Sandy's Blog – April 2009 Archive (6)

We had Toby groomed on Friday. We found a groomer called "Groomer on the Go" who comes in a large vehicle right to the driveway, and does the bath, cut, dry, everything, right there. She did a great job! Now - I will try to post some pictures of the end product. Continue

Last night we had obedience class again. We had actually considered quitting the class, because we found it to be less helpful than it could be due to criticism and lack of motivation from the instructors. We did not quit, and went off to class last night. Toby was tired - he was groomed for the first time yesterday, and we took him early and let him run. If I may say so myself, Toby totally ROCKED OUT that class last night. I have never seen behave as well. My husband was watching from the… Continue

I just typed this out once, and it didn't save. So...here we go again.



At the risk of jinxing things, the last couple of days walking Toby has been a joy. He has been doing "with me", "let's go", "get in", sitting at street corners with little encouragement, and even "look at me". Also, when we encountered someone who wanted to pet him yesterday, he sat patiently and accepted the attention. I have had comments by a couple of different people stating what a well behaved dog I have. I… Continue

We got brave and found a lovely dog park about 30 minutes from our house. They have a web site, and we viewed pictures ahead of time. Off we went. Toby loves a good ride in the car, so that part was great. We got to the dog park, which was as nice in person as it was in pictures. Double gated, really big, etc. We went in and took off Toby's leash. He looked at us, and we told him to "Go Play!" He hesitantly stepped away, and then a little Scottie dog came over to make friends. From then on it… Continue

Toby is doing well with training - class three of Grade One obedience is under our belts. Well....he's doing well at home. At class, he is not demonstrating all the brain power that he has. He is pulling, being goofy, going after other people's treats, etc. So I thought, to help with the pulling, I would get the Easy Walk Harness. Two instructors have recommended the Gentle Leader, but after a very brief demo session with Toby, it became clear that is was going to be a BIG struggle to use.… Continue

Once upon a time there was a dog named Toby who wouldn't play fetch. His Mommy bought him Kong tennis balls, with a lovely squeaker inside, and he didn't care. His Mommy bought plain tennis balls, and he didn't care. He enjoyed sticks, so his Mommy thought, "Aha! I will throw a stick for Toby. He will chase it, and we will play fetch!" But alas, Mommy threw the stick, and Toby watched it sail through the air and hit the ground, then jumped with muddy paws on his Mommy. Mommy threw leaves into… Continue