A new favorite "Toy"

I think one of Toby's favorite past-times is to annoy me while I'm doing laundry. He LOVES that. If I'm at the washer and dryer he's trying to jump inside the dryer to get to the clothes or anxiously waits for me to drop an article of clothing. If I have a laundry basket on the floor or on the couch, he'll make every effort to grab a sock or a pair of underwear and run off with it. He's even pulled items through the small holes in the side of the hamper when he can't get to the top of it! I suppose we should've seen this coming because there was a good couple week stretch when if we were looking for Toby we'd often find him in the closet of our bedroom sitting on a pile of dirty laundry or (hilarious) inside a laundry basket of laundry! ha ha! :)

So, one day when he was again annoying me while I was trying to fold laundry, he ran off with a plastic hanger. This time I just let him have it...at least it wasn't a pair of underwear! Now he "plays" with that hanger all the time! He'll sit there and gnaw on it sometimes, other times he'll get himself tangled up in it and roll around and around while chewing on it, and the funniest is when he playfully nips at it, backs away, barks at it and then runs around in one of his "zoomies" circles! Plus I'm sure it helps soothe his tender gums while he's teething (he's lost a lot of his baby teeth and has adult teeth coming in all the time - odd that we still haven't seen a single tooth laying around - hmmm.)

We don't let him have it while we're gone, but it's a great distraction tool that helps me get the laundry done! :)

Toby's "First" Haircut

Okay, so it's not really his FIRST haircut, since he had one while he was still living with the breeder, but it's his first haircut since we've owned him. I had a hard time finding a Groomer who was familiar with Havanese dogs. The one we ended up taking him to actually grooms a lot of Havanese, and have for years. Apparently, there's a guy in town who has Havanese show dogs and he brings all his dogs into this groomer. That made mre more comfortable leaving him there for the day. Boy, was he happy when I picked him up! :)

He was WAY overdue for one, too. The Before picture I have here doesn't really show how insanely fluffy he was before his haircut. It was cute, but it looked a little scruffy and he always seemed hot - plus the hair in front of his eyes I'm sure was annoying. He's super soft now and his hair is much shorter. It's almost too short for my liking, but Toby seems to love it. He's got a new world of energy, probably because he's a lot cooler (we've been dealing with a major heat wave lately!). I like being able to see his face better - his eyes are so cute when you can see them! :)

Bang!

I don't have a picture of this - yet - but Toby has learned the trick "Bang!" (aka, "Play Dead" for those who didn't know Mindy well). It's taken us a while to get him to pick up on it. He didn't like being "shoved" to lay on his side - he kept nipping at Craig when he was helping him. We were trying to teach it to him for Show-And-Tell at his puppy class, but he didn't get it in time...granted, we didn't try very hard to train him because time was an issue.

We gave up for a little while because we could tell he was getting frustrated. Then a few days later we were trainig with him again and I thought I'd try once again. I made the "gun" with my hand, said "BANG!" and waited...and waited...and waited. Toby sat there staring at me - staring at the "gun" - and then, ever so slowly, he rolled onto his side with his head down and his legs straight out! Craig and I both went crazy shouting "GOOD BOY!!", showering him with affection and giving him treats. You could tell he was really proud of himself. :)

He's not really confident with it just yet, but he's getting there. It's SO CUTE when he does it. We'll have to work on it more now that he knows what the command means. Sure, it takes him a while, and you can almost see the gears turning while he's thinking about what to do, but he did it! Not bad for a puppy who's not even 5 months old!! Way to go, Toby! :)

Cookies!

Toby has so many toys now and he loves them all! He has so many family members who love him and send him toys and treats! His latest carepackage came from his Aunt Caroline & Cousin Marvin. :)

There was a rope toy shaped like an animal - he chews on it a lot and it already looks years old. There was also a really goofy looking monkey toy with a huge body and little legs and arms ("I have a big head and little arms"...ha ha ha...inside joke...). It took him a while to figure out there was a squeaker inside because the body was like a small pillow. Once he figured out it had a squeeker he played with it a lot more...then he chewed off one of his legs! ha ha!! Now there's a monkey leg that keeps moving around the house; I don't know why it makes me laugh so hard, but it does.
In the carepackage he also got a box of doggie treats that look AND SMELL like chocolate chip cookies! Seriously, they smell good enough to eat! I gave one to Toby and he loved it. I know it's rude to photograph someone when they're eating, but he just looked so funny breaking up the cookie into small pieces and hunching over to eat it. ha ha! :)