It's official...Toby Flash Hartley has been with us for a decade! Toby, Tobias, Tobster, TobyStar, Tobes, T-Lo, Bob Barker, Mr. Poopy Pants. He's a neurotic little fart, but we love him anyway. He has brought us endless entertainment and affection, plus a few other things that I won't mention. We're going to keep this post positive. ;)
Toby has been through a lot with us. We got him just over 2 months after we got married. Of course, I wanted a dog immediately after we returned from the honeymoon. David, being the more cautious one, wanted us to settle down before taking on that responsibility. Well, that all changed when David's dad called us one day in August, 2000. He had been to a flea market in NC and met a lady selling rat terrier puppies. He himself had grown up with rat terriers, and presently had two, and thought it would be a good match for us too. He offered to purchase the dog, and meet us in Atlanta. I wanted to accept the offer right away, but David (again, the cautious one) wanted to talk it over. I think we probably thought about it for 5 minutes after we got off the phone (me never waivering) and called back to take the deal. Here are a few shots from the day we got him. (We had been working in the yard when we got the call so we're looking dandy.)
Cute little guy, huh? Toby has put up with a lot living with us. He's worn countless Halloween costumes. He's been a hot dog, pumpkin, construction worker, lobster, football player and Superman. He's traveled to 6 states with us and once got lost in a hole in our yard while we were building our fence at the old house. (Funny story - David had dug like 20 holes for the posts with our neighbor and had Toby out there with him. Suddenly, he hears Toby yelping but couldn't find him. It finally occurred to him to start looking in the holes. There he was, 24 inches down in a hole.)
Okay, I guess I'll wrap it up. I thought this was going to be a quick post, but once I started thinking of the past 10 years with Toby, there was too much I wanted to say! I've put together a slide show of pics from the last decade. We have TONS of pics of Toby, so I picked a few of my faves. Enjoy.
