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Bits and Pieces

A Letter to Mr. Henry

Hello Mr. Henry,

I must tell you that my parents are military strict when it comes to me. Most especially my diet. I get about a cup of Eukanuba Lamb and Rice in the morning then two cups of the same boring thing in the evening. I get treats here and there, but that's about it. Absolutely no human food! Although I can get my momma to bend to my will and she will hand me bits of human food here and there. The best so far has been anything with B-B-Q sauce, arrroooooo! They even told me that when I get fixed (what's that??? I say nothing's broken) that my metaloborism or other will slow down and that I will tend to gain more weight. *shrug* I can always use the cute factor with the momma and she will eventuallyl give in.

About my training, I am fooling them into giving me treats when all it takes are just a few mediocre tricks *yawn* So typical of humans. They are pretty persistent when it comes to me sitting and staying when the front door is open. That's when they use hotdogs, yum!

It's been nice talking to you, Sir...Gotta go. I've got a treat to hide and I know exactly the spot to dig.

Take care and sniff ya later!
Toby
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Hi Toby

Well are you learning to sit and stay when the door is open? I'm trying to learn that as well because my mom and dad are very worried that I might run out as well. I'm pretty fearless when it comes to cars, so they have good reason to worry about me. I'm slowly learning to obey my daddy, but it's hard because I'm not always hungry for treats as a reward. I don't know... sometimes I would just rather sniff the ground than have a treat. Maybe I have OCD or something. If I may ask, I'm curious about how much you're eating. Not to get too personal, but beagle to beagle, my mommy and daddy are totally new to this dog-owning business, and they're kind of stupid. They're feeding me two cups of Iams a day, but sometimes, I gotta tell ya, I could eat the whole bag, and then other times, I just can't be bothered to eat at all! I don't want to be a chubby beagle, so I need to figure out how to tell them how much I need to eat. So how much are you eating to keep your figure trim? Anyway, my daddy needs to take me to work with him now, so I better go find the leash. Have a good day!

Mr. Henry

I'm All Better Now!

I'm back, arroooo! Boy oh boy having worms was such a pain in the...er...you know what. But my vet, such a nice lady - she gave me a raw hide yum! Where was I, oh yeah, I was given a pill to kill the itty bitty things in me. Yuk. It was actually shoved down my throat, but that was fine because I got to have 2 treats and a raw hide yeah. Now I'm on "the pill" which the parental units tried to give to me by hiding it in peanut butter. Silly parents, I wuv peanut butter! So now I want more. But mommy said I only get to have it once a month so...darn. At least now they say I'm back to normal, whatever that is.

Oh, by the way, I got to meet my pup pal Terra. We're somewhat related; distant cousins or other by human parents side. She lives with her mommy and daddy out in a place called Pasadena. At first the parental units thought that I could play with my pal Terra but *sigh* she was kinda rough. I had to spend the rest of my stay in my crate just so I won't get chased down and get bitten around my head and neck. That was pretty scary. I guess you can say I was Terra-rized, hehehe. The parents think that I may be too young to play with her. Oh well...okay gotta go now, arrroooooooo!

Toby's Momma Here...

Toby is temporarily out of commission at the moment. He was taken to the vet yesterday for roundworms and tapeworms. We had found live tapeworms in his stool and his rear end was red and swollen due to the infection. Our vet told us that he may have gotten the parasites from ingesting fleas, usually when they scratch/bite themselves to relieve an itch. I was pretty bummed since we use a topical anti-flea ointment and thought that the ointment would take care of any flea problems. We were told that it would be better if we use it along with a pill like Sentinel. He was given a deworming pill (name of pill to be provided later) and an anal exam. Poor thing howled in protest while being "violated" by the vet. Toby forgot all about the discomfort when he was given treats and a rawhide. It deosn't take much to make him happy or get him distracted.

We pretty much decided that we should just take Toby straight to the vet and bite the bullet ($45.00 examination fee plus other service misc. fee) for all his shots and health issues. We thought that we could save money by getting his shots through inexpensive clinics like Vetco by Petco. We end up spending double since the deworming that Vetco gives out only takes care of roundworms (we were not informed of this) and not other types of parasite. The Little Booger is scheduled for a cursory exam at the vet in two weeks. Hopefully he has rid of all parasites at that time.

I would like to hear of similar problems and alternative solutions by dogster.com members. Please do not hesitate in sharing your stories. Toby should be well enought to join his doggy counterparts soon.

Until then, as Toby would say, ARrroooooooooo!