Honest to goodness, I do not intend to keep blogging forever on this canine family member.

It’s just that dog ownership is something new to my wife and me. Yes, we’ve owned dogs before, but the previous dog that entered our lives did so more than 25 years ago. We had him and then he was gone.

Toby, as you know by now, came into our lives just the other day. My wife and I have re-learned something about pooches: They do require attention.

We’ve been cat owners/lovers for our entire married life together, which on Thursday hits the 43-year mark. The two cats we own are now 12-year-old siblings. We’ve had them since they were about 3 months old. They rule our house. They set the boundaries. We follow them. That’s how it goes. Toby is learning that lesson quickly.

Socks is our big male. He’s very sweet. He loves people. He doesn’t like other animals. Toby got a lesson on Day One. He ventured too close to Socks, who then hissed at him, took a swing at him and said, in effect: Stay away, Bub, or else. Toby has gotten the message.

Mittens is our female. She’s much smaller, but that doesn’t mean a thing. She holds her own. She’s also pretty shy — around people and she has even less tolerance for other four-legged creatures than her brother. Mittens and Toby haven’t gotten acquainted formally just yet. They will. I believe she’ll learn to tolerate the little guy.

My wife and I are quick learners. We’ve understood all along that dogs are more labor intensive than cats. So no one has to lecture us on the obvious.

I’ll just need to keep reminding myself how happy Toby is to see us when we walk into a room.