Toby’s…Better?

Finally, Toby is back to himself again. Well sort of. His leg appears to be completely healed. As does his ear infection. Yay! But, then there’s that cut in the corner of his mouth that keeps reopening...

I have mentioned how much bad luck he has had as of late - haven't I?

Since the last time I posted about Toby, he split open the side of his lip by hooking himself on a cabinet knob in the bathroom. What are the chances? I would have thought zero – until I saw him do it. I actually thought he poked himself in the eye between his horrifying scream and how badly he was blinking when I checked him over to see what had happened. It was Nick’s careful inspection that found the real culprit; the blinking was only the poor guy wincing in pain.

Oh, and he also tore open a skin tag that he’s had on his elbow for years and bled all over the place. Don’t know how he did that either. He was lying on his mat, chewing a bone, while Nick and I drank our coffee not two feet away. Suddenly, I look down, and his mat is covered in blood. Meadow had been lying there a moment earlier, and I thought she had gotten hurt. But no, Toby's skin tag had spontaneously opened all by itself. Either that, or Meadow pulled it open, but I highly doubt it. We were, again, right there. Luckily, it has not reopened since, and is merely something else for me to watch and worry over.

Wait. There’s more.

Last week, Toby was unable to hold any food or water down for an entire day - also for no apparent reason. This resulted in me fasting him for 24 hours, after which he was fine.

A fast is no fun for any dog.

For a Labrador, it’s the equivalent of a tax audit.

But we both survived, and other than the aforementioned pesky cut (which he keeps reopening on his yard toys), Toby appears healthy and most importantly – happy – especially because he is allowed to now eat and play. On Wednesday, he is tentatively resuming his Rally classes, and I’ve missed working with him so much I really can’t wait – despite knowing that he will most likely appear as if he had never received a day of training in his life. You know what?

I wouldn’t have it any other way.