Thirteen Things About Toby
In honour of Toby, who went mental when I dropped him off at the boarding kennels this morning, here are 13 things about the new dog in my life. (I wanted to use the Thursday 13 code, like what Fence has, but, sadly, it's a bandwagon I jumped on at the very last second and the code and the project are after retiring.)
- It took Toby two weeks to figure out that dogs beds are for sleeping on. He thought they were giant toys.
- He's not going to win any medals for his Sit-Stay right now.
- His favourite snack is carrots.
- His most endearing trait is the way he expresses frustration - by flopping down and sighing loudly.
- Toby is not real keen on water.
- He loves his red Kong chew toy.
- He follows us from room to room.
- His incisors seem to all be broken. At the very least, they're not properly pointy.
- Unlike Kodiak, Toby doesn't recognise the word 'walk'. This makes it easier to have conversations with people but it takes all the fun out of announcing "Who wants to go FOR A WALK!?! Do YOU want to go for a WALK?? WALK?"
- Sometimes, for no apparent reason, Toby rolls on his back and makes funny noises.
- I don't think his eyesight is the greatest. One windy night, the garbage can had blown over, so it wasn't in its usual spot. Toby went barrelling down driveway and ran right into it, giving himself quite a fright.
- He's in desperate need of socialisation classes. He doesn't quite know how to act around other dogs.
- He does a fantastic Chewbacca impression.
I'm posting this from Cork Airport, waiting for a flight to Dublin, where I'm going to enjoy a long weekend with Peter (whom I haven't seen in 2 weeks).
posted by -Ann @ 6:38 PM
7 Comments:
all of those things sound endearing! (though maybe you should have his teeth checked.)
here are a few things about my (now dearly departed) toby:
1) he'd follow a tennis ball anywhere--including one time off a cliff. (this is not what killed him.)
2) he watched my face constantly, slept on my bed, loved going in my car. (my new dog, riley, does none of those things. he is the definition of standoffish.)
3) when we were first dating, the Norwegian i am now married to won toby over with a thick hamburger, still warm from the BBQ grill.
4) the summer i lived in columbus, ohio, toby and i were playing ball in a secluded little strip of grass, when a man came out of a house and toby raced toward him. the guy threw his hands into the air in fear and i hollered "He's friendly! he's friendly!" and toby screeched to a halt, dropped his soggy tennis ball in front of the guy, and then sat down and wagged his tail. he won the guy over completely; he started tossing the ball repeatedly until his girlfriend got annoyed.
5) he loved ice cream.
6) he did not like water. he could swim, but only a little. when we moved to columbus, i stopped in towns along the way so he could cool off in rivers and lakes (my car had no air conditioning). in one indiana town i asked a guy how deep the water was in the river, because i was afraid of my dog drowning. the guy gave me a long, slow look, spat, and then drawled, "pretty hard to drown a dog."
7) after toby died and we got riley someone told me that i should tell riley all about toby so he would feel part of the pack and not be jealous. so we cuddled up and i started to tell him about toby and after about three sentences riley got up and walked out of the room.
Dogs are just the best :) I'll have to do one about Shady next T13 time, just cause everyone else retires it doesn't mean I can continue on.
"Toby doesn't recognise the word 'walk'."
Maybe he speaks Gaelic?
Great list. The inventor of the Kong deserves a Nobel prize.
Have a lovely visit with Peter!
I have a Toby too. And he is a gaelgeoir. I got him as a puppy from an old man in Cill na Martra. When handing him over he shed a little tear and said "I knew where he was going. So I've been speaking the bit of English to him".
I suppose he's trilingual if you include dogish.
Laurie - I love your list - it's very vivid and gives such a sense of you, Toby, Riley, and the guy in Indiana.
Fence - I look forward to reading your list.
Dave - You're not kidding about the Kong. Although they are ridiculously expensive here - I paid the equivalent of $30 for the standard red one. I don't think he speaks Irish either. And he does know "Where's your kong? Go get your kong."
PS - Did you keep up his Irish or is he au fait with English now?
Shur he has to have a bit of the English. How else would he talk to the postman and the vet?
$30 for a kong?
sure, send me your address and i'll mail you some. they're pricey here too but not that pricey. (are they any cheaper on the web?)
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