The Birthday Boy!

What a day! I started out going to Church this morning and then I had planned to take Toby for a special Birthday bath and then to the toy store for a special Birthday toy. A dear friend called me and asked if I wanted to take the Boys to the park. What a great Idea Dori! So I met Dori and Boomer and another dog that she has been keeping for a friend at Breckenridge park. It seems that everyone in the group has visited there here recently. It was a lovely day. The dogs had a blast. It was great seeing the dogs with huge grins on their faces. I was a little nervous because this was the first time that I have taken Toby to a wooded area and allowed him to run without a leash. Very spooky! Toby did great! I did not do so bad either! Toby would wonder a head just a little and then he would check in with me. After a little while and some encouragement from my friend I was able to relax.


I took my new Camcorder with me. I had planned on getting lots of pictures. Well, I think I need to practice a little more before posting any pictures. It seems that I got a lot of videos of back sides and grass. There were even a few of Toby taking care of business. But thanks a bunch to my friend I have a few pictures of the Birthday boy and his friend. All in all Toby had a wonderful Birthday. My little boy is growing up. He is now three. He is also very tired and is sleeping like a log. Happy Birthday Toby my angel!

The Birthday Boy!

What a difference a year makes!

First I would like to start off wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas. Ours has been just absolutely wonderful! For one thing, the weather was just beautiful. Just a year ago it had been raining nonstop for days. On Christmas morning I finally gave up and let the Tobes out to play in the mud.(see picture to the right) What a mess. I think that made his Christmas last year. This year Santa brought him a large stuffed Sheep and of coarse low fat cookies for the cookie monster. It was such a blast watching him unwrap his gifts. Santa was very good to me! He gave me a digital recorder with all the bells and whistles on it. I also got a WinBook. This was a first for me. This is a digital Picture frame. Once you up load all your pictures to it the pictures are shown as a slide show. It only took me all day to figure our how to work this one. I guess it will take me about a week to learn the video recorder. Watch out because once I have it figured out you will be overloaded with pictures! Back to work tomorrow. Such a short Holiday this year. Looking on the bright side of things Toby will turn 3 on December 30th. I plan on giving Toby a full day of activities. His special day!

We are moving on!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to update everyone on the Tobesters. With the end of the year coming around soon its a wonder I even have time for my angel. Here it goes. WE PASSED P2! I am so relieved. I am not sure why I would have any doubts. Toby is a great dog and does very well in a structured environment. I still need to work on his cross in fronts. Everything else is doing great. I need to make sure we don't back slide. In January Toby and I will be working basic obedience and obedience for agility (P3). The basic obedience has been a blessing. Everyday I learn how to keep Toby learning things just in everyday life. Poor Toby he has to work for everything. I mean everything! He is getting very strong in his stays. The only time I have problems with his recall in when he is in the back yard. I have to be very careful on this one. If I am not I will blow his recall. I always have a wonderful cookie in my hand when I call him in. He should not be out there doing self rewarding behavior at all! But, after being inside all day long he has to have some fun. When I get home from work we spend about 2 hours playing tug and squeaky ball. Two hours is just not enough for him. So I let him go to the back yard for a bit before going to bed. I have noticed that on nights we have class Toby is very tired at the end of the day. This is a good thing. Well this is all for now. I will try to post more often in the new year.

I almost forgot! Toby will be 3 yrs old on Dec. 30th. I can't wait until his birthday! Daddy is making him a mini A-Frame. Shhhhhh! Its a secret!

A Tired Dog is a Happy Dog

Poor Toby, he has had a very long day. We got up early and I took Toby to DDC (Doggie Day care). When the weather is wet and the ground is soggy Toby gets to go play with his friends at the Snout. How he loves the Snout! Anyway, after taking Toby to the Snout I went shopping. Got a lot of my Christmas shopping done. When I got home I had an email from the instructor stating that anyone who was in the Tuesday night class could come Tonight since the weather is suppose to get worse and she had a few drop out of the Monday night class. Needless to say Toby was worn slam out before we even got to class. In some ways I think that that might have been good. We worked on our stays. I think Toby was just so tired that a bomb could have gone off beside him and he wouldn't have cared. We were even inside a barn that he has never been in before. Way to go Tobsters!

As far as his diet goes, I am trying very hard. I so want him to be healthy. It is just very hard when I see him hunting for food all of the time. I am hoping that once we get past P2 and P3 he will be able to burn more calories and won't be as prone to gain weight. At least that is what I am hoping. Until then lots of green beans!

Right at this moment Toby is in his kennel for the evening. It never fails no matter how tired Toby is he comes alive when we get home from class. So I did feed him a snack and put him in his kennel for a while. He needs his rest.

I will do another updated after Thursday night class. That is if we have class. The ground just might be too soggy. We will have to wait and see.

What a long week!

I can't believe that it is Friday already. At least it is my Friday. For me Thursday is the last working day of the week and My brain just wants to shut down. I will first try and give you all an update on the Tobesters.

Tuesday night class was a little tough this week. Toby just doesn't like to drop. I was having a very hard time getting him into the drop position. I was really struggling with it. The instructor came over to help. She was showing me that I needed to push or as she said punch him down into the drop at his neck. Toby did not like that. He yelped and from what she said tried to bite her. I would like to think that Toby was just being a brat. But he could have been hurt also. When he is being a brat he will yelp like you have hurt him when in fact you did not. But if he turns and nips at you you did hurt him. I just hope that this is not going to make it hard for him to pass this class. Absolutely not aggressive dogs will be allowed to move on. Now Toby is not aggressive but did this incident give the impression that he could be aggressive. I sure hope not.

The rest of the class went very well. His stays are getting really good. The instructor used a squeaky ball for distraction. The squeaky caught Toby's attention but He only likes to play squeaky ball in the house. We were good to go there!

Tonight we had to miss out basic obedience class. I had a dinner that I had to attend for work. So nothing new to speak of with the Thursday night class. Hopefully I will have a lot of time to catch everyone up on Toby's training next week.

Thursday night obedience class

Thursday night I took Toby to his obedience class. Here we just work on obedience. Sits,stays,comes,finish those sort of things. At first his stays were OK. Nothing to write home about. But let me tell you by the end of the night I was very proud of my Angel. The instructor tested these dogs to the max. First she stood behind the dogs and whistled, then she took a glove out of her pocket and started waving it around. She waved it in every dogs face. Toby got up I think twice maybe three times. That was all. Then she went and got a jump bar and brought it over and she dropped it in front of every dog. Toby stayed like a champ. The instructor drug the bar across the field in front of the dogs. Nobody moved. Then she picked up a chair and dropped it in front of each of the dogs. Nobody moved. Then a big loud diesel Dooley truck came in the parking lot. I thought for sure this would get Toby. He turned and watch the truck as I stood there praying that he would not move. Yes I had to go over and give him big treats for staying.

Next we worked on our recalls. Toby did real good at first. Then about half way through he started barking at me and jumping on me. I thought he had to do some business. So I took him over to the side. Yes he had some business. Then we went back over to join the class and once again he started to bark at me and jump on me. I thought that maybe he wasn't finished. Not sure what that was all about but he did not have anymore business to do. The instructor thinks that maybe he was just pulling a stunt on me. What a dog! Next time he will have one chance to do his business and after that he will do what he is suppose to do in class. No more funny games to get out of something.

Another Great Week

Well, Toby and I had another great time in class last night. I thought for sure with the long Holiday break and the rain we would not do well in class. But once again Toby came to my rescue. What a lad! His toy drive is really coming along. Last night I played tuggie with him with two different toys. One toy was his favorite of all time. The long stick with a rope and a squeekie attached to it. He played so hard with that thing that when the instructor came over to watch, Toby had already tired out. It is so great watching him have fun! When he is having fun I am having fun. This class has just been the best thing ever!

This class has made me focus on having fun with Toby and having fun training. I use to always worry about getting into the show ring. Now I am OK if we don't show until next year. I don't need to be in the agility ring to have fun with my dog. I am having fun with my dog right now!

Toby did great with the long line. I had not had a chance to work with him this week after the little mishap last week. The huge correction he got by mistake when he was following me and trying to get the toy. It just did not phase him. What an awesome dog!

We still need to work on our stays and drops. Toby did OK with his stays, he just did not like it when the dogs on either side of him got up and went to their handler. I tried to get back to him to treat and reinforce his stay but I was late and he got up. Maybe next time.

In a couple of weeks we will be taking a test. We must pass this test or we can not move up into P3. So far I think we are going to be OK with the test, we just need to drop a few lbs. This poor dog is getting 3/4 cup of food a day and a 1/2 can of green beans. Sometimes I see him hunting for food. But it has been made very clear to me that if he is not at a good weight he will not pass. So I guess I just need to suck it up and make sure he is at a good weight. That also includes more exercise!

Great Class

Tonight Toby and I Headed out to DDS for our Tuesday night class. It was a great class. I was so afraid that we would be yelled at for not knowing our stuff. Wow! was I in for a pleasant surprise! Some how I managed to get Toby to play with a toy in class. I guess it was the yummy treat that I placed inside of the snakes head. What ever works. We worked on the drop command. Toby is getting better with that one. We worked on the down and settle. Toby has been doing the down and settle for some time now. The instructor wants me to use only one word; however, Saying down and then settle works great for us. So unless it becomes a big issue I am just not going to worry about it. When we were working on the long line I had a little mishap. Toby was doing so well but I did not notice that his line was caught on a piece of equipment. As Toby was running straight for me he got a huge correction from the line being caught. The instructor had me doing the exercise over again to make sure Toby did not think that this was a real correction. Toby was very hesitant but came to me. I will have to work with Toby on the long line this week to make sure that this doesn't work negatively on him. Any way as we were leaving the instructor complimented me and Toby on our Toy drive. She was impressed that we had come so for in just one week. Well she thinks it had been one week, I did not tell her that I have been working on this for some time now. Oh Well! at least Toby is starting to like his toys outside of the house.

In Loving Memory

A moment of Silence for those waiting at the Bridge to join us once again.


Wendy

August 5, 1987-November 17,2007










With Love
Terrie and Toby

He has toy drive!

Yes! My baby does have toy drive! I was so afraid that he would not have toy drive like he needs to have for agility. Toby has toy drive at home. He loves playing squeekie ball in the hallway. He loves to tugh in the front room. He loves pushing a pool noodle across the yard. But when I take Toby to a new place he wants no part of any toy. I guess I just needed the right toy.

Last night I took Toby's favorite toy to obedience class with us. We arrvied about 15 minutes early. I took out his toy and play just a bit with it. He was so so with it. Then we had class. Man! great improvement just in one week. The class went a little long. When the class ended I took out Toby's toy once again. He had a blast! I know I am going to look a little funny with a long stick with rope and a fuzzy on the end sticking out of my pocket, but if this is what I need to do for my Tobes then this is what I am going to do. I am sure if I keep up with it, it won't be long before he is tugging with me with a normal tug toy.

As far as obedience class, it went great. We both had fun. We were very good last night. Learned some more stuff to work on. We need to practice finishes. On the recall Toby can now catch the piece of food that I spit out of my mouth when he stops and sits facing me. We had to practice that one a lot this week. What a great trick. At least for me it is.

P2 class

Well, last night was the first class for me and Toby. I was very nervous about it. This is the first time of having this instructor. She was full of information. My head is spinning from trying to remember everything. I think Toby did very well. I know that it is defiantly going to help us. I need someone who can tell me what I am doing wrong.

The watch me game did not go over very well with us last night. I guess because it was new to us. I have always used my finger and said the command "watch me". Tonight while doing our home work if became very clear that we did learn something last night. I need to just remember to take each step and complete. Toby caught on very quick that if he looked at me he would get a treat. Then I was able to have him watch me for a count of 10. All I had to do was follow the instructions. One step at a time. I just keep wanting to hurry things up.

The "Drop" is proving to be a little more harder. I am having to force Toby down. This is something he just doesn't want to do. When he goes down he wants to settle. If he doesn't settle he will pop up before his release word. I would not be worried but we have been working on this for almost two weeks now. I know that it is something I am doing.

Toby sits are great for a short time. He will sit fast but he doesn't want to sit long. If he is in a sit for very long he will go down and settle. I think he is getting better. At least he will sit for longer periods of time now. I guess I just need to be patient.

Toby's stays are doing good at this point. He recall in this setting is good. The recall on the agility field "edit".

And because I did not have all of my school supplies, we had to sit out on an exercise. The come to the hand. I felt bad. But I will have everything next week.

As far as toy drive. Toby has it at home. He can care less about a toy when he is out and about. I went today and bought a buck tail and tried to weave it into one of his Tug toys. It took me 30 minutes to weave it and it took Toby all of 2 seconds to tear it out. So I thought that I would get out his favorite toys of all times. When he was a puppy I bought him a tug toy that had a long stick and a fuzzy on the end. He loves that toy. We put it up because he was tearing them up real fast and it was very hard to get replacements. I think I am just going to have to take Toby to the park and see if he will play with it outside in a new place. If he does I think we will be on our way to having a toy drive. In the mean time I will order a "skin" for him. I think the most important thing I learned is that I was not having fun with my dog. I was pushing him and pushing him to be this star. He will be a star we just need to have fun along the was.

Drop

Not much going on this weekend. I spent all day Saturday playing with my new washer and dryer. I guess it is a little sad when you brag about your new toy and it is a washer and dryer. Doing laundry was kind of fun. I am sure it will go back to being a chore next week.

I spent some time working with the Tobes this weekend. I am trying to teach him a new command. "Drop" When Toby goes into a down from the command down he likes to sit first and then go down. I also use settle so that he will move onto his hip. I think changing to "drop" he will understand that I want him to down on top of his feet so he can pop up in a hurry. I think this is going to take some time. But I do think he is starting to understand what I want.

The other command that I need to work on is "stand". It has been two years since I worked with this command. I think some how I taught Toby to stand by using his release word "free". I guess I am going to have to talk with the experts on this one. The last thing I want to do at this point is add more confusion to Toby's life.

What! Its 5:00 A.M.

All of the clocks have been changed for some time now. At least I thought that all of the clocks had been changed. Not Toby's. Instead of getting me up at 6:00A.M. he is now getting me up at 5:00A.M. I am hoping that soon his internal clock will be with everybody els. I do have to admit. It is so sweet when he wakes me up. I will be laying on my right side and I feel a paw on my cheek. Then I feel these kisses. When I turn over to my left side low and behold Toby is staring at me. It is just so cute. Poor Dave! When Toby gets him up it is with great force. Toby will jump on the bed and then walk all over him. Sometimes thoses paws feel like stakes trying to peirce there way into his body. Sorry Dave!

Toby and I had an obedience class on Thursday night. It went very well. Lots of distractions. I am learning just how I have not been very clear with Toby about who is boss. One thing we have to work on is that when he is told to sit he stays in a seated position. Toby will remain sitting for a while. Then when he is tired he will go into a down. I must have pushed him into the sit position from a down about 50 times that night. He is getting better. He just has to learn that he needs to do what I tell him to do. Not what he wants to do. After all this is why we are doing obedience at this point and not agility.

I'd rather be in a Fish Bowl

Tonight was the last night for agility training for a while. We are going to be working on obedience. I sure hope this will help us. I am beginning to believe that Toby would rather be in the back yard barking at all of the people and cars in the alley way. This is what I call a fish bowl. Lets face it. There is a fence between Toby and the outside world. Just like there is glass between a fish and the outside world. I was so hoping that Toby was going to be a great agility star! Something has gone terribly wrong in our training. I hope the obedience is going to help.

I always thought that a tired dog was a happy dog. I thought taking Toby for a 3 1/2 mile walk this morning before I went to work would be all that was needed to do to help Toby with his zoomies. Nope. Did not happen. He decided that he was going to make up his own coarse which he did. He seemed to have a blast. I didn't. My next step is to do obedience with Toby for a while and hope that this will snap him out of this self rewarding thing he is doing. Maybe tomorrow will be brighter!

What a show off!

Thursday night Toby and I went to our first obedience class. He was such a show off. He worked really well. The instructor had us leave our dogs and walk only as far as we thought our dogs could handle. Well, I turned my back to Toby and must have walked about 20 feet away from him. He did not move a muscle. When I called him he came straight to me. He did all of this in a some what strange place that was extremely noisy. Loud trucks, and trains echoed off of the buildings. A couple of times Toby did bark and growl at the noise but I was able to keep him in check. If only he could do this when we are on the agility field!

Tonight I met a couple of friends out at an agility field to work on some of the obstacles. When I did not direct Toby like he thought I should have he went nuts on me. He just gets very upset with me if I don't do what he wants. Man! I have created a monster! He worked really well with Dori. I can see that we need to work on becoming a team and be patient with each other. I think we are on the right path by taking obedience for a while!

The Wild Man is at it Again!

Last night Toby and I went to our usual agility training class. He did great until I dropped my arm on the very first run through the coarse that the trainer had set up. That was all it took this time for Toby to get with the zoomies. He has no patients with me! I did get a laugh out of one of the students there. She told me that I needed to encourage Toby to run like that. He is fast! I just kind of looked at her in surprised way. No! I don't think I am going to encourage the zoomies. That would be crazy.

Anyway I told the trainer that I was going to go back and do some obedience with Toby. I think we need more ground work. We are not a team and if we want to have fun we need to have patents with each other. He told me that that was a great idea and that I needed to do what I thought was best for me and Toby So on the 13 of Nov. Toby and I will be starting a new class. One that is obedience and one that is obedience for agility. I think this is what we need.

This Thursday night we start the regular obedience class. My wild man need to learn that I am the boss not him!

What! No toys

Yesterday I put up all of Toby's toys. The only thing left in his toy box is a bully stick. Some how Toby did find a squeaky ball. Of course When he brought it to me we played. I ended the game several times when Toby did not bring me the ball. He learned real quick that no game if he kept the ball from me. Man! he is a fast learner.

I do have to say that it felt real bad to watch him rummage through his toy box only to come up empty handed. I did not realize just how many times in one night Toby would have his nose in the toy box looking for something to play with.

I did take Toby to the cookie store last night. We bought a new collar for him. I think this one will keep him safe. While we were there he did some very nice downs and stays. He was a little reluctant to do the leave-it. But what can you say when you are in a cookie store. The trainer at Pet Smart told me of another good place to take Toby that I had not thought of. Fire Wheel Town center! It has lights, there are always people around and security. What a brilliant idea! Now I don't have to worry about it being dark when I get home from work, I can still walk Toby to get rid of all of that Energy. It will also be a good place to add distractions!

Watching friends have fun!

Today I went to watch the USDAA show in Wylie Texas. It was so fun watching Jamie and Derby do marvelous! I just hope that me and Toby can be half that good!

As far as working with Toby today, Well he gave me the scare of a life time tonight. We were on our very long walk when two kids came flying by on a bike and roller skates. Toby just freaked! slipped his collar and took off running faster than a squirrel can. I was screaming and screaming! Toby did not even look back he just kept right on going. Finally on the other side of the school yard a man and his wife were walking their dog stop. They could see Toby running toward them. They stopped and grabbed Toby by the scruff and held on to him until I could get there. My heart was beating right out of my chest! There just weren't enough words to express my gratitude. I sat there for a few minutes to catch my breath. I thought to my self we are going home! Toby still freaked was trying to pull me all the way home and I thought to my self. NO! he is not going to get rewarded for pulling that stunt. So I grabbed his leash and we went back to where it all started. I made him walk like we always walked before this happened. I am so glad I did that! After a bit he calmed down and we had a very nice walk. Tomorrow when I get home from work we are going to get a better fitting martingale. One that won't slip over time and become loose. I should have done this months ago. I guess I was just being lazy.

Skull made of concrete!

Ok! So my brain is surrounded by cement. I think I get it know. At least I hope. Toby and went for an evaluation this morning to see where we would best be placed in a new agility class. Great news! We will be moving back into Kindergarten class which is much better than going all the way back to preschool. Toby and I have some foundation work that we need to do before going on into agility. We will be spending 6 weeks in a P2 class and then another 6 weeks in a P3 class. If all things go well and we do our home work we will be miles ahead of where we are now.

I am just so thankful for a couple of really good agility friends and trainer who have had patients of an Angel with me. What I mostly don't understand is that someone can scream and yell at me and tell me how awful I am treating my dog and I hear every word. Then there is someone who is kind and really cares about me and Toby can tell me what I need to do and that we are good and I don't hear a single word! What is up with that! I guess I just don't hear things unless someone beats me over the head with it. Beatings for Terrie ! : )

Joining the world of bloggers

My how the world has changed. I did not grow up with computers or cell phones. In fact I remember when we got our first color TV. Now I am working on becoming a blogger. This is defenitly blasting me into a new reality. My whole objective is to help myself and my wonderful dog Toby. His agility training has taken a fall and I need to pick up the pieces and glue them back togather. Tomorrow morning Toby and I are going to be evaluated to see just where we are at this moment. I am hoping to be able to enroll in a class called P2. If we can then I think we will be on our way to glueing things back togather. Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us.