Poor Toaster

Tovi is really such a great dog. He is awesome.

Tovi relaxing after he got shaved.

He....

• Loves to play with the neighborhood kids, but does not like when they pull his tail. When they do pull his tail, he whips his head around to look at them and give them a Tovi stink eye. Seriously, it cracks me up.
• He is a leaping lizard! He will jump from sofa to sofa just so he doesn't have to get off and touch the ground. And if there is a box in his way.... no problem! He thinks, 'no need to go around it when I can just jump over it.' Problem solved!
• In the morning, he always makes sure to give Steve a kiss before he goes to work. (I think he picked that up from me - ha!)
• Every time we return home, he is SO happy to see us. When I say SO happy, I don't mean the happy where he just wags his tail and then goes back to what he was doing. This boy wiggles so hard it is hard for him to stay still, then you can see that his heart is just exploding with excitement which sometimes leads to a few jumping jacks. Then sometimes he even gives a little whimper/howl to let us know he just feels over the top that we are home. (Some might feel that is just too much to handle when walking in the door.... but please tell me the last time you were greeted by someone who was THAT happy to see you. BONUS: it happens every time!)
• I'm bias... but he IS the cutest dog ever.
• His sleep positions are too funny. One leg relax out to the side like a frog.... another shooting straight up into the sky.... and the others pressed straight out. Comfy! ;)
• If there is water, he is in it. He LOVES to swim. When we head down to the river, he is the first one in. We barley make it out the car door and he is already booking it for the water.
• He stays in our yard and listens really well. We don't even need to put a leash on him. He prefers to be naked 24-7.

But.... Tovi does have a few things he needs to work on.

• Going bananas over the UPS and FedEx truck. We have NO idea why he barks at them, but he does.
• Jumps up on others when he gets too excited. Shame on us, but we are working on it.
• And his latest craze.... gnawing on your arm. HA. Ok, not funny. But our neighbor let him do it once, and now it's a thing of endearment. However, it's not so enduring when he goes up to random people and wants to suck on their arm. Hmm....

Ok so the whole reason for this post was because my poor Tovi is the sweetest, but yet seems to be an underdog in the 'pound life'. Every time we take a walk and another dog comes up to us, he will just lay down and submit....e-v-e-r-y  T-I-M-E. It's cute... but NOT good. It's good when other dogs just come to sniff him and then he gets up and starts playing... but it's BAD when other dogs just come to attack.

A few weeks ago he got attacked by 2 German Shepard's and got bit on his neck really bad. We shaved the area and cleaned up the wound, waited a few days and then took him into the vet when it wasn't healing. Turned out, we did everything correct and that was that. So wahoo for us as doggie parents, but so sad for Tovi.  (See healed bite marks below... looks like he got bit by a vampire! ha-ha)

After the attack, when we would go for a walk, each time a dog would approach us (leashed or not leashed) Tovi would be soooo scared. He finally got comfortable again, and then out of nowhere, a German Shepard (diff. one from before) came out and started to attack Tovi! I tried to intervene and then I just started screaming at the owner to get his dog, because he didn't even notice what was going on, but then the dog just ran away. Tovi was not hurt, but it was scary, for the both of us.

Now... I'm a HUGE dog lover. However, I am now apprehensive around German Shepard's. Ugh... I really dislike it, but I just get so nervous.

Anyways.... so last night Steve and I were walking Tovi and guess what happened?!? Tovi got attacked... AGAIN!  (by a boxer this time)

My poor pup. Does he have a sign on him that says 'kick me'?
I honestly feel like my dog is in Jr. High and is getting beat up on the playground every day and there is nothing I can do about it.

Well nothing came about the attack. It was more of the dogs being territorial, but that was all. Well... and I got a nail puncher wound on my foot and my big toe nail got bent back and was gushing blood. But that didn't hurt until the middle of the night. Well.... and then this morning, we saw a scab under tovi's neck so he actually got bite this time as well. Seriously... tov is the sweetest puppy and loves life, and these bigger dogs just love to pounce on him. 

All in all, he has not be phased by the trauma UNLESS we go walking (which he loves to do every day).  So we will work on that, and pray these are the LAST of the attacks that we both will have to deal with.

xox m.