Toby's 12th Birthday Party/Hound-O-Ween!

We decided to combine Toby's 12th birthday party with Hound-O-Ween this year. It was a small event with Toby's best buddies, both human and dog. We started out indoors and needless to say, I must break down and buy a backdrop! Pictures were less than desirable with all our basement stuff everywhere. But ya gotta work with whatcha got! Toby wasn't the happiest of campers but he did as he was told and needed biscuits for payment!

Also in the basement were Shannon and Reuben. Shannon put a hat on Reuben's head, but he tried to eat it (and succeeded in downing a few feathers), hence no hat for Reuben. But, Shannon was a good sport and wore the hat!

Next up were Veronica and Juniper. They are great subjects because Juniper gets lots of practice posing for oodles of photos.

Then we headed outdoors and the woodshed made a much better backdrop. Toby was tough to corral, but he posed for a couple of photos. This is the best one.

Shannon was very animated, although Reuben wasn't too sure he liked the photo session. He would rather have been running around the yard.

Veronica was able to get Juniper to be cute as a button, although Juniper would much rather have been chasing Reuben all over the yard!

Of course, we also had treats for both humans and pups! Shannon baked banana-blueberry pup muffins, while Veronica gave Toby some of his favorite pup cookies! I made a pineapple carrot cake for the humans.

The pups just couldn't get enough of the treats! Juniper and Reuben convinced Shannon that they absolutely must have a pup muffin or they would starve!!!

Who can resist these three hoodlums? They have been scamming each human for more treaties.

WE ARE STARVING! We haven't had a treat in like 5 minutes! What gives?

Toby gets an extra cookie because he is the birthday boy. Happy Birthday, Toby!

Toby the Blankie Boy

Toby has really wanted to emulate Rich Skipworth's greyhound as he models blankies. So, being the indulgent dog parents that we are, we relented and purchased two cute blankies for Toby's photo shoot. He was just okay with the dog print one, but really felt like the other one brought out the inner tiger intensity of his personality! 

Toby did mention that he felt like the King of Dogs in this blankie!

Elegant Toby the Tiger!

I am Tiger, hear me roar!!!

Happy to be me...Toby the Tiger! I am so handsome, aren't I!

My cuteness overload broke the camera!

It is a team effort to get Toby to pose for photos. Drew, aka "The Treat Dispenser," did the hard work of convincing Toby to hold still for a microsecond or two.

Then, Toby would say, "The heck with the 'stay' command, Dad, I need a treat. This is hard work!"

Toby is such a cutie patootie!

Toby goes for two walks a day, and one of those walks is often on the Hix Small Cemetery Road and Sheen Road. Being the photogenic hound that he is, we take oodles of photos of him!

And he is so obligizing of us. He often senses or smells deer and other animals and his ears perk up to full attention.

He loves walking around the cemetery and often has a smile on his face.

Of course, as he ages he pants more and even drinks water every 15 minutes or so. He is a happy boy, for the most part.

Our last visit with Dennis

Sigh...Dennis has osteosarcoma and will be euthanized sometime this week. We are heartbroken... So, today we went to see him for the last time as I wanted to shoot some photos of Veronica and Dennis together. I just haven't done that enough over the years.

Dennis seemed to enjoy all the love and attention he received, and he has the best Mom in the world.

He was a handful for Veronica from when she first adopted him, and now, 7 years later, he is quite the marshmallow. He was worth every minute of time she had to spend getting him to this place of calm and love.

Everybody who meets Dennis loves him to the max and Veronica is lucky to have a dog with such a beautiful soul. I have always loved Dennis' smile.

Veronica's heart is shattered knowing that Dennis will be crossing the bridge soon. There will be an emptiness in all our hearts when we meet again as Dennis was a great friend to us and to Toby.

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Oh, to remember him as a young 3 years and 7 month old pup. Veronica adopted him on March 9, 2016.

Drew was the first one of the Bowdoin Greyhound Gang to meet Dennis on March 13, 2016. They became fast friends.

Toby and Dennis became best buddies. This is one of my favorite photos of them. They would hang out and follow each other around the yard. Two big boys!

Lady Flame thought that Dennis was one handsome dude. She took to him immediately and they would run and play hard!

And, Dennis has always been my special boyfriend! We grew to love each other over the years. He filled my heart with joy. We are going to miss you, Dennis...There is a special place in all our hearts for you.

Toby went to Popham Beach

 

Happy Springtime! We celebrated by taking Toby to Popham Beach. He loved walking on the sand and enjoyed all the sounds and smells of the beach environment.

We spent some time walking above the high tide mark and then right along the edge of the wave action. The sand was so enjoyable to walk on as it was quite compacted.

Toby even spent some time getting his feet wet and didn't even seem to notice the waves lapping at his toes.

He walked the beach for at least an hour and was then ready to go back to the car for his post walk snack.

Here you can see my reflection in his doggles just to prove that the whole pack was together at the beach!

Play Date with Dennis, Juniper, Toby, and Reuben

Here is a video of the dog play that occurred between the new friends.

Oh my, oh my...it has been a long time since we had a play date. We have been wanting Reuben, the wannabe Greyhound, to meet Juniper and Dennis and it finally came together today. Shannon, Billy, Beth, and Veronica all graced us with their presence to make this day a greyt one!

Here is everybody's heartthrob, lovebug Reuben.

Here is my boyfriend, Dennis.

Drew's girlfriend, Juniper, was getting some loving from Billy! She plays the field!

One of our goals was to get Juniper used to playing with non-greyhounds as she has shown a bit of displeasure in this part of life. And, Reuben needs some playmates as Toby is blind and cannot participate in play. Here is the first meeting of the minds!

Reuben seemed to really like hanging around with Dennis.

And, Dennis really wanted Reuben to play with him.

Dennis seemed to be channeling Flame and Trouble with his pawing and barking. Reuben's like, "What the heck, Dude?" I have a bit of video footage that shows the play that occurred between Juniper, Dennis, and Reuben, which will be posted soon. 

While the boys were sorting out who was going to be alpha, Toby and Juniper were getting attention on the deck.

And then, Billy pulled out the TREATIES!!!!!!! Toby loves treats, and therefore absolutely loves the treat-meister, Billy!

Dogs Paw Pad Protection nonslip grip

The last visit to the vet was awful as Toby couldn't get purchase on the slippery floor and went splay legged which resulted in some muscle strain, along with a lack of confidence to jump into the car due to the pain. He finally seems all better so back to the vet we go. This time, we have Dogs Paw Pad Protection which is like a flexible, stretchable kinesiology tape base with a non-slip coating on top. And, they worked great! They are still on Toby's feet after two potty breaks in the night, the vet office visit, and a 1.7 mile walk in the woods!

There are six sets of Paw Protection in a package. We got XL for our Greyhound paws.

First, Drew applied an entire paw to one of Toby's front feet.

Then, he cut out the pads and applied them separately to Toby's other front foot.

And, finally here is one of Toby's hind feet. He did not slip at all at the Vet's office.