and talk a little wedding plans.

The title of the post..."Someday...A Lake House" reminds me of the bank commercial, "Someday....A Backyard". The picture makes it all too funny.

Now, with the little man exhausted from the weekend, laying out on the floor in front of me...we can finally relax a bit.

Have a great week and enjoy the last bits of summer.

"Good things happen when I sit"

2008-08-19T21:51:00.001-05:00

Lori and I joke about this all the time. Toby definitely knows how to work the magic to get treats and pats on the head. When it's training time...bam, we are right on.

"When in doubt, I sit...Good things

happen when I sit"

Toby is doing wonderful with all of his commands, especially heel. We go up and down the street alternating between fast and slow and he is locked by our side. Even quick stops and 180 degree turns are no trouble. The little guy is definitely learning that eye contact gets rewarded and the little "marching" trot he does when he locks in is so adorable.

We are very excited to start class next week. It is beginner class, but we are ready to learn more. I am excited for Toby to show off his sit stay. He is good staying for 5-10 minutes and does great with distractions (ball rolling by, ice cube on the floor, or me running by).

Just want to share one picture of the little man, on our way back from Duluth. This right here proves how rough it is to live with us. One word - SPOILED!

Yes, the A/C is on full blast... and Yes, he's laying on a pillow.

Starting to Grow Up

2008-08-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

Toby is definitely growing up fast. It is interesting that people say, "One day you'll just notice that he's grown up and not mis-behaving." I will say that I have noticed a significant decrease in his "every-day craziness." Toby is definitely growing up to be a great family member.

I recently purchased a new lens for my camera specifically designed to produce the best picture quality possible. I will say I am anything by disappointed. These photos capture Toby's true personality.

He is a huge lover...after he is tired...of course. Explore, Dig, Chew, and Chase all come before "Sleep" in the dictionary. With Toby, there's no difference!

Toby has really started to fill out his adult features. Most of all, we love that his long fur is starting to grow in. His tail hair is funny as it is starting to drop. It looks like perm on a humid day.

A couple things that separate Toby from most other Goldens that we see are his coat, posture, and head shape. I probably don't need to say much more, other than this picture:

This is one of my favorite pictures of him. It shows his curiosity, intelligence, and patience. I wanted a picture that showed him focused on an object. For this setup, I put a sprinkler behind me (did I mention he LOVES water?) and told him to sit and stay. His eyes never blinked, head never moved, and he never lifted a paw.

With Toby, it isn't all work though. As he is growing older, we are noticing more when he "smiles" or is having a good time.

And as I mentioned, after a good time....there is nap time. This picture still makes me laugh. Toby was so incredibly tired after a long run in the park, bath, and walk, that he fell asleep sideways trying to get his ball. He barely opened his eyes while I took several pictures.

The last picture I'll post was taken this afternoon in the yard. We haven't seen him just "sit" in the yard without running around or trying to explore/get into trouble. I guess that means "he's growing up" (minus the grass hanging out of his mouth)

Big Boy

2008-07-29T07:09:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I made a post, so I thought I'd give a quick update on the "not-so-little" little boy.

General

Toby turned 5 months old last week. He has been teething pretty badly lately. Poor guy is in so much pain. Most of the baby's are gone and the adult teeth are coming in fast.

You can see from the last post that his face has grown out a lot more.

He has also put on some (healthy) weight. He's about 53 lbs right now. We're on track to be about 95 lbs when he's done growing. Yikes!

Play

We've been going to the dog parks a lot lately. He loves the water.

Actually, we have a hard time keeping him OUT of the water.

Training

We're working most on "heel" right now. He's pretty good. The most important thing is that he alters speed to stay right by our side. He's getting much better at eye contact too.

Dog Park

2008-06-23T00:37:00.001-05:00

Toby finally got his 3rd distemperment and rabies shot last week, so we took him to an off-leash dog park to celebrate. He did so great by staying close to us and coming back when called. He loves the tall grass; we played hide and seek for a good half and hour.

Then, we took him down to the pond to test out his swimming skills. We kept the leash on him, just in case...but after a minute or two, he was already romping around in the water and swimming out towards the middle. We had to take the leash off and let him run wild. It was great to see him have so much fun in the water. All of the other dogs were running around chasing each other and Toby could not have had more fun running through the mini trails in the woods.

Next time we go, I'll take a couple pictures of him swimming. I was able to get this shot in the car. It just goes to show how much fun he had....

One word: EXHAUSTED!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T00:29:00.000-05:00

Toby took his first big road trip and over night stay this past weekend for Father's Day. We went down to Mankato to visit Lori's dad. Toby had a great time outside and LOVED the boat ride around the lake. We had some time to take a couple quick pictures.

I am working on getting the pictures from the boat ride. They are sooo cute.

Muddy Paws

2008-06-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

Somebody had fun this morning...

wet grass + freshly tilled garden = trouble

I think the subject tells enough of the story. I will say that this was one of those 'how cute' moments rather than.... 'Toby what are you doing?'

Spliff's Visit

2008-06-08T21:15:00.001-05:00

Toby and Spliff finally got to meet today! Ben and Mel brought their new arrival, a Bernese Mountain dog over to meet Toby. The boys started off a little slow...Toby, being the energetic pup that he is was all over his new play friend.

It took a bit of warming up to, but Spliff and Toby soon realized how much fun it was to chase one another around. The two had a great time together wrestling and playing in the pool.

We took a little break to take some portraits of just Spliff. What a cutie!

Then it was time for everyone to rest so the parents could eat some lunch and relax a bit. Spliff wasted no time getting in some shut-eye.

Before leaving, we got the pups together again for a quick goodbye... little did we know they would start playing and wrestling with each other. We then knew that they would be best friends!!

More pictures of Spliffy can be found here:

http://www.erickrausphotography.com/gallery/5124374_mTpZA

Something Fishy

2008-06-06T23:35:00.001-05:00

Some how we lost Toby's Nylabone..and so as a replacement, we got him a Nylabone fish chew toy. He loves it.

Week #3 of puppy class was this week. We are definitely learning a lot. We thought Toby was far ahead of the class, but it seems that puppies across the class are all doing well. Each puppy has their own "quirk" and everyone benefits from sharing ideas with the group. This week we learned how to "stand", "come", and "stay". Our homework for next week is to have Toby sit and stay for 2 whole minutes.

Hope the rain holds out a bit so Toby can meet Spliff. Pictures pending.

Fun in the house

2008-06-02T23:16:00.001-05:00

Just had to post this picture of Toby with a new toy. I was laughing so hard, I could barely hold the camera straight.

What a beautiful smile. ;)

Great Summer Day

2008-06-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, so much to talk about today...where to begin....

We went to a friend's wedding last night, leaving the house in beautiful sunny weather. We knew that a storm was coming in, but the down pour at the reception led us to believe that all we were getting was some rain.

After returning home last night, we discovered what looked like a war zone. Most of the lawn was covered in hail...and the leaves had all been blown off of the trees.

We got up early the next morning to clean up the yard and finish up with the fence on the side of the house. Toby now has almost the entire lot width to run up and down. He loves it.

It was definitely a warm day out, so we thought it would be a good day to introduce Toby to water. We filled up his little kiddie-pool and enticed him to climb in. He was a little apprehensive, but he didn't seem to mind after awhile. The cool water felt pretty nice on the hot fur.

Meanwhile, Vinnie watched from inside wondering, "what a weird thing to do..."

Oh, and a frozen peanut butter-filled Kong is the best toy ever!

Puppy Class #2

2008-05-29T23:33:00.001-05:00

Tonight we had our second puppy class. We "learned" the 'sit' and 'down' commands even though Toby is already well on to 'stay' and 'shake'. We also learned the 'leave it' command, which Toby will actually benefit from very much. The little guy definitely knows what it means...he just has a tough decision to make: a rock or a chicken treat... hmmm, should be a no-brainer, right?.

Toby is now just over 13 weeks (3 months). He is growing so fast. We are measuring his height on the door while he is sitting and it seems to be going up an inch every day or so.

It's hard to think that he will be 50lbs in two months!

Here are a couple pictures from the great weather we have been having.

Look at that blocky head. What a beautiful pup!

Toby wants to say congratulations to Ben and Mel on welcoming their new addition to their home, Spliff. We will post some pictures as soon we can get them.

Also, Toby would like to wish little Vincent a happy 3rd birthday. We will be celebrating tomorrow with a Dorito cake (his favorite) and lots of laser fun.

Vet Visit #2

2008-05-21T06:16:00.001-05:00

Toby had his second vet visit yesterday. He is 23 lbs and doing well. He is growing on pace for about 5lbs every two weeks. Toby had several shots: a distemper booster, lepto vaccination, and he got a few nose drops for a flu-like vaccination.

He couldn't get his Rabies shot because he had to be a minimum of 12 weeks old...which he wasn't yesterday, but is today. A little goofy.

He is sleeping now until about 6:00am and doesn't get fed until about 6:30am.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

There are no bugs on me...

2008-05-18T09:24:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since we posted a message to the blog. We've been so busy with work, GRADUATING, and taking care of the two boys.

Vincent & Toby

Vincent and Toby are starting to have their first face-to-face encounters together. Vincent is still a little cautious around Toby. We don't blame him; Toby is doubling in size every two weeks or so. We are trying to increase their positive interactions before Toby is 85lbs. :)

Commands/Training

Toby has learned a couple more commands ("down" and "stay"). The "down" command has been somewhat humorous though. He picked it up right away, probably within a day or two. However, since learning the "down" command, he then thought that any command other than "sit" must have meant "down".

We realized this as we started to experiment with the "stay" command -- Toby began laying down. It took a day or two to correct the misunderstanding.

Now, he knows "stay" up to about 6 feet (as I walk away)...and getting much better on placing a treat down in front of him. He is an incredibly smart puppy!

Leash training is going well too. We have improved our walk status to: manageable. Now, it's just pulling all the fun presents out of his mouth...

On to the pictures!

Toby loves the sun. He will run around all day if we didn't stop him.

INCOMING!!

Quick break to have a drink.

Gotta cover up that smell....whew!

This right here says it all!

Bath Time!

2008-05-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

After two weeks of puppy shenanigans, we decided to give little Toby a bath. He didn't mind the water too much. I mean, he is a Golden Retriever...

He was a little scared of the hairdryer...but he got plenty of treats for being a good boy!

Before the bath

Getting used to the water...

Mmmm...the soap feels funny!

Mom, can you make sure to get behind my ears too?!?

Ok guys, I think I'm done!

9 Weeks Old

2008-05-01T22:49:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Toby was 9 weeks old yesterday. We went to the hardware store and park this week. He has met most of the neighbors on our block. Everywhere we go, people love him. He's such a sweetie.

What a lover!!

"Yes, mom...whatever you say."

Whether he has a toy, or just tired, he will always find a lap to snuggle up on.

Resting time before bedtime

We have started him on some fun obedience training to lock in the commands he already knows. He loves to eat everything on our walks, so "Come" and "Leave It" are definitely first on the list.

"I'm ready to play whenever you are"

It took him awhile to sit for the picture above. When we're outside - it's GO time. I had to make some funny noises and wave my hands just to get a "what are you doing?" look.

Floppy ears!

Puppy kindergarten starts in a couple weeks. I'm sure Toby will be the smartest in his class. I mean, who else takes their 12 week old to kindergarten. ;)

Take care,

Eric, Lori, Vincent & Toby

Photo Gallery!

2008-04-26T11:15:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to my photography portfolio.

http://www.erickrausphotography.com

I have a special gallery dedicated to Toby with many more pictures that didn't make the blog cut. The link is not publicly listed on my portfolio, so you must either come here first or bookmark the link.

Toby

http://www.erickrausphotography.com/gallery/4802025_fghj6

You can also see Vincent's gallery here (again not public).

Vincent

http://www.erickrausphotography.com/gallery/4601445_iHGZh

Enjoy!

Week 1

2008-04-26T11:09:00.001-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a whole week. A week filled with car rides, early morning potty trips outside in the SNOW, trips to the park, a trip to Chipotle, a vet visit, and lots and lots of fun.

I'm adding a few more pictures from the past few days. Toby is growing so fast. We can see changes in his face and body every day or two. He's going to be a big, happy boy!

Toby discovers that walking in the rain is exhausting...but rewarding ;)

Ready, set, come, Toby!!

Kisses before bed

Toby sporting some Microsoft apparel.

Day 2

2008-04-21T17:12:00.001-05:00

Well...it's day two, and just about supper time. I thought I would share a few more picture of the little tank. Lori and I tucker'ed him out pretty good, so there has been lots of napping today.

NAP TIME!

So tired, Dad...no more pictures!

BIG STRETCH!

Welcome home, Toby!

2008-04-20T10:40:00.001-05:00

We stopped by Rolling Oaks farm, outside of Litchfield, MN, just before 4:00pm yesterday. We were greeted by the family where they walked us through the entire process of care and selection.

We got to meet the parents and play with them for a bit. Captain (the dad) is a big boy....

We picked our little boy up, for his first (of many) photos, and then it was off for home.

A relatively dangerous drive home. I was the comforter, photographer, navigator, and driver!

Poor little guy just wanted to sleep...

And so he did.

And...slept some more....

Basically...he slept the whole way home. :)

Once we arrive home, there were plenty of photo opportunities out in the yard. He loves to chase after you and won't leave your side.

Little Toby already knows how to Sit, Come, and Fetch. We're working on Stay...but since he's still just a curious little puppy, we're pretty forgiving.

When he's not playing, he's chewing. And when he's not chewing, he's exhausted... Even mid-fetch it's common for the little guy to just plop down for a nap. Must be rough...

He has spent 4 out of the 5 last nights in a crate without an accident. And when we go outside, he knows just want to do. The breeder has had him sleeping 10:30pm straight through to 5:30am. So, hopefully no mid-night potty breaks.

He is SUCH a lover. He'll crawl up on your lap, just to rest his head on your arm. With a deep breath, he's ready for another nap.

We're off to some pet stores and parks today. Keep checking back for more pictures. Can't wait for you all to meet him.

-Eric, Lori, Vincent & Toby