It's 2008

I can't believe I let a whole year go buy before I updated Toby's blog. Life has apparently been flying by!

One sad note this year is our very loved Molly dog had to leave us right after Thanksgiving. Life became too hard for her, and too hard for us to watch her struggle. She's hunting again over the rainbow bridge.

Toby has now been visiting as a Therapy dog for just over a year. Our little group of TDI members is expanding and we are adding new facilities on a regular basis. In fact, Miller Funeral Home has graciously offered a sponsorship. Along with them, Gage E Services is donating time to build us a website. Many thanks to them for helping our volunteer organization. Soon you can go to: http://www.siouxempiretdi.com/ and check us out!

One major thing has changed with Toby over the past year. He had increasingly struggled with allergies. We made the leap and put him on a raw food diet. Within 2-4 days the allergies completely disappeared. Wow. The benefits are amazing and it's really not that hard to do. We're firm believers. He gets 2.5 pounds of chicken backs/necks a day and 1.75 pounds of mash a day. We use a variety of fruit,veggies, ground deer/antelope, liver, eggs, oil, fish, yogurt and supplements.

Enjoy the spring and summer....Toby can't wait to get outside again!

Certified Therapy Dog!

I've neglected Toby's blog and will try to catch up. Tobias is now 16 months old and as of Saturday March 24th is TDI (Therapy Dogs International) certified. He is 36-37" tall and weighs 160 pounds. He is such a character. He is really a good boy and some of his puppy behaviors are disappearing, such as chewing everything possible. His favorite game is to play laser. By chance, he saw our son playing with a red laser and he was hooked! He chases is all over the house and gets so excited when he even lays eyes on it. He also drops his tug toys on our chest while we're relaxing on the sofa, and begs us to play.

November 15, 2006

It's been a while since I have updated the blog. Toby has been playing, eating and growing for the past 3 months. He is 34 inches tall and 150 pounds and will be a year old in about 10 days. He still is eating 8 cups of food per day and looks nice and lean.

He is such a character! His newest "trick" is to cry in his crate in the middle of the night. I assumed he had to go outside....wrong....the minute I opened the door, he ran for upstairs and into our bed!

He loves to play tug, but can pull a grown man off of the sofa doing so. He is doing well minding us, but minds me the best. But it was me that took him to obedience classes so that's natural.

He still loves to chew, as most puppies do. He has a fetish for plastic hangers! Good thing they're cheap. He chewed my new leather belt in half in about 2 minutes! He loves to sit with his butt on the bottom step and look out the window. People told me Danes also sit on couches just like humans, and he does that too!

Therapy Dog Trial Run

Toby had a trial run at a local childrens hospital to see if he had the necessary qualities. He passed with flying colors and can visit often. He can get certified as a therapy dog when he is one year old.

Summer Fun

Toby is big enough now that counter surfing is a daily activity! He also can drink right out of the bathroom faucet.

Annual 4th of July at the Kaisers

Space to roam and buddies to wrestle. Hank the bulldog and Sugar the boxer, what a day!

July 4th at the Dog Park

Toby thinks all dogs are friends to play with. For the most part this is true at the dog park. He does his best to keep up, but he'll never hold a land speed record!

Dog Days of Summer

Toby has taken to swimming in the kiddie pool, he loves diving for his toys that Darrell got him. He spoils him worse than I do!

New experience....camping

June 2006 brought a fun camping trip. Toby did great! It was cool (a little too cool for the humans) but perfect for a big ole dog. I think he sniffed and greeted everything possible. He had his first wade in the lake and enjoyed that too. There were so many kids, and so little time.

Five and six months

Toby and I took 2 sessions of obedience classes. He "graduated" in June at 6 1/2 months. It was the best money I've probably spent. Our Molly was trained as a hunter which is completely different. Sadie, well, really wasn't trained. She just learned from Molly.

At 6 1/2 months Toby can do the following:

• Walk nicely on a leash (at 100 + lbs, that's important!)
• Adjust his speed to mine while walking
  
• Sit
• Down
• Come
  
• Stay (even at the curb while I walk across the street to get the mail)
• Shake
• Leave it
• Ignore other dogs or people
• Wait (important to break him of "rushing" to people. He has to wait to be petted from people.
• Halt (while walking, ending with a sit)
• Go get it, and return

At 6 1/2 months Toby weighs 100 lbs. and is 30" at the shoulder. I was worried about him growing so fast that I switched him from large breed puppy food to adult. We also noticed some redness on his feet and inbetween his toes. Many foot problems and excessive shedding are due to allergies so we have been giving him Benedryl and will need to change brands of food to a natural dog food.

When Toby reaches a year old, we will do some addtional training to become certified as a therapy dog.