What the Christmas ...?

Woof-oh (or should that be woof-ho ho ho?). Sorry I haven't posted for a while - I was getting over the shock of the back of our house being vandalised! Well what else would you call it when a human attaches strings with hundreds (maybe thousands?) of lights to the house for no apparent reason? But wait, it gets even worse - as soon as it begins to get dark each evening, the humans turn on said lights, which fills my eyes with a cacophony of blinking, flashing, strobing lights!!! I'm horrified. I just hope none of the other dogs who live in the Valley realise that it's my house that is making such a show of itself each night.
(Extra info: I noticed last night that some of the other houses across the valley are getting similar lights on their rooves too - maybe it's a trend? Good to know that it's not just my humans that are going mental ... )
I'm not quite sure what all this Christmas fuss is about - stay posted and I'll let you know if I approve.

Now in important news, this week Craig took me to get another haircut. As you can see, I'm looking fine ...
This haircut was from a lady based in Moonee Ponds who has had lots of practice of doing Airedale haircuts - now I look like one of those flashy show dogs!  The shop was a long way from home - and Craig had to drive me there in peak hour traffic. I don't think he enjoyed the peak hour driving, but I'm not sure because I was so busy looking out the windows as we drove along, checking out whether people were noticing me and how cute I am.

The lady in the shop was good at haircuts, but not so good at diplomacy - she told Craig that I was overweight - can you imagine that?

So now I'm all set for a long hot summer - nice short coat to beat the heat. The day after my haircut was the coldest December day recorded in Victoria in about a billion years - there was even snow on the mountains a bit north of us I heard! I think Craig needs to work on his timing.

I'm please to report that I don't look like I am wearing cowboy pants after this haircut. I'm sure you'll agree - I do look super cute now.

Danger!

Oh my goodness! Watch out! Dangerous teapot alert.

Jude bought a fancy new teapot. I think it is haunted, so I'm keeping a careful eye on it. I bark at it sometimes too - just so it knows who is boss.

You look at the teapot and see what you think.

Woofs,
Toby (eeeks!)

Late breaking news ... I'm in big trouble with Jude. She caught me chewing her shoe (so I can't blame the racoon - not that I ever would)! If you look at the picture you'll see a big chunk chewed out of the inner sole.  I couldn't help it - those shoes smelled soooo good - and no-one was paying me any attention. Jude had left them in my dog cave (aka under the dining room table) so what else could she expect?

New skill to add to my resume

Woof-oh - how are you?

I've had an interesting week - and learned that I'm an amazing furniture assembler! We visited Gran and Pa in Ballarat last weekend, and helped them assemble some new furniture (four bookcases) they had bought from Ikea. I took charge immediately - see me here reading the instructions.

I don't get to Ballarat very often, so I really had to go outside and checkout the yard - in detail - and gather information about flowers, possums, rocks, leaves etc. Really important dog business.

When I came back inside I found that Lloyd and Jude had finished the assembly of all 4 units - just lucky I explained all the details and what they should do before I went outside.

Then I felt that someone needed to supervise the moving of the bookcases into the room where they were to live permanently. I ran right in front of who ever was carrying the front of each cabinet (especially if they were walking backwards) so that I could tell them of anything in the way. Sometimes humans don't appreciate my help - they suggested that I was getting in the way and that I should take myself elsewhere. Very rude of them I thought!

Fortunately I do have a bit of good news though ... Rudi Reindeer is out of intensive care. Another successful operation conducted by Dr Jude.
Rudi was one of Uncle Ted's toy - a Christmas gift from Aunty De. Uncle Ted passed all his toys along to me when I joined the family, which was very kind of him. I think Uncle Ted must have been very gentle because his toys were in very good conditioned (they were bored I expect). Anyway, the toys have a much more exciting life now. 
Rudi lost his antler when he was on an adventure walk and he fell down a crevasse, his antler becoming trapped between rocks. I had to chew off the antler to save his life - otherwise I would never have done it.

That's all from me for today - I must go and start working on my Christmas list.
Woofs, Tobes

Thanks for all the toys and RIP Uncle Ted.

Teddy (2004 - 2012)

Crazy moment

Woofs - having a crazy moment, running around the house really fast. Can't stop now to chat - sorry. T

Daily adventures

Planning today's adventure.

Woof-oh and greetings!

Every day I go out for an adventure. I take a human with me each time - Craig (on week days) or Jude (on weekends) - I feel sorry for them not getting out and getting their noses to the ground much because surely that's life's greatest joy? I get the humans to  put a head-collar and lead onto me and I tell them to hold onto the other end, so that they don't get distracted and wander off and get lost. I always make sure to get them home safe and sound. Here I am planning where we'll go this morning.


We live in the country, so when I take my human for an adventure anything could happen. We could

Look at this excellent stick I found

• see a mother duck and her ducklings out for a walk (yes, SERIOUSLY - although I haven't seen any evidence of them going over the hills and far away),
• find a new wombat burrow in the dam wall - the humans are too big to get into these and they are a bit sooky about walking though the dense bush to inspect closely, so disappointingly I don't really get to explore the tunnels like I want to,
• see a herd of kangaroos - I'd like to chase them, but again, the humans can't run that fast so I don't,
• find a fascinating piece of wood or a golf ball, or



Found a fascinating scent

• find an amazing scent that really should be followed.

Today all of the above happened. Jude was with me and kindly agreed to capture a few photos for the blog while she walked. This is almost as tricky as walking and chewing gum at the same time apparently, based on the wonky look of the photos. Honestly, it's hard to get good humans these days!. 

What now? Another photo? Come on ...

My tribe

Woofs, and hello

Did you know that I have my own little tribe of followers? Well I do. Jude and Craig get them for me to play with ... I like to spend a lot of time with my tribe.

In the picture on the right you'll see me with two of my favourites - Mr Banana Man (he has featured in several of my previous posts including 'It's a Mystery' and 'Puppy School' - regular readers will be pleased to see that he has recovered well after his encounter with the racoon) and Flat Cow (he's a new addition to the tribe, joining the family during our recent visit to the Victoria Markets). Flat Cow is almost the same colour as me, so you might have a little difficulty seeing him - here's a hint, I'm holding him in my mouth in the top photo.  We play a lot - and the tribe really like me to wrestle with them, squeeze them hard (so that they squeak) and run as fast as I can up and down the passage with them in my mouth. I like to undo their rope hair / tails / legs, because I like to experiment with style.

Sometimes the tribe members need a rest. Craig says "Give it a rest Toby!". Jude picks them up and puts them on the table because she says "...if you keep that up those toys will be completely wrecked .." Sometimes humans just don't understand how to have fun!

On his second day in my tribe Flat Cow must have become disoriented and accidentally wandered down the stairs ... I'm sure he wasn't trying to run away from home. He'd certainly have no reason to.  I found him here on the steps (see picture 3), and I picked him up and took him back upstairs.

This morning I was sitting beside Jude at the dining table when she was reading the newspaper (how boring) and I was squeaking Flat Cow, repeatedly. Jude decided that I must have too much energy, so she took me outside to the common and threw my new red kong down the hill. I ran after it at the speed of light and brought it back to her (smart huh?). We kept playing that game for about 15 minutes - until I was so tired that I was walking back up the hill with the kong. I'll have to reflect on what this all means, and how I can use this to my advantage. ... zzz .... so sleepy now ... zzz.
I'll get back to you later. Tobes ....

New Garden Guru

Woofs! I was watching a re-run of Domestic Blitz recently and saw a fellow called Don Burke, who the presenter introduced as a 'garden guru'. Now I love my gardening so I watched his segment closely - and I can tell you Don's gardening skills aren't a patch on mine. Check out what I've been up to recently ...

Hello, and welcome to Toby's Backyard. 

Although I am only young (8 months) I have considerable expertise in caring for gardens. My specialty is back yards - mainly because I can't get into the front yard. What's truly impressive is that I'm entirely self taught! As you browse through some of my favourite photos (below) you'll be astounded at what one young Airedale can achieve unaided and without formal training.


Recently I have been concentrating on my favourite section of the garden. This was originally a formal path between a Buxis hedge and a line of pencil pines. Pavers, carefully spaced at human stepping distance, were interspersed with twin clumps of mondo grass: this modelled on historic formal Tuscan gardens.

... found no evidence that historic formal Tuscan gardens ever existed, so I applied a reality check ...

After significant research I found no evidence that historic formal Tuscan gardens ever existed, so I thought I had better apply a reality check. Even though it took a lot of time and effort, I have now removed each of the mondo grass plants. I'm having a little more trouble with the pavers though - it's quite difficult to move these because I don't have hands.

You'll see in this image that I have carefully inspected the Mondo grass and laid it out neatly for inspection by Craig and Jude when they come down to sit in the garden.

You'll also note that I have gone to agreat deal of trouble to back-fill the holes in which the Mondo grass was previously planted.

... I take a great deal of pride in my garden ... 

I take great pride in my entire garden - I don't just focus on one section of the back yard . I'm also quite partial to the Acacia Cognata. It's overhanging canopy gives me a great hiding place - I often lie under it's branches waiting for a Magpie to land in the backyard. As soon as one lands I'll silently leap out from under the bush and chase it away.

The photo on the left shows me sitting beside my favourite Acacia Cognata. This bush is also very handy for the secure storage of some of my most precious belongings (an old Pepsi Max bottle, a bedraggled toy that has 'migrated' to the backyard etc). It's ver secure - trust me - you'll never see Craig or Jude crawling under my Acacia Cognata bush! I've been here for 6 months now, and they have never shown the slightest interest in crawling under and waiting for the magpie with me - the pikers!


Here's where I've been trimming some of the lower branches, so I can make a speedy magpie-chasing exit. I think you can see where I'm headed artistically huh?

... I have some of my toys stored in the garden ...

I have some of my other toys stored in the garden too, in case I need to have a quick play. The toys make a very satisfying noise when I drop them down the stairs (inside) and they bang into the downstairs toilet door. Somehow I never seem to have enough toys to play with upstairs. By the way, the blue spiky looking ball is made by a company that makes toys for lions - it's tough and heavy (quite hard to carry back up stairs).

I am also keen on flowers. These are some Pansies and Paper flowers that Jude planted. She's had them for a long time (even back when they lived in Geelong) and she really likes them a lot. I do the best I can to keep an eye on them. It's strange how a bald patch has opened up in the pot there - I might need to ring Don Burke to find out what has caused that!

... I like to keep the Yukka plant trimmed up ...

I also like to keep the Yukka plant trimmed up - but it's a bit high for me. You can see how hard I have to stretch to keep in well shaped (I'm standing on my tip-toes - it's a pity that my photographer didn't capture that!).



Finally, I just want to say that I had nothing to do with this pot being smashed! It is tall and thin, and it blew over in the wind. You can trust me can't you?
(Editor's note: Funny how that pot never blew over in the two years we lived here before Toby joined our family.)

Was that haircut a mistake?

Jude has just been downloading photos from her camera - I think I look super cute ... maybe getting that first haircut was a mistake?

Big boy haircut

I got my first big boy Airedale haircut this week. Check out how cute I'm looking.

Woofs, Toby

It's a mystery!

Woofs! Hope everything is good with you. Everything is grrrreat with me. I've been doing a lot of growing lately - I'm officially a big dog now (27kg).

Something mysterious happened the other day when Craig and Jude had gone to the shops without me - I was home alone. I was sleeping on my pillow and when I woke up I found to my horror that someone had attacked my favourite toy, Mr Banana Man. His guts were spread all over the floor! The worst thing of all was that his squeaker had come out and somehow been flung under the couch. Now that I'm a big dog I can't fit under the couch any more ...

I was horrified! I think it might have been a racoon (like on Modern Family) that snuck into the house and attacked Mr Banana Man. I'm sure he (MBM) put up a great fight, but by the time I noticed what had happened it was too late - Mr Banana Man was slipping away. I couldn't do anything to help because I haven't got hands!

As soon as Craig and Jude got home I showed them what had happened. Fortunately Jude has medical training (she's accredited with the Google School of Medicine) - she rushed Mr Banana Man into intensive care. Then she came back and collected his guts and the squeaker  - I tried to 'HELP'. Dr Jude found her surgical equipment (very similar to a regular sewing needle and thread) and performed an amazing procedure, a reverse squeakerectomy and some plastic surgery. You might just be able to see the stitches in the photo above. 

After he got out of surgery, MBM had to take some bed rest. As you can see, he was doing it tough. 

Anyway, Mr Banana Man is fully recovered now. I was playing with him just now and can assure you that he is squeaking and playing as well as ever. What a lucky escape!  From now on I'll be on the alert for that pesky racoon - I will be sleeping with one eye open from now on. 

Jude says it is strange that the racoon only comes and causes trouble when they are not home, but I know that this is because he's verrrry sneaky. 

I want to go to Cavalia ...

The humans went off to Cavalia yesterday. I stayed with Aunty Shirly - so that was good fun, but not as much fun as watching the performing horses. I reckon I could have shown them a thing or two!

Why couldn't I go to Cavalia too?

This beautiful horse is called Neo. He was having a little sleep.

This handsome follow is a Percheron - look how big his feet are! 

This horse (Pancho) was Craig's favourite. He gallops really fast and helps his rider do amazing tricks (or so I've heard). 

Not a baby anymore

Woofs!

Things are going well at the moment. I've been growing A LOT! I weigh about 20 kilograms now - no-one here can be sure exactly how much I weigh because they aren't strong enough to pick me up any more. I can't fit into my baby bed any more - thought I do try sometimes. Check out the picture here and you'll see me bulging over the edges ... just lucky I've got a big dog bed as well I guess. Compare how big I am now to how small I was back in April [post: Cute pose #2].


I've been trying to learn about technology. I often try to type my own blog - by pressing the keys on Jude's laptop as she types. She says I have made up some very interesting new words. I might send them to Macquarie Dictionary and see if they'd like to list them - raise awareness of how smart dogs are. Anyway, I've had a few problems because my paws are a bit too big and it's hard to press only one key at a time. Next I tried taking a selfy with Jude's iPhone. I think it turned out really well - what do you think?

I've been for a walk this morning - it was only 3 degrees so I had to jump around quite a lot to keep warm. In the process I bit a big chunk of wood that I found by the roadside. I bit it hard, so hard in fact that I almost knocked out one of my (few remaining) baby teeth and my tongue was covered with blood. It hurt a lot and I was a bit sooky for a while. I'm over it now though. 

Craig's away ...

What a week! Craig went up to Brisbane to visit his family because his father was unwell. That left me home alone with Jude ... fortunately Aunty Shirley looked after me each day, so I didn't have to stay home alone. I could have had sooo much fun exploring the house unsupervised (I've always wondered what those electric cables tasted like). Aunty Shirley has been teaching me lots of new tricks and good manners too. She says I'm a clever puppy - but she's cleverer. I just hope she doesn't teach all these training tactics to Craig and Jude!

On the Friday I went to work with Jude, and met lots of her friends. Aunty Lena took me for a big long walk - which was great - and Uncle Matt looked after me too. I got lots of pats and lots of people said "oh, isn't he cute". For the record, yes, I am cute.

Jude brought my bed to work - I sat in it for a while, but really preferred getting under desks and tables and chairs and things.

It was a great day - but very tiring. Check out my photos below ...

Visitors!

We had visitors this weekend - Jude's niece and nephew, Cate and Nick. It was lots of fun - I think it would have been better if I'd been allowed to play my favourite biting games with them, but Craig and Jude said 'No'.

We played lots of fetch the ball which is another of my favourite games. Nick can throw my ball hard and fast, which is fun because then I get to run fast. Cate throws the ball in interesting directions with ricochets, and that's fun because then I have to make fast turns and be alert.

Cate and Nick helped me to practice lots of my tricks, especially:

• doing sits and stays
• shaking hands
• doing downs
• lots of hop downs (when I have to get my paws off the table / bench / person and stand on all fours on the ground)
• and sadly, lots of no bites.

It was a long and intense time - which I found quite exhausting. I was a bit sad that Nick and Cate didn't take me to the cinema with them on Saturday afternoon which sounded like a lot of fun - but I was a bit too tired.

Woofs,

Toby

Guess who's a clever boy?

I graduated from puppy school on Thursday! Yay!
Think I'll start looking into Woof-iversity next.

I'll miss my class mates - especially Tia and Darcy.

Woofs,
Toby

On a DIET!

Bit of a tactical mistake - mentioning that I was approaching 14 kgs! Jude has decided that I'm getting a bit podgy. Now when I ask her for a snack she gives me a carrot ... what the?

As you can see, I eat carrots, grudgingly. See what starvation has driven me to.

I think I'm too young to diet - what do you think?

Grrr, Toby.