Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bad, Bad Little Pup

Does the Church sanction puppy exorcisms? I would like to perform one on Toby. This little daemon is as misbehaved as he is cute, and he has the whirlwind energy of that Looney Tunes’ character, Taz (Tasmanian Devil). One of the more annoying things about Toby that gets on every body's nerves is the fact that he likes to bite. He thinks human limbs are a plaything or one of those little plastic bones (doctor approved) we gave him so he could chew all he wants. I know he's teething, so the little guy has to alleviate himself some way. But he has to learn that biting people is off limits.

I've also thought about changing his name to Dopey. Oh, he's VERY smart when it comes to mischief, but not when it comes to eating stuff that doesn't taste very good (not to mention bad for him). I'm doing some serious work around my house right now, and I have to be perfectly sure that NOTHING remains embedded in the carpet, or he will surely swallow it. Bad, bad, little pup.

Anyway, we still love him dearly and protect him as he was a baby. Wait a minute. He is a baby!



I'll have more pictures of Dopey - I mean Toby - in the next few days.

13 comments:

paramedicgirl said...

Sounds like a task for Father Gabriele Amorth!

Adrienne said...

Thank you so much for the pictures. I really like animals more than people.

Elle was the first puppy I had since I was 17 years old. All our other dogs were older when adopted.

One night she was having a bout of "puppy frenzy" on the bed. You know how they run around and bite the blanket, growl, and just generally act like demented squirrels.

I turned to Harold and said, "there's a reason young people have babies. We're just too old for this."

Before you know it Toby will be all grown up so enjoy the antics while you can.

Give her hugs from Elle, Erica, Sophie,and Angela.

SQUELLY said...

cute!

SQUELLY said...

cute!

Katie Alender said...

You can just see his attitude in his expression!

It's hard, but you have to be so tough on biting. We used to gasp like we were in horrible pain and immediately pick Winston up and put him in "solitary confinement" for 3-4 minutes. He hardly knew what had just happened, but he caught on.

Our rule was "no teeth on people," so nothing even leading up to biting.

He uses his teeth when he plays now, but very gently.

What a little cutie you have on your hands!

Terry Nelson said...

What a cute baby!

Are you going to post your favorite valentine music again this year? I liked your selection last year.

Tom in Vegas said...

PG-

If you've got connections with Father Gabriele Amorth, hook me up! This pup might be his biggest and toughest assignment yet. LOL!

Auntie A-

Elle and Toby are pretty much just like babies, or as close as to either one of us wants to be to dealing babies. LOL. I don’t know about Elle, but Toby is incredibly feisty and temperamental when he doesn’t get his way. Critter was the complete apposite. In twelve years, I think I may have heard him growl once or twice - very subtlety - and that was when he had a toy in his mouth.

PS
I don’t know about having one at this point in my life, but I like babies!

Squelly-

Thank you!

Katie-

You know so much about these little guys! I thought I was the only one who detected the attitude in his demeanor. I sure hope he learns not to bite people, nor eat things he shouldn’t. If you have any advice on how to enforce these rules, please let me know. Your expertise is highly welcomed.

Terry-

Thank you:0)

I wasn’t planing to post a list this year, but I will now.

Shirley said...

Tom, that is just the cutest little pupple! Have you heard of Cesar Milan? He has a show on the National Geographic TV channel called The Dog Whisperer, and has written a few books.Check him out; you and your dog will both benefit.Become your dog's pack leader and you'll be suprised at how well behaved he can be!

Jennifer said...

He's such a cute little puppy!

Katie Alender said...

It's harder to stop rampant eating if it's random stuff. If he's chewing something specific, you could try the bitter apple spray that's supposed to taste bad to dogs (Winston doesn't seem to mind so much).

With a vacuum cleaner dog, especially a little breed, you just learn to be hyper vigilant about where you are. I spend a lot of subconscious energy doing visual sweeps and my reflexes are getting pretty good. But a trainer could probably help you with a "leave it" command. And then to go with that, a "drop it" command. (Winston used to go searching for things around the house that he wasn't supposed to carry, just so he could take them to the living room, drop them, and get a treat.)

The nice thing about Toby is he's small enough to pick up and carry.

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Tom: You could put something on your fingers that he would hate the taste of. I'm not sure what would be safe. Maybe your vet would know?

He's so durn cute. I never thought a pooch could be cuter than Critter (God bless his memory) but Toby is giving Critter a run!

Anonymous said...

He's ADORABLE!!!!! awwww, almost makes me want to overlook the fact that I don't like animals as pets because they poop and stink :-D

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Gette: LOL!