Go Away, Toby!!!

I find myself saying this...A LOT! Toby is our boxer. She is almost four yet she looks like she is about 6 months old. She broke her leg when she was a few months old and it stunted her growth. We call her our mini boxer.

But she is my baby and, like me, she is very affectionate. She is a cuddler. When she sleeps, she has to be up against someone like me or Apollo (our Great Dane that is also her boyfriend...yes, what a pair they make) and it doesn't bother me but my hubby and my son don't like her being so close all the time.

She has no idea of personal space. When she comes up to you, she goes right up to your face to tell you hello. I always give her a kiss but everyone else pushes her away. When she gets in Gabriel's face, I always say, "Go away, Toby." and sometimes she listens.

Josh calls her Brown because she is fawn colored and he just can't call her by her real name. I named her Kyley when we first got her and he started calling her Toby (I have no idea why) and then she started answering to Toby instead of Kyley...so we had to start calling her Toby. Well now Josh calls her Brown..."Get down, Brown!" is what he says instead of "Go away, Toby!"

The only reason I put that as the title and started talking about this is because right as I was about to start this entry, she got into Gabriel's face and I had to say it three times before she sat down. I thought it made for an interesting title.

But, since I am talking about one of the dogs, I might as well keep going. We have an electric fence around our yard and the shock collars that go with them. Everything has been fine with them since we got them almost two years ago, but here recently Apollo has been running through the fence. He won't stay in it for anything. Which, obviously, means that I have to keep him inside for most of the day so he won't run wild around our house or up into the road and get hit. I love having him inside because he is my handsome man and he is a total mommy's boy, but it is a pain because we have to keep him separate from Leo, our cat...so Leo is stuck in the bathroom all day so Apollo can be in the house.

So while all three dogs were in the house today, we were all sitting on the bed (Apollo, Toby, Roxy, Gabriel, and myself) and I noticed that Apollo's toe nails were getting really really long. I don't know about you, but clipping a dog's nails it a bit of an adventure...so try clipping the nails of a dog that outweighs you by fifty pounds.

Ha! You should have seen me. I broke a sweat just trying to get him to sit still and had to take my jacket off. So I ended up just laying on top of him and bracing his paw down so that I could clip one nail. He would shift and I would shift with him, brace again and get one more nail. So that is how it went to get his nails clipped. He wasn't scared, he just didn't like having to sit still so I could clip his nails...I stopped after I got all of his front nails. I will save my energy and get his back legs another time.

Haha.