Dog Sitting for Toby

My brother Danny has no children, his pets are his children. Until about 6 months ago he had 3 dogs and 2 cats. 2 of the dogs have gone to Heaven, so he is down to one dog (Toby) and the 2 cats. I have been there with him when the dogs passed and it was heartbreaking.

Ever since we were LITTLE my brother has been a Dr. Doolittle of sorts. He loves animals and would spend hours training our dogs to do tricks or just playing with them. He once stood out in our yard with his finger in the air whistling for a parakeet that had gotten out of his cage and in turn out of the house - he was out there for hours just hoping he would fly home.

This Christmas my brother went to NY, he asked us if we would dog sit for Toby at our house. We normally take care of the dogs for him, but at his house. Since there is only one dog now he didn't want Toby to be home alone for such an extended period of time. We agreed to keep him and thought it would be a good way to teach Danielle and Joseph all the responsibility of having a pet.

Toby came on 12/23 - with a milk crate full of food, snacks, toys etc... as well as 2 nice dog beds. Sort of like someone dropping their very young child off for a weekend. We listened closely to all the instructions (there weren't many) and were all set to be the best dog sitters ever...

Toby is a young playful dog and we loved having him. HOWEVER being in my brother's care has certainly spoiled him, a few examples:

We had to carry him up and down the stairs in the house as well as the steps into the yard...apparently his paws were not used to our carpet or wood steps.

We tried oh at least 3 or 4 different plates, bowls etc... to get him to eat (my brother had forgotten his plates) He really didn't care for them and was not eating much. We even put his dry food right on our leather couch and he did eat from there - apparently his tongue is use to the finer things in life and my styrofoam plate was not cutting it. After 2 days my mom went to my brothers house and got the dogs plates (seemed like CHINA to me) so that he would eat!!!

He would take his dog treat from the kitchen into the dining room and rest in on the area rug in there - not sure if he wanted to be formal or if being on the rug was more comfortable for the little prince.

Each time my brother would call to check on Toby he would be hysterical laughing at how this little dog had us doing all these things for him.

It was actually a lot of fun to have the dog - the kids loved playing with him and he really was no trouble at all, high maintenance, but no trouble...


Mr. Toby in our family room on Christmas Eve


Toby on the couch on Christmas Morning


The fine china he prefers to eat from