Species: Canis Familiaris
Breed: Maltese
Birthdate: August 31st, 2008
Name: Toby
Nicknames: Super Puppy & Super Stealth Puppy
Toby is my (Jeff) dog. Aside from being incredibly cute, he's also hypoallergenic. His main jobs around the house and at work involve sleeping, playing, eating, peeing and pooping (not necessarily in that order).
History:
Toby is now approaching 3 years of age. I remember getting him the day before Thanksgiving back in 2008. That was an interesting day. For some reason, I woke up that day and automatically decided to get a dog. I already knew I wanted a Maltese so it was just a matter of finding a breeder in the area. That was surprisingly difficult. Eventually I found one (good use of company time) and she had two available, however she was all the way down in Chehalis, WA (I'm in Redmond). Nevertheless, I decided to go and convinced my good friend (and co-worker at the time) Jennifer to go with me under the condition that I promise she didn't leave with one as well. Now I'm not sure how many of you have braved going that far south on I-5 the evening before Thanksgiving, but it SUCKS. It took nearly 4 hours to get there (usually takes about 1.5). When we arrived it was dark already and as we walked into the house we were greeted by many (and I mean A LOT) of other Malteses. They were running around the house like crazy. Catherine (the breeder) showed us over to a pen off to the side where there were two really small, white, fluffy creatures rolling around. I knelt down next to it and they both looked up. One of them then continued to roll around while the other instantly ran up to me and jumped into my hand. That one was Toby of course. Fifteen minutes later I was out the door with a little whining puppy in a cardboard box. I have to say, I got really lucky. I could tell Catherine and her family weren't breeding the dogs for money or puppy mill style. I think they just really love those dogs. You could just tell from the way all the other dogs behaved. After a quick stop off at Walmart (the only store open that late day before Thanksgiving) to pick up supplies like food, bowls, bed, etc. we were on our way home. An hour later Toby jumped out of his now pee soaked box into my living room. From that day on, he's never stopped following me around.
Super Puppy:
Toby earned this nickname almost immediately. Back when he was a puppy, he of course went through a phase where he liked to chew/eat things and generally misbehave or test his boundaries. Now I've been incredibly fortunate since he really didn't chew much of anything. There was an old sandal he fixated on which was fine by me (if that's the only thing he wanted to chew on, go for it). The only other thing (and this was a dangerous one) was a power cord. He chewed his way clean through it. Luckily it wasn't plugged in at the time and after a firm reprimanding, he's never looked at a cord of any kind again. But just to be safe I started researching ways of discouraging dogs when they do something undesirable. In doing so I came across things like hot sauce, the bitter apple spray, a spray bottle with water, and if water didn't work adding a little vinegar. I tried all those things and Toby just ate it up. Hot sauce didn't phase him, neither did the bitter apple spray. He just licked it right up. And the spray bottle (blast him in the face) was more than useless even with vinegar added. He thought it was a game. I was then stuck with a sour smelling puppy who was smiling and wagging his tail. The Super Puppy was born.
Super Stealth Puppy:
Can't go into too much detail on this on other than to say Toby is a sneaky, ninja puppy and is capable of going places without drawing any attention. Operation Stealth Puppy has had a 100% rate of success. :)
You can friend Toby on Facebook and follow his various conquests here:
Last but not least here's the important part, pictures!
