By JOHN KANELIS johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com TYLER STATE PARK, Texas — Spare me the derisive laughter when I reveal the latest wonderment involving Toby the Puppy. I was sitting in our recreational vehicle; the air conditioner was blasting cool air throughout the RV. It was making a lot of noise. Toby was lying on the floor next … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 86: Reading lips? Really?
Toby the Puppy has gotten jumpy, but we think we know the source of his newfound skittishness. It’s not a worry. Indeed, I get a bit spooked at the very thing that seems to have gotten under Toby’s skin. It’s the sound of thunder. He no longer likes it. In fact, the sound of it … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 85: He’s gotten jumpy
You know by now that we consider Toby the Puppy to be just about perfect and I am going to provide you with a brief explanation of why we believe it. We like taking Toby on walks through our neighborhood. It’s often a twice-daily ritual. When we do, we are greeted almost always by barking … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 84: No yapping from this guy
This is the face of a 6-year-old pooch. Toby the Puppy turns 6 on April Fool’s Day. That is no joke, except that there’s more than a little irony that we would celebrate Toby’s birthday on this particular day. Toby has been part of our family for almost all of the time he has been … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 83: Oh, how the time flies
Toby the Puppy tips the beam at around 12, maybe 13 pounds. He thinks, though, that he is much larger. Much meaner. Much tougher than he is. So, when he encounters another pooch of more impressive proportions, Toby might be inclined to ruff and woof his way toward them. That is, unless he and the … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 82: Toby finds a new best friend
I am obligated to report that despite what you might have inferred, Toby the Puppy does not leap tall buildings in a single bound, or is faster than a speeding bullet. He is not a version of Super Dog. He has his foibles. One of them is fireworks. He hates ’em. They make him super … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 81: Hey, he’s got his foibles, too
Toby the Puppy continues to astonish my wife and me. Just about the time we think we have devised a way to communicate with each other without getting him all wound up/excited/delighted, he surprises us by hearing certain words we thought were innocuous enough for him to ignore. Take the personal pronouns “him” or “he.” … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 80: What’s next, note passing?
LAKE LIVINGSTON STATE PARK, Texas — We came to a place that is swarming with squirrels. They seem to be everywhere. Their presence among us begs the question: What would Toby the Puppy do if he actually managed to catch one of them? As you likely can figure out, Toby has gone nuts straining to get … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 79: What would he do if he caught one?
It’s getting weird around our house. I have boasted about Toby the Puppy’s increasing vocabulary. He knows many words and response appropriately when he hears them. I have bragged about how he learned to use the doggie door leading out to our back yard. Now there’s this … I was going to ask my wife, … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 78: Now he’s reading my mind … sheesh!
GOLDEN, British Columbia — It’s braggin’ time again for this parent of Toby the Puppy. When we travel in our pickup with our RV in tow, Toby usually curls up on the console between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat. He awakes long enough to catch a glance outside and then repositions himself for another … Continue reading Puppy Tales, Part 77: Vocabulary is expanding