The picture you see here is of Toby the Puppy when he joined our family in early September 2014.

He is five months of age in this photograph. We took him to the veterinarian almost the moment we decided he would join us; the vet took one quick look in his mouth and without blinking or pausing for even a second told us “five months old.” 

There you have it.

Eight years later I am thrilled to tell everyone who reads this blog that Toby the Puppy continues to make us laugh every … single … day.

I have boasted incessantly on this platform and when we meet people with Toby the Puppy in our presence that he is the perfect addition to our family. Jeez, I have trouble even referring to him as a “pet.” He is much more than that.

He joined us when we had two cats, siblings Socks and Mittens. They have since left us and we miss them terribly. Toby, though, has managed to more than fill the void left by our kitties’ departure.

He is a road warrior who loves to travel with us. Our granddaughter, who’s now 9 years old, fell in love with him when she was a toddler and has treated him ever since with tender, loving kindness … which he clearly appreciates. Indeed, he gives her much love in return.

We love this puppy to the stars in the sky … and back again.

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Normally, when I offer a Puppy Tales installment it is to brag about something new in Toby the Puppy’s life, a revelation that he delivers to us, a new example of just how smart and adorable he is.

Not this time. Instead, I am offering this brief salute to Toby the Puppy by commemorating an event that is fast approaching: the eighth anniversary of the moment he joined our family.

I won’t belabor the details of the event itself. I do want to salute Toby the Puppy for being just about the perfect addition to our family.

He’s now eight years of age. He was five months old when he came home with our great niece in early September 2014.

Toby the Puppy has been, to put it as clearly as I can, a total riot ever since. He has brought us great joy through the love he displays to my wife and me every … single … day. He quite literally jumps for joy when we mention our granddaughter’s name in his presence. We tell him Emma is coming over and he can hardly restrain himself.

Our puppy has been the most joyful addition to our clan than I can even imagine.

Puppy tales, Part 3 | High Plains Blogger

I just wanted to share the good news with those of you who have told me that you enjoy hearing about his exploits.

The even better news is that Toby the Puppy is at the tippy-top of his game.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

As smart as I have proclaimed Toby the Puppy to be, I concede readily that he doesn’t speak English. That is, he doesn’t communicate with my wife and me in the language that we both speak.

That does not mean that our puppy doesn’t communicate. I have recently concluded that after nearly eight years in our family, he has a way of telling us certain things.

One thing in particular is how he tells us we must get up to let him go into the backyard to relieve himself. How does he do that? By shaking. It usually occurs in the middle of the night.

Toby the Puppy usually sleeps with us at night. When he awakens, he is likely to jump from the bed and then shake the way pooches shake. If we don’t move, he shakes again. He will do so a third time if neither of us still doesn’t get out of bed to take him out.

Do you get it? He knows how to awaken us. He won’t make a sound with his mouth. He just shakes, which creates enough of a noise to awaken us … eventually.

Toby the Puppy remains an amazing family member. He is about to turn 8. We love him dearly. We tell him he’s the “best puppy in the whole world.” He believes it.

He also demonstrates it by refraining from barking in that loud bark of his in the wee hours of the morning. If he has to go outside to take care of business, he just shakes.

His parents — my wife and me — get the message … and we comply.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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, in Toby the Puppy’s presence, whether we “should take … “ him for a stroll in the neighborhood.

When I said the words “should take,” Toby jumped straight up, ran to grab one of his toys, began wagging his tail vigorously and acted very much like he does when he hears the word “walk.”

Do you get my drift? He now is reading my mind. He is anticipating — correctly, I need to add — what I am about to say.

This pooch is continuing to amaze me. Yes, he makes us laugh every single day. He is continuing as well to astound me with his growing command of the English language.

I want to commemorate a big moment in the life of our family. The anniversary of that moment hasn’t yet arrived, but it is approaching rapidly.

It was five years ago when your great-niece — who came to Amarillo, Texas, to visit us for a few weeks — went for a walk and brought home the newest member of our family. His name was Toby; we knew that because that’s what his former “family” called him. We kept the name.

This earlier blog post will explain a bit how we knew about our puppy’s name:

https://highplainsblogger.com/2014/09/puppy-tales-part-3/

He was five months old at the time. We fell in love with him immediately. And he did with us.

My wife and I have long been cat lovers. We have been parents to a number of kitties. We had two of them when Toby the Puppy entered our life. They were getting a little long in the tooth. They didn’t much care for this “intruder.” They learned to tolerate his presence among us.

Then they died.

We’ve had Toby the Puppy all to ourselves.

What a joy he has been.

This is no exaggeration to tell you that every single day of his life with his has brought laughter. We have laughed, giggled, chortled and guffawed with him each day we’ve been together with him.

We aren’t experienced dog parents. We had a couple of pooches over many years. We had a mutt in Oregon for a time; that didn’t work out. Years later, another mutt showed up in our garage in Beaumont, Texas; it was hotter ‘n hell that day and he needed a place to cool off. We gave it to him and kept him for a time … until he ran off, never to seen by us again.

Then came Toby.

We have taken him with us on many trips in our RV. He’s been out west, back east, up north and down south with his mother and me. We’ve taken him to all three coasts: Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf. He is a road warrior to the max. Toby has visited several national parks, communed with bison, elk and bear.

We’ve moved him from house to house to house a good bit, too. His adaptability is legendary. He doesn’t mind being anywhere on Earth … as long as his Mommy and Daddy are nearby.

So, I want to commemorate this upcoming event simply by thanking our great-niece for finding him that day and bringing him home. Toby the Puppy is where he needs to be.

Look at that face. It is the face of a puppy that has dug in his claws and played his parents like a fiddle. But I’m announcing today that Toby the Puppy is this close to mastering the doggie door we purchased just for him.

How close is this close?

We purchased the back door to our patio with a portal fit for a 12-pound Chihuahua mix pooch. That would be Toby. We bought it figuring that since he is so smart that it would be a snap for him to learn how to use it.

Just put his nose against the clear plastic swinging door, give him a nudge and he’ll be in and out on his own in no time.

Silly us.

Toby decided to tease us. He resisted initially any effort to persuade him to walk through the door on his own. Over time, his resistance lessened. Each day and week produced more progress. But we still had to push him through the door when he had to go outside to, um, take care of business.

Then he began to turn the corner. I reckon he has grown tired of playing us. Maybe he’s bored with the game. Perhaps he is concocting another stunt he can pull on us.

He is now walking through the door unassisted.

Am I prepared at this moment to declare total and unconditional victory? Not … just … yet.

You see, Toby the Puppy still requires us to stand next to him while he exits and then enters the house. Hey, it’s better than it was in the beginning. I stand by my declaration of Toby’s smarts.

We’re taking it a step at a time.

You know already how smart Toby the Puppy is, so I won’t belabor that point.

However, our brainy pooch is presenting a bit of a challenge for us.

You see, we just purchased a couple of doors for our home in Princeton, Texas. The front of the house now has a storm door; the rear of our new digs has a combination glass-and-screen door — with a pet entrance!

It’s the pet entrance that is presenting our challenge.

Toby hasn’t yet grasped the concept of how it works. All he has to do is push on it with his nose, or nudge it with one of his front feet for him to walk through it.

He hasn’t gotten it. At least not yet.

It’s been less than a week since we had the doors installed. The way I figured it, though, he was going to get it quickly. As in immediately! Oops, silly me. Toby is making some progress, but he hasn’t yet figured out how this pet door works.

His first attempt was fraught with flinching and resistance. He isn’t resisting it now. He barely blinks as we push him through the pet door. The puppy, though, just isn’t ready to take the initiative.

I consider it to be a sort of canine leap of faith.

I am far from discouraged over Toby the Puppy’s ability to get it.

He will. As I have noted many times already, I consider him to be one of the smartest pooches in history.

You are looking at the face of a puppy with an ever-expanding English-language vocabulary.

Toby the Puppy amazes my wife and me almost daily. This morning, though, the amazement rose to a new level. Here is what happened.

I rolled over this morning and started to wake up. As I was getting my wits about me and preparing to roll out of the rack to start my day, Toby jumped on my chest.

I started stroking the side of his face, the front of his neck . . . you know, the usual places puppies like to be stroked.

Then I told Toby what my wife and I tell him multiple times every single day: I love you.

With that, he reached down and licked my nose.

Ah, hah! A coincidence?

I said it again: I love you.

Toby did the same thing, again!

What in the name of canine affection am I supposed to surmise from that? I didn’t do it a third time, but I will conclude only that our puppy understood what I was telling him. He knows the words. He responds quite appropriately.

Who knew that a pooch could respond with such, umm, humanity?