I can hardly believe that Toby has been in our lives for almost a year!! He has changed so much. To be honest, so have we.
It is amazing how much everything has changed and how quickly we have forgotten the lack of sleep, the biting, the eating of all things unspeakable and so much more. We have come to some form of understanding and have a pretty good routine. A typical day for our toby is as follows:-
6:30 to 7:00am
whimper for attention. He is then let outside where he completes the first of many toilet routines. Nip back into bed for a short while.
7 to 8:30
WALKIES! Toby is very excited at the prospect of a trip outside. When we let him out of his overnight crate he MUST bring me something – he still tries to drag the entire bed out of the crate and I have to entice him with a toy. His tail/botton is wagging and wiggling like crazy. He tries to jump up but its more half hearted now as he is fully aware that he should not (always worth a try tho’). He steals my slipper as I try to put on my walking gear and then tries to eat the lead followed by a final nibble on my coat. Months ago it was totally impossible to get ready for a walk with Toby anywhere near me. Now he grabs my slipper for old times sake (he drops it almost immediately). He no longer tries to knock me over and no longer runs off with my walking shoes -so we are improving. However, I think this is probably as good as it will get 🙂
9ish
Breakfast. Toby eats with gusto and in no time its all gone and he is on the hunt for a snack. He nibbles my feet when I am making toast for myself and watches me eat with the odd bark for attention.
9 until 11
He snoozes/plays/trawls for food in the kitchen. Often one of us is in there too and he just sits on his bean bag good as gold.
He no longer goes mental when the door bell rings (well, actually thats not true – he does goes mad, but he o longer jumps all over people when I open the door and he no longer eats the post!). RESULT!
He no longer breaks my arm when we go for a walk. He still pulls but nothing like the early days and he will walk to heel (after a fashion).
He loves other dogs and people – his recall is highly selective. If no-one around he is Mr. Perfect. If another dog within 1 mile he will run off to play and no amount of enticing/shouting/going in other direction helps – we are still working on this one!!
He mouths me much less than he used to. Still has to have something in is mouth. I ask hm to fetch me a toy and this always works. HE chases off to his box of toys and brings me something – this has saved several pairs of socks, several school shoes and other items. However lots of pairs of slippers look the worse for wear thanks to our Toby 😦
He no longer sits on the furniture. Occassionally he jumps on the sofa but its a rare thing. However, he loves being up on his hind legs and spends lots of time looking over the fence, through the window etc.
In the afternoon Toby has a longer walk – he loves it and comes home a happy content dog – always ready to eat
He still eats sheep poo (and other unspeakable stuff) but not all the time. He is super with other dogs and never barks at them. He is no longer chewing the wallpaper (see first pic) or the woodwork (finally thinking we can redecorate the kitchen at last….).
At night he either stays in the kitchen on his bean bag or comes and watches TV – he quite like to watch the TV and moves his head from side to side and then sits right in front of it so no-one can see a thing.
Bedtime is at 10:30 and its outside for a final toilet trip and then into his crate with a markie for bed. Not a sound out of him!
If I go out for more than half an hour I put him in his crate (do not trust him not to be be bored or lonely) to avoid damage to heaven knows what.
He is such a lovely chap – energetic, stupid, but so loving.
He is super powerful and can knock you over so easily and he is very hard work – but would we be without him – NO !!!
Toby - Life with a new puppy 