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So I was chatting with my mom today, talking about my trip home this summer and the cabin and what not. I mentioned I really wish I could afford to bring Brenner (my dog) with me, as he would love the cabin. The big open field for running, all the smells and messes he could get into down there. He’d be in heaven. Sadly, I cannot afford to bring him with, but luckily Heather and Luke have offered to take care of him while I’m gone, saving me a small fortune in kennel fees. (Thanks Guys)

So anyway, we got started talking about previous dogs we have had and we both agreed that Toby was, by far, the coolest dog we had. But first a little history.

Summer of ’84 we bought a pure bred cocker spaniel. We named her Misty. I remember this cause they were flying her in from Nova Scotia and the plane was late so I talked the folks into going to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Misty was a great dog, basically mom’s shadow. When we saw mom coming down the road, on her way home from work, we’d say, “Where’s Lil?” And with that, Misty was gone crazy. She’d jump on the dining room couch to peer our window and see mom coming down the street. Once that was confirmed, she’d boot it for the the back door anxiously awaiting mom’s arrival. But patience wasn’t best trait, so when the door didn’t open after a few seconds, she was booting it back to the couch for an update on mom’s approach. Then back to the door again. She’d run back and forth like a dozen times until, finally, the object of her affection had at last come through the door. And then she’d never leave her side, unless of course, I would take her away. Mom was cooking, sitting, lying on couch, in the tub … didn’t matter, Misty was lying as close to her as she could get.

Than one day, we find out Misty is pregnant. She had her puppies, one of which was adopted by my cousin (and next door neighbor). They named her Blondie. Eventually Blondie would have puppies, at which time Misty was no longer with us, and so we adopted one of her puppies, and named him Toby. So although his grand mother was a pure bred, Toby was second generation mutt; blond like his mother and grand mother before him, but smaller and skinnier. However, he was, and still is, the smartest dog I’ve ever known. Today we were discussing some of his tricks, and mom said dad always says he wish we had gotten them on camera. Sadly we didn’t, but I thought I’d see if I could recall them all and jot them down. So here goes:

1. Sit
2. Lie Down
3. Stay
4. Roll Over
5. Crawl (A lot of these simple ones were hand signals. This one was making a fist and moving it from right to left. So it didn’t matter what you said, as long as you made the signal. I’d say “crawl”, his two hind legs would go flat out behind him and he’d pull himself along with his front paws. My brother, ever the comedian, liked to change the voice command of this one to “rub your dick on the carpet” lol)
6. Jump Through Hoop (We had lawn darts, which come with the plastic hoops. If you disconnected the ends you could make the loop smaller and smaller by just overlapping the ends and holding overlap in hand. I swear, some sizes of loops we made, I wouldn’t of even thought he could fit through, but he clear it with ease.)
7. Stand (Balance on two hind legs)
8. Grab Biscuit Out of Mouth (This, I believe was dad’s favorite trick. Toby was sit, person would place a biscuit/cracker/cookie in their mouth. When they mumbled “ok”, Toby would jump into the air and precisely snatch the biscuit out of their mouth, even with only the tip of it hanging out. Our little equivalent of putting the head in the lion’s mouth. lol)
9. Catch Biscuit Off of Nose (So one time I was watching American’s Funniest Videos or something of the sort. Three of the Huxtable kids (from the Cosby Show) were on there and two of the older ones (I think Vanessa and Theo) were pulling a prank on Rudy. Rudy thought that all three of them were there with their real dogs, when really the two older kids had been given trained dogs for the gag. The instructor says something like, “here’s a real simple trick any dog should be able to do” and of course the two trained dogs do it, but Rudy’s didn’t. So I tried teaching it to Toby and, of course, he quickly mastered it. Basically, you lay a dog treat on his nose and say “No”. When you say “OK”, he darts his nose to right, treat begins to fall, he darts his nose back to left and catches treat in midair. By the way, if anybody finds an online video of the cosby gag, please send me link)
10. Play Piano (Ok, ok, he was no Billy Joel or anything. But if you said play piano, he’d run to the keyboard and start pounding on the keys)
11. Close Door (When I goto to bed at night I would sometimes forget to close my door. We lived in a beautiful old house, two streets off the ocean front, so some nights it could be a little chilly outside the blankets. Being warm and cozy, I wouldn’t want to get up to close my door. So I taught Toby to jump down and push the door closed for me)
12. Turn Off Lights (During this same time, I never had a bed lamp, as the lights were right over my bed. So after Toby had closed the door for me and jumped back on bed, I’d finish up whatever Archie comic I was reading at the time. When done I’d say turn off the lights Toby. Down he’d jump, then jump up into a chair I left place under light switch, and bat at the light switch until the light went off.)
13. Skateboard (There was a hill at the other end of our street. Toby and I would go skate boarding down it. Sometimes he’d just sit between my feet on the board and ride down with me. But he would also ride solo, by pushing off with his back two feet before jumping on for the ride down. One time a cop stopped me while we were there and called me over. With a stern face and a serious tone she says, “Are you the kid with the skate boarding dog?” I thought I was in trouble, that someone had been watching and called the cops on me. But I’m there with a skate board in one hand and dog in the other, so I mumble “yeah”. To which she responds, “Can you show me?” lol)

Anyway, I think that’s all of them. If anyone recalls Toby and his tricks, and knows of one I missed, please let me know. He was a great dog and is still missed almost two decades later. He died young, like many other legends. The one trick he would never do though, was shake paws. But now I think maybe he was just trying to make a point. Families don’t shake, they hug!!!

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