Scoping out the neighborhood.

This is just a cute picture I took of Toby the other day and I thought I'd share it! :) It was really quite in the house and I started roaming around looking for Toby. There he was at the front door just watching the neighborhood. Occasionally someone would pass by jogging or walking their dog and he would watch them with full interest. He didn't really bark or whimper at all...until the neighbors started hanging out on their driveway. He really likes seeing the neighbors...especially Madeleine.

Another old video...of Toby's evil twin! (not really)

Here's another video of Toby. This was actually one of the "bloopers" from when I was trying to film the other video I just posted. But, this one makes me laugh out-loud every time I watch it! This video proves that Toby is in fact a curious puppy and he wants to use his teeth for EVERYTHING! He's so darn cute, isn't he? I just think it's so funny how he's looking right at the camera at the end! :)

Here's an old video of Toby playing with one of his toys...

I have been meaning to upload this video a long time ago, but I kept forgetting! Sorry!! I think this video is absolutely adorable. One day after work, I was watching Toby play with his toys all by himself and I just had to record it - it's only about a minute and a half long. He's playing with a little squeaky toy he got from his "Aunt" Kim and "Cousin" Belle. He's already torn up most of the toys that came in that care-package, but at this time, they were still in tact. He's just so cute and playful! :)

I learned two things already today...

1) Toby is really not a tiny little puppy anymore, and
2) I am PATHETIC!!!

Today, I had to drop Toby off to be neutered. He's having the procedure today, he'll stay the night tonight, and tomorrow morning I'll pick him up after my doctor's appointment. The first thing we do when we go to the vet is have him weighed. The last time we were in there was less than 2 months ago and they said he only weighed 5.5 lbs. I thought that was a little light, since the time before that he weighted 4.6 lbs - and he definitely got bigger between visits. I think he was squirming around a lot on the scale so they didn't get a good reading, but they documented 5.5 lbs on his chart. Well, today when I got him on the weigh table she said he weighed 9.5 lbs!!!! Whoa!! Either Toby is getting fat (which I know he's not), or they weighed him wrong last time (very possible), or he had a major growth spurt these past few weeks (which is also very possible). He already out weighs his mother, who was about 7.5 lbs. His father was 11 lbs. So, Toby may be leveling out on his weight...or he'll be a heavy Havanese! :) Either way, he's still adorable.

I realized I'm pathetic because I cried when I left Toby at the vet. I'd love to use the excuse that I"m hormonal, but I think I'm just a big sap for this dog! :) It just upset me knowing they were going to have to put him under and when he woke up he'd be stuck in the Vet office in a crate overnight all alone until I can pick him up in the morning. He was in such a good mood last night and this morning, it broke my heart knowing what I was dropping him off to go through. :( When we got to the vet's office, he was sitting on my lap like such a good dog. When the vet's assistant came and took him he looked so calm, but a little uneasy. I just hope they're good to him today, tonight and tomorrow. He'll probably cry - good thing I won't be hearing that. :(

Yes...I am pathetic!!!

Do dogs have nightmares?

I am so tired this morning because of our crybaby dog! We're still not quite sure what his problem was, but he was a mess last night! He was a little difficult to put down to bed last night so we had to put his crate in the laundry room so he could cry himself to sleep and WE could get some sleep.

Then at around 4:00AM he just started WAILING and BARKING and CRYING like nothing else! After about 20 minutes of non-stop crying I thought something must be wrong - I thought maybe he got his paw caught in his crate or something. Craig went to check him out and let him out of his crate for a few minutes. He was a spazz! He was so excited to see Craig! Then when he saw me, he had the same reaction!

Something must have really spooked him last night and he was in a panic. I know he dreams because we've seen and heard his cute running and barking in his sleep, but do dogs have nightmares? I wish he could talk so we could figure out what was wrong with him.

We put his crate outside our bedroom so he could calm down and go back to sleep. It took him forever to stop whimpering and "digging" at his bed. This morning he was a little clingy, but other than that he was perfectly fine. It's just us who will be tired and crabby all day! I guess we should just consider all of this good practice. :)

Tomorrow he gets taken to the vet to get neutered. He has to stay the night there and we'll pick him up Thursday morning. I feel bad having him stay the night in the strange vet office all night long in a cage. He'll probably cry all night long. Heck, if he had nightmares last night, who KNOWS what kind of dreams he'll have in the next few nights after he gets the "snip snip"! :( Poor Toby.

It's been a while...

There hasn't been much new to post on Toby's blog lately. I should just take some pictures of him and post them anyway to see how much he's grown. He's really starting to be full of personality! Here's a picture of Toby's new cousin, Abby (see below for more!).

Toby graduated from his Puppy Class a few weeks ago. He did such a great job! We've not been the best at practicing with him since the class ended, but we need to. He's signed up for the second class: Puppy Confidence and Agility. They say a lot of puppies go through an awkward phase when thing that normally didn't bother them can start to frighten them. It comes along with adolescence. This class should help him with that if it causes him to regress. Plus, it's another chance for him to have "play time" with other puppies his age. By the end of his last class, he was so excited each week to see his "friends". It's really helped him interact with other dogs we may see on walks or at our friend's house (you should've seen him playing with his friend Abbey this last weekend!! They ran around Jon and Jen's backyard for a LONG time just playing with each other...then Toby slept for the rest of the day! ha ha!)

Toby has also lost almost all of his baby teeth! I've only seen one of them, so I'm sure he swallowed the rest of them. :) He gets in a cranky mood when he's got teeth bothering him and he seems like a different dog when the loose tooth falls out. We're hoping once he's done teething he'll stop biting, but so far, it's not getting any better.

He's also got an appointment to get <*gasp*> neutered!! :( Poor little guy. He goes in next week for the ol' snip snip. This may also help contain some of his hyper behaviors, such as his mouthing, humping and general spazziness! :) I'm a little scared to have this done just because there's always a risk with any kind of surgery. But, we know it's what needs to get done because we don't want him humping and marking everything in sight. Plus, it will keep any future aggression to a minimum when he's older (so they say).

Toby's got a new cousin now! This picture is of Abby and Mom. I suppose, technically we should call Abby Toby's Aunt, but we'll stick to using the term "cousin" since they're both babies! :) Abby is a mixed breed puppy - Shiz Tzu, Maltese and Yorkie. Isn't she cute? She is about 9 weeks now (the picture was from a couple weeks ago) and she weights 3.2lbs. Toby was 3.5lbs when we got him at 11 weeks, so they're both growing about the same rate. It will be so much fun to see the two of them playing together since they're both black & white and fluffy puppies! They're going to be able to meet next month. Mom and Dad are driving down to see us the week before we ALL go down to Savannah to welcome home Captain Matt Mesko from Iraq!! Then there will be THREE dogs sniffing each others' butts! ha ha!!!

I'll take some more pictures of Toby and get them posted. Oh! Adam took a super cute picture of him when he was visiting. I'll have to post that one - Adam's a great photographer.

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! :)