The Changing Face of Toby

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008 (9 months old)

Toby in August 2008

Toby is now nearly 9 months old.  I cannot believe it – where has the time gone?

So much has happened to us as a family and obviously Toby has done some growing up (ha!).  As the saying goes “Show me the pup until he 7 months old and I will show you the dog”  IF that is the case – we are in trouble

Toby age 8 mths

For those of you out there who are new to Toby I thought I would do a “round-up” of his progress and give him a score out of 10 (oh dear….)

Walking to heal when on the lead   6/10  Not quite up to Crufts standards but manageable

Sit, Down, Stay     9/10 Thiw would be 10/0 but he does get distracted when in the great outdoors

In your Bed      9/10 – not bad

Eating Sheep Poo     4/10 – he just cannot resist this stuff – but does leave it ocassionally

Rolling in the unspeakable      2/10  This is just tooo enticing – the more rotten, horrid, smelly it is the better (for him!!)

Eating his food    9/10  – will eat most of his food but sometimes turns his nose up in the hope of some cheese coming his way.  He likes grapes, bananas, ice-cubes, stange mutt that he is

Jumping up      4/10  He is much better at this, but still does it for the first 5 minutes of anyone visiting

Biting   9/10  He no longer bites/nips at anyone but me.  He does this to my arm (very very gently) EVERY MORNING.  He also likes to chew my dressing gown first thing in the morning.

QUESTION: When I come home or downstairs he loves to get some of his bedding and bring it to me – is this a normal Vizsla trait or is a Toby thing?.  He then mouths my arm – never anyone else and likes to grab at my clothes and chew them – again is this normal?

Cuteness  10/10  well, what more can I say

Loveability  10/10  he is adorable (most of the time)

Jumping onto sofa   5/10  He is much better.  NEver even attempts this when Graham here, but if its just him and me he gives it a go (and fails).  Will never sit still with me in lounge but does for Graham – what am I doing wrong?

He sees me as his chum and Graham as the boss (Don’t we all?).  So he thinks he can get away with much more with me.  He also thinks he is the size of a small terrier and tries to sit on my lap not posible anymore!

i am adorable!

He loves to play “Fetch” and loves to rush around like a demented cat dog.  He has manic moments but on the whole he will lie in his bed for a reasonable amount of time.

He is now in a bed during the day and only goes into the crate at bedtime.  He is still chewing the wallpaper and the doorframe, but in his defence it is not very often that he chews things.

He likes to grab my shoes and run off with them at every opportunity but never ruins them – they are just all slobbery and yuk!

Toby has had a spell in kennels – which he hated and 2 weeks with my mum – which he loved and she hated   He knocked her over twice, would never get in his bed,  pushed her off the sofa, tried to hump everything and was generally naughty for the whole fortnight.

We are moving to California next year (it was supposed to be November, but Visa stuff has delayed the move until June next year – a long story!!)

Toby is big, strong, naughty, well behaved and every other description you can think of in-between.

I would not be without him