Toby? Trained? Hahaha....

I think Toby has (undeservingly) earned himself a bit of a bad reputation.

While talking to my landlord this morning, she excitedly told me that she had run across some dog training videos that she had forgotten about. She said she immediately thought of me and would bring them by this house this afternoon. Really? I mean Toby’s not that bad, right? If you were to randomly come across some form of doggie behavior-modification video, would you immediately think of me? Sheesh. I guess I need to get a handle on the situation.

Oh, yeah. I didn’t tell you why I was talking to my landlord in the first place. (She didn’t actually call me about the videos – that was just a happy coincidence.) I locked myself out of my house this morning. I know. Smart, huh? See, I had my hands full with food that I was bringing to work and stupidly thought my keys were in the mess of other stuff I grabbed off the kitchen counter. Apparently not.

I was a little scatter-brained (more than usual) because I got out of the shower to find my living room covered in little bits of paper towel. Hundreds of tiny white scraps covering the couch and floor. I was dumb enough to leave an entire roll sitting on the coffee table last night. Incidentally, I took them into the living room after Toby ate a bug that he later regurgitated on the rug. So I guess all of this comes back to him. Maybe that reputation is well deserved, after all.

But you know, despite the mess, the dog hair, the damaged shoes, missing books and destroyed cell phones - despite the hassles and headaches, the incessant barking and constant neediness – I don’t know what I’d do without him. I complain about him a lot, but he always keeps things interesting. And he always makes me laugh (Eventually. Some things are only funny later – after the anger wears off.)

So bring on the training videos. I don’t know how successful they’ll be, but we’ll give ‘em a shot. If nothing else, maybe they’ll provide some interesting stories.