Meet Toby

We got a dog!! We actually got him a couple of weeks ago, but I just now got some pictures to share with all of you.

We've been wanting a dog for quite awhile, but couldn't find one we liked that we could afford. We've especially wanted a Shih Tzu, but they are really expensive. We aren't allowed to have puppies in our rental (plus I'm not sure I would want to have to train one). We wanted a dog that wasn't too big and intimidating for our kids. The reason we wanted a Shih tzu is because they are usually really mild mannered, we've heard that they train easily and they aren't real nervous like a lot of small dogs.

Anyway, we've been looking for awhile, but not coming up with anything. One day I decided to Google animal shelters in our area and I found Toby! He's a 10 years old Shih tzu, fully trained and good with kids. We did have to pay an adoption fee, but it was way cheaper than Shih tzus usually cost! 10 is kind of old for a dog, but he doesn't act as old as he is. The only thing that might show his age is that he naps a lot. It is nice to have a laid back dog. He's very patient with the kids. When we first got him he had a few potty accidents, but they say that is normal for a dog in a new environment. He did have a problem scratching at doors when he wanted in (or out), but he seems to be doing better at that too. The only thing we haven't been able to break him of yet is he barks when someone walks by, especially other dogs, but we are working on that.

He is a house dog, but I have him go outside fairly often, but he does spend most of his time in the house. We are making sure to bath him regularly because I DO NOT want a house that smells like dog! At first we had him sleeping in our bathroom at night, but now we have him sleeping in the garage and that seems to be working out pretty good. He has his own little bed out there, and the garage is attached to the house; so it's not too cold for him. If we hit really cold weather we might do something different for awhile, but the winters are usually pretty mild here.

Anyway, we are very pleased with the new addition to our family, and he's awfully cute; so here are some pictures of him...

This is his favorite place in the house; probably so he can see whenever someone walks by. I thought about teaching him to stay off the furniture, but he looks so cute and comfortable up there that I haven't been able to make myself do it! like I said, he is very clean though; and supposedly Shih tzus don't shed like other dogs. We'll see...

Here he is chewing on his bone. He loves it! We've also been very careful not to feed him people food, but I think he does eat what the kids drop on the floor. Sometimes he does stand there looking like he wants some, but we don't give in. Sometimes we send him to the garage to eat his meal while we are eating ours.

Isn't he cute!

He wouldn't look at me! He was too busy with that bone, but this is a good shot of his cute little body!

Well, that's all about Toby for now. Oh, one more thing, Toby was already his name so we just kept it. If we had named him we probably would have come up with a little more creative name, but Toby is a good name. At 10 I thought it would just confuse him to change his name. He does respond to it too. Sometimes when I'm calling Ruby he comes because it sounds so similar!

I thought I would post a little update about my Dad while I was here. There are days when he seems to be better; but all in all I don't think he is getting better. His nights are especially bad and restless. He's really weak and I'm sure he's getting tired of it all. I really appreciate everyone's prayers, and I know he does too. Just continue to pray for him because he needs it.

Thanks everyone for your prayers an concern.