[tobysmommy]

When I was out doing some shopping today, I found a stuffed Christmas Snoopy that's baking cookies - complete with a chef's hat that says "HO HO HO". It was a no-brainer to get it for Toby. He has been so good about all the Christmas fuss and commotion, leaving the tree and decorations alone, and waiting patiently for me to finish all the baking, so I decided to give it to him early. He loves it. I don't think it's been out of his mouth since he got it this afternoon. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my little Toblerone? :heartbeat

 

[LaylaBauer1718]

How sweet! He is just gorgeous! Your tree looks beautiful! Merry Christmas!

 

[Pammie]

Of course he got it early! No one has the power to resist the gorgeousness of the Toblerone!!

 

[tobysmommy]

Thank you both. I think he's gorgeous, too - inside and out.

 

[coppers-mom]

How sweet and lovely your boy is! His face just begs for a smooch.:smooch:

There are so many ornaments within his reach and the cute little Snoopy has so many pieces that beg to be destroyed. It must be that your boy is very much better behaved than any of the crtitters at my house.

 

[Karen519]

Toby

Your Toby is a beautiful boy and I love the TOY!!

Tonka and Tucker would have that destroyed in short order.

Your tree is beautiful, too!

Merry Christmas!!

 

[tobysmommy]

There are so many ornaments within his reach and the cute little Snoopy has so many pieces that beg to be destroyed. It must be that your boy is very much better behaved than any of the crtitters at my house.

I'm sure your crew is just as well behaved individually, but there are more of them, so there is a cumulative impact. :

Honestly, though, I'm frequently flabberghasted how well behaved and trustworthy Toby is at barely 17 months of age. He is smart as a whip and quickly accepted my training in terms of his items and mine, the dos and don'ts, but he's never left unsupervised either.

As far as his toys are concerned, I taught him to play differently with different toys: stuffies are for gentle play, bones and antlers are for vigorous chewing. He is generally careful with his stuffies, but if he does start to gnaw at them and tries to destuff them, I take them away.

 

[coppers-mom]

I'm sure your crew is just as well behaved individually, but there are more of them, so there is a cumulative impact. :

Thanks for the sweet thought, but no - they are goons. Some more so than others of course, but just pure goons.

You taught him to play differently with different toys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha ha ha - I can jsut imagine me trying that.::bowrofl:
I bow to your training ability and am certainly in awe. Having such a good boy helps, but I also know you had to put in a lot of time with Toby.

 

[Deber]

Oh Toby is just so beautiful and love his Snoopy Santa. So cute! We need to see more pictures of this wonderful man!

My crew are toy killers, they chew and mangle everything if you don't stand over them! Only special toys survive their abuse. You are a much better teacher than I too.

 

[tobysmommy]

Awww, thank you. But my training ability has nothing to do with it. Time spent, possibly. Toby's intelligence and temperament, everything. I'm so blessed with this pup.

But honestly, the thing with the toys was pretty easy and not that time consuming. I used exactly the same technique I used for hard mouthing when he was a wee pup. I yelped, pulled my hands (or the stuffie) away, turned away, and play stopped for a minute. When I returned my attention (or the stuffie) I said "gently". To this day, when I present Toby with a new stuffed toy, I say "gently" just to reinforce that this toy is for gentle play. Toby learned it quite quickly, but it meant that I played with the stuffies with him at the beginning, so I'd see when he got too rough.

 

[Elisabeth Kazup]

Ah, positive reinforcement!! Toby is so handsome, I can feel how soft his coat is!