Socks and Mittens

[Jenn&Greg]

Toby is growing up fast, keeping us all busy, and has really gotten the hang of the bell to go out. We are amazed at how smart he is and how quick he learns. The one thing that we are having trouble with is his interest in socks and mittens. He has an unusual taste, not just to chew but to swallow the sock whole. As hard as we try to keep everything up and in hampers, he has also shown his talents in detective work as he finds them anyway. So far, they usually are returned in the same way they are consumed and the latest tally is 11 socks and 1 mitten..All child size.

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

Haha how funny but I can calm you down I have a doodle who is also a talented detective regarding socks. He finds them everywhere and I don't have a clue where they are coming from because I try to keep them away from him. It doesn't matter if the socks are worn or coming out of the washing machine he likes them all. But he is just chewing on them and I am happy that he is not trying to eat them. I feel for you and your sock problem :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is hilarious. You wrote it with such humor - humor you probably don't feel when he eats the socks!

[Karen and Aidan]

Hey, Toby looks just like Aiden. Aiden is 8 weeks old. Born 12/3/08. That is what I wanted to teach him to do. Hit a bell to go outside to the bathroom. I have a doggie door and right now he has learned to go through the doggie door but, the door is for a small dog. Eventually he will grow to be too big. I am afraid to put in a large doggie door due to somone being able go get in the house. I have another dog that is small and it is good for her. Aiden is my first large dog. They are such smart dogs. I have already taught him to sit, and come. He still has a few accidents here and there in the house but he uses the doggie door to go out. If I can train him to ring a bell, I would be so happy. What did you do. How old is Toby now?

[Nicole Wayne]

Thank goodness they're child size! 11 socks and one mitten, though, that is impressive!! Also, you're lucky so far with the bell - it took Mazie all of one day to figure out that the bells were fun to play with. She knew full well what they were really for (she's pretty smart) but she so enjoyed playing with them that she just couldn't help herself and we had to take them down. Maybe she could join one of those bell-ringing choirs...

[Jenn&Greg]

We started really being good about it when he was about 12 weeks old. We hung the bell on the front ad back door and everytime we took him out we had him ring it. He has even figured out that the back door is to go out to the bathroom and when its around walk time in the evening he rings the front door. It was harder to train us to realize he was ringing it on his own. We have 3 small kids and usually have a lot of noise to tune out so getting us to 'tune in' to the bell when we don't expect it was really the hardest thing about it.

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

I know this is off the subject of socks and mittens, but how old was he when you started the bell training? I bought one but so far I have to carry Riley out to the grass since he seems not to be able to make it from the crate to the door quick enough. No accidents yet, but today it was close.