extreme makeover: doghouse edition

Toby needed a new dog house. We don't have a covered porch, or any trees, so Toby's only shelter is his dog house. The one we had originally purchased did NOT keep the rain out. Toby was usually dry, but his "bedding" got wet every time it rained. I finally BEGGED Baron to let us buy a new one, even though all of the ones we found that would fit our needs were expensive. We finally decided on one that was perfect. Well...almost perfect. It was this hideous bright gold-yellow. They called it "Tuscan" style to make it sound good. I couldn't leave it that color, because our house is on a hill, and Toby's doghouse sits on the deck, so all of the neighborhood can see our deck...you get the picture. So, we decided to paint it...to match our house. Yep, we're dorks. {Actually, we really did that because we just happened to have the paint left over from when our house was painted when it was built.} So, Toby's dog house got a makeover! Dogs all over the neighborhood are envious.

Before:

After:

sunshine & hot air balloons

This weekend I decided to enjoy the perfect weather and lay out. Toby enjoyed it too!

And today on my way home from work, I saw this hot air balloon at a State Farm office on Taylor Road. Desperate for customers??

winter wonderland!

This is what we woke up to this morning!

{please excuse my sleepy eyes & absence of makeup...I just woke up}

{Toby enjoyed the snow!}

Toby's heritage?

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free at last!

We finally got our fence built, and Toby is ecstatic! Ok so I don't think he really knows the difference. Maybe I am ecstatic. :-) Here are some pics of him enjoying his newfound freedom:

Toby admiring the fence

If you're wondering if Toby can fit through that gap under the fence, the answer is YES. But we've had that problem fixed since the "great escape". :-)

where's my napkin?

Does anyone reading this think that it will be a problem that Toby ate a napkin tonight? It was soaked in vienna sausage juice, so I guess he thought it would taste good. I am interested to see how this comes out. {So to speak :-)}

milestone in the goins household...

People who have children post about milestones in their kids' lives: first word, first steps, first tooth, etc. Well, we don't have kids yet, so I will post about a HUGE milestone in my dog's life. Are y'all ready for this?

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TOBY POOPED IN OUR YARD!!!!!

I know, I know. This does not sound like a huge accomplishment. You're probably thinking, "Yeah, so? My dog poops in the yard all the time. Big woop." {Yes, I just said "big woop", and no, it's not 1995.} Well, y'all don't understand the quirkiness that is Toby. We got him from the shelter back in July, and he has not ONCE pooped in the yard. Since we got him, he has only pooped when we walk him. Or in the house, which is obviously not preferred. He knows not to poop in the house, but if we don't have time to walk him when he needs to poop, he goes in the house. (Side note: we don't have a fenced yard, so we have to take him out on a leash.) One time I even stayed with him in the backyard for like 4 hours just to try to get him to poop & got NOTHING. So anyway, back to tonight's event. I finally got him to poop in the yard, and y'all have NO idea how excited I was! I lavishly praised him for a good 5 minutes. We ran around the yard & celebrated. I hope this is the beginning of a lifelong habit of pooping in the yard instead of waiting until the walk down the street. TO TOBY! WHO FINALLY POOPED IN THE YARD!!

frogs, beware.

The other day, I decided that I would start getting up early each morning to walk Toby. This decision is two-fold: 1) Toby has a lot of pent-up energy, and we have to keep him in a crate while we're at work so he needs more exercise [side note: we tried penning him in the kitchen with baby gates, and the Mighty Dog jumped over the baby gate & pooped/peed all over the guest room while we were gone. Oh well - we tried.] 2) I need more exercise, and I am always too tired to do it when I get home from work. So, this morning I set out at about 5:50 to walk Toby. Since most of you have not spent much time with Toby, I should explain that he is a very curious dog. He is very interested in everything that is going on around him. So whenever we go for a walk, if there is ANYTHING in his line of sight, he has to check it out. A piece of trash, that fried chicken leg that was weirdly placed in our street for like a week, and yes, frogs. He is really funny when he encounters a frog, because he doesn't realize that it can jump. Usually, the frog is sitting there, Toby walks up & sniffs it, the frog jumps, and Toby is startled and yet continues to investigate. With most obstacles, I encourage Toby to keep walking because his little "investigations" could potentially add about 45 minutes to our walk if I don't pull him along. However, when he wants to sniff a frog, I let him, because it is really funny to see him so surprised that this little thing just jumped in response to his sniffing. Well, this morning on our way out to walk, there was a frog on our driveway. So, he walked up to the frog & sniffed it. I think this particular frog was trying to outsmart Toby, because he just sat there. I guess he thought he was playing dead. Anyway, so Toby sniffed the frog again, and the frog just sat there in bewilderment. So, Toby hiked his leg & peed on the frog. That's right, my dog peed on a frog. I guess he was marking his territory just in case any other dogs came along to claim the frog?? Who knows.

seriously...

...Vote for Toby. You have till Friday at 5:00. You know you want to vote for this precious face...

vote for Toby!!

If you’re at Eastdale Mall any time this week or next week, please stop by the Montgomery Humane Society’s pet photo contest & cast a vote (or two, or three…) for our dog, Toby! It’s just $1 to vote, & you can vote as many times as you want. The winners will be featured in the Humane Society’s calendar next year. Be sure to vote for #107 because there is more than one “Toby” in the contest (the photo has our name underneath it also).

Vote for Toby!!