Merry Christmas!

My Auntie Jen (she's my bestie Koda's mom) posted a picture of us and her Christmas tree on Facebook. My mom copied it for me to use to send all my fans a Christmas wish for cozy times with family and lots of good food and long walks, and hooray that not many of the humans have to go to work.
My mom gave me a huge walk, even though it rained and rained. I got to sneak up on a bunch of wood ducks. I didn't even bark and they all rose as one and flew away from me onto Summer Lake where I couldn't get them.

Mom says I'm a dog, so this is what Christmas means to me. But, she says that for the humans it's a much bigger thing. See, the humans are made in God's image, but they messed up long ago. God sent Jesus so that He could bear the punishment for all that messing up (sins) that is so hurtful to God. So Christmas is for them to celebrate that their sins are forgiven when they believe that Jesus is their Savior, and they can be with Him forever when they die.

Us animals just get to enjoy the holiday. I'm glad so many humans are happy today.

Love,

Toko

Snow Day!

I woke up. I went out. Oh!

 Is it manna for puppies? I like it. It feels good on my sore teeth.

 Sniffin' is different.

 Mom likes this one because she says it shows off my ears.

 Mom says I'm in a nice free stack. She says Grandma Kim will know what that means.

 Snow on ma noze.

 So many tracks. All mine. Well, some are Mom's.

 Portrait of a fine young dog. (I let Mom write that.)

Other news:
Sunday was puppy romp. Here's me and Lily gettin' it on! She really knows how to play good. I love my sis. Mom says I had no trouble getting along this time. I don't think I remember having any trouble. Humans are funny about troubles.

Monday was Intermediate training with trainer Marj at Tualatin PetSmart. Kinda hard, compared to trainer Sara's beginner class. I have to learn to heel. Really heel. Well, it does pay pretty well in treats, so I guess I'll do it. There were new dogs. I liked trainer Sara's dog Liam best. He's big, like Marley at the beginner class.

Tonight I got to play with my neighbor Bones off lead! He finally got playful. Yay! Could have played all night but Mom and Bones' human, Mark, got cold. Well, yeah, all they did was stand around. . . .
Oh, and this afternoon I took a long walk with an older lady dog named Rose. She reminded me of a slow old sheep and I put a few herding moves on her.
Mom says I'm doing great with socialization. More human stuff. Whatever.

Happy Tails n Treats from

Toko

Toko is Four Months Old

I woke up. Mommy said I was four months old today.

 

I thought I would have a nice chew in my 'torpedo' position.

I went out.

I smelled some stuff,

And I ran around.

 Then I went to puppy class.  The other dog in the picture is my friend, Marley. He's big.

Trainer Sara gave out treats. I was polite.

Oh, and we stopped at the Banfield Pet scale. I weigh 20.8 pounds.

When we got home I played with my toys. This is Squeek. Squeek is a squeak toy.

This is my pink sock.

Mommy says I look like an otter.

Then everyone had a nap on the couch. Mommy, me and Annicat.

 Annie tried to wake me up.

And I woke up, a little.

But we all went back to sleep, even Mommy, so no more pictures.

Well, we did finally wake up and it was dark. Mommy played fetch with me and I watched some of Buddy the Elf and fell asleep again and Mommy put me in my crate for the night. 

Nice birthday. Isn't it cool that I get one once a month?

Happy tails everyone (I'm so glad I have one!) from Toko

Toko and Annicat! Together at Last!

A Tale of Ears

We don't know why there was such a drought of blog posts. Maybe Toko was embarrassed about his ears. On sunny Tuesday, November 6, here he is with puppy ears.

 At twelve weeks old on November 7 I woke up to find a puppy who looked like he was about to take off in search of the flying nun. I was very excited and thought those ears would be straight up within days.

But shucks, folks, her he is, two weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, still with 'flying nun' ears.

The next day we went to Grandma Kim's. She put tape on my ears. Ugh. (Really, it wasn't that bad.)

But! It worked! After wearing that silly head-dress for just three days mommy ripped it all off of me (yeah, I yipped a lot, but it it came off fast!) and WOW! Real Corgi ears!

It's been a week and they are still up. (We thought they might melt or something).

Other Toko news:
Puppy training classes started -
Only there were no other puppies, so we went to big dog beginner training.
There is a wonderful older rescue lab/newfoundland mix named Marley who is a big teddy bear.
And there is a hyper Brittany Spaniel named Jett who is learning to be less hyper.

Puppy Romp -
We went to the first one of these on Sunday. Oodles of puppies, including sister Lily. Lily is quite the alpha pup. Toko ended up in a group for quiet pups while Lily ran around herding everything she could find with four legs. Next week Lily will be on a road trip with her parents and Toko can try puppy romp on his own. He really isn't a quiet puppy, but he was intimidated by his sister and all the riotous pups. The quiet pups just sniffed one another. Even that was good for Toko, since he didn't bark at any of them. It was a very peaceful puppy gathering, not much of a romp.

Toko, the Very Social Animal, Takes Over the Blog

Lunch at the office.                   How good am I?

This was Thursday, November 1. I have just turned 11 weeks old.

Friday, Nov 2, mom took me to see grandma Kim, back at the place where I was born. I got to see my sister Chickadee. We had so much fun playing. I wish I could have stayed all day. Mom's camera isn't any good at taking pictures of puppies playing. Mom says Grandma Kim gave me a shot, but I didn't notice.

Me and Chickadee having a fabulous romp. Yeah. It really is me and Chickadee. Remember what I said about mom's camera.

Saturday I got to spend a long time at Auntie Jen's with Auntie Amanda visiting with Calais who is a human girl age 2 & 1/2, and Sonja who is a human baby. And Koda!! Who is a dog! This visit he loosened up and played with me. We got to play and sleep and play and eat and sleep and go out and play and sleep . . . The humans watched football on the tv. Not much fun for us dogs. Live football was fun last week, but that's over now. No one took any pictures.

Sunday was very busy. Mom brought me into church between services. I met a ton of people and lots of great kids. Then we visited Martha and JR. They are neighbors. JR is 9. He played laser chase with me. I know, it's a cat game, but I thought it was fun. Then we went in the car again, and I had to stay in the crate until Auntie Jen said to mom, 'Bring your dog in!" It was a human party - a baby shower. Lots of lovely people, and crumbs to eat. And Koda was there. I got a really fun cardboard box to play with. I didn't get to eat much of it though. Mom saw to that.

Today was Monday. The sun came out, so mom did a foto shoot with me in the yard.

 I used to think this yard was pretty big, but it's shrinking. Or I am growing. Or something.

Here I am, just being me.

Mom says this is my pedestal. Whatever.

I like sitting on it.

Now I'm happy, sleeping on mom's feet, after eating a huge dinner. Amazing, isn't it, how I can sleep and write at the same time. Mom wishes she could do that.

Happy Tails,

Toko

Tell the Stories While They're Hot, (and While the Dog Sleeps)

Today he asked to go out!
He stood in front of the door and barked. A nice sedate woof.
First I thought the cat was coming up the stairs, as the head of the stairs down to the bedrooms where she likes to go is at the same place the door to outside is.
First I ignored the bark - or said something about the cat not being available just now, but then I saw him start his sniffing routine. Ooooh! I get it! (Brilliant dog!) and out we hustled.

Then, as we started this quiet time, (he is asleep on my feet) he decided I must be protected from birds. So he barked a time or two at the crows and bluejays that were flying around. Then he lay in front of the glass doors, carefully watching. Then he decided all was well and came over to my feet to sleep.

Oh, and on our 'pack walk' around the condo campus he insisted we stop at the mailboxes so I could get my mail. I didn't want to - I'm not all that interested in the mail, but I had been doing it just to put variety in the pack walk. Now he thinks it's a 'must do', and I dutifully opened the box, looked at the stupid mail, put it back in the box and got on with our walk.

What a dog!

Toko Goes to a (n American) Football Game

It was wet. It wasn't too cold,

 but the crowd was wild and noisy

 - for an 8th grade football game!

Toko, well socialized little guy that he is (Thanks, Kim, for playing all those noise CD's!) had a great time. Everyone he met loved him and he loved everyone back!. Special treat - there were children there. He is a fine ambassador for dogs, puppies and Cardigan Welsh Corgis!
He did very well with potty in the grassy place behind the concession hut., but as we returned to the stands we were busted. No dogs allowed. I said, "but he's only a baby", and they let us stay, just this once, considering that it was the last game of the year
So Toko's saw his first and last football game from the stands. Next year - relegated to the sidelines.

So Many Stories, So Little Time

How could 8 days fly by so fast?

About on Monday he really loosened up. He began to fly around our grassy space (the size of an average yard, but condo common area) "herding leaves" Since then I have learned to be a sheep. He can herd me all he wants in this game, except he is not allowed to make contact with teeth on pant legs, or ankles. This helps with wearing him out, and when he starts running round and round in the house I take him out for "crazy dog run around". Obviously no pictures of this. Good exercise for me too.

On Tuesday I took him to my office. Technically I was on vacation, but I thought I would bring him in to meet some people and get used to the place. He enjoyed finding new toys

 and ended up asleep on my feet while I got several hours of work done!

Other remarks -
Potty.
By the fourth day totally gotten 'potty'. All it took (and still takes) is getting him out every half hour when he's awake. Books said every hour & 1/2. Not. Once, when I was late with 'reading his signs' (sniffing, whining) he marched into the kitchen and barked at me. Oh my, there was a puddle. I felt so bad forcing him to do that. 'Course he could have barked before he wet, but I thought it was pretty sharp of him to bark at me. I whisked him outside where he had more in him to 'empty'. His only 'misses' are when I forget . .

Cat.
Cat and dog are able to stay peacefully in the same room. This is mostly the cat's choice, but reflects on Toko that he doesn't bark at her or rush at her.

Training.
Trots along nicely at the invitation "lets go", both on and off leash.  Sometimes he stops and won't go. Finally I figured out that usually he is scared when this happens, so I go to him and pet him until he settles and we can 'lets go' again.
Making progress with down.
Not doing sit because, as a potential show dog, he shouldn't be encouraged to sit in training sessions so he won't do it when being judged. Supposed to do 'stand'. Haven't worked on it yet.
Crate. Does great in crate. Whines, but understands and responds to  'Quiet!' followed by 'good Toko'.
Come. Not entirely reliable when he is into some really good smelly spot in the yard. Working through this with treats.

Social!!
This dog is a social nut! Will run to any squatting person. We have our friends at my work, a huge collection of random people at PetSmart, and the neighbors. Other dogs are a challenge. I wish there were more calm well mannered dogs in the world. Maybe 20% of the dogs at PetSmart are like that. The rest are crazy, and all the neighborhood dogs are crazy so far. The neighborhood cats are easier!

Vocabulary.
In addition to the above, he appears to understand 'car' and surely understands 'wait' (to get dried off when we come in the door) and 'off' (get your feet off me/the couch/whatever). I have learned to growl like a momma dog when he bites too hard or doesn't listen to 'off'. Always followed by 'good Toko'.

Massage.
Breeder Kim recommended doing this and it is wonderful. I have found some sweet places that he specially likes, but we're still working on calming down when I want calming down so he can properly enjoy one.

I am still photographically challenged. I have taken and erased many blurry pictures. Probably should try video. But phone is grumpy. Could get a pic of dog asleep with cat nearby doing likewise, but dang phone has frozen. So this is all for now.

Learning to Live in a Multispecies Pack with One Human and One Cat

Morning Report:
Well, we are beginning day three.
There are so many fun stories to tell, I am not sure how to choose a few for this post!
Toko is lying quietly at my feet as I write! First time. Gotta love it! Is this why I got a dog? To keep my feet warm?
Yesterday I finally figured out what to do about the cat, who was hiding downstairs. I took Toko to visit her. After a good walk to tire him out I carried him down where she was on my bed. I sat next to the bed, holding Toko and working with him to not bark at her. He learned quickly. I moved us closer to the cat, so I could pet her. Toko got to watch her move around and even make some of her sweet chirping sounds in response to my petting. He need occasional correction about barking, but the cat stayed and even came closer. More petting, one hand on dog, one hand on cat. Then I carried Toko back upstairs.
This morning, after our walk I took him down to her again. Hardly any attempts to bark from Toko. Got pretty close to the cat right away. And! They touched noses - or got within 1/4 inch of touching noses - twice! There IS hope for our multispecies pack!
Our second night went quite well. Bed at 8, up at 5! with only one out to potty, at 10:30, which was mercifully efficient!
I slept in the living room again, a bit farther from his crate, and, (oh am I grateful!) got a fairly decent night's sleep.
I have three outings planed for us today, PetSmart - second visit. The first was yesterday and was overwhelming for Toko. We ended up sitting in the front while a PetSmart staffer got us some wood shavings for his indoor potty. Lots of people came and cooed at him though. He really does like people, but barks at the other dogs.
He also barks at the "puppy in the mirror" when it is dark out and he sees his reflection in the sliding glass door.
Second outing, I hope, will be to Kaleo's baseball game. It's a longer car ride, but he seems to like the car. Even hopped into it when I opened its door, and into his crate in there, even though I wasn't asking him to do it. The ball park is nice and open and grassy with many people and children(!) and a few other dogs. Rats. Ballgame rained out. Maybe next week.
Third outing will be to visit my church small group in the evening. The house where we meet has two resident dogs, two resident cats and two visiting dogs (maybe).
Until he's much better at not messing we can't visit too many places, but this house has hardwood floors and is animal friendly, so I will bring along the paper towels and vinegar/water solution and hope for the best.
Interrupt. Dog at my feet went out. Dog did. Came in and played. Now it's crate time. I hope he'll settle down so I can have a shower! And, maybe, breakfast!
Sorry no pictures. They will come.

Afternoon report:
We went to visit Jennifer and Kaleo and Janet and Tonja and Koda the Husky mix dog. We had a blast. Koda, being so much bigger than Toko was a bit scarey, but we worked on it. Lots of sniffing. Then Tonja, Janet and Koda went out and Jen and Kaleo and I played three way 'Toko come' and he did great! He attatched himself to Jen after she gave him some of Koda's kibble. He fell asleep at her feet while she did a few dishes, and stayed asleep on the mat by the sink after Jen left.
At home (Toko had another positive car ride, to and from Jen's he rolled around in his crate chewing on the toys in there.) everyone was tired, and, during another 'visit to the cat' we all fell asleep on the big bed.
I haven't had to mop up a mistake since 9 this morning.
Now Toko is just waking up from being asleep on my feet while I sit on the couch. Time to hustle out to the potty.

Tried to take some pictures. My phone camera does not do well with an active puppy.

 The only pictures that are any good are of him sleeping.

Toko is Home!

The half hour car ride from Coedwig to home was not too bad.
I pulled over about four times to settle him down when he would start to get really wound up.
As we were on the last leg of the drive he fell asleep.
When I pulled into the drive way and stopped the car he woke up. I opened the door to his crate, but he wouldn't come out. He went back to sleep!

Fortunately, Kim had sent a whole pile of handouts of articles and feeding tips and training tips, so I sat and read them while Toko slept . . . for two hours!
From one o'clock to now he has been busy. We played outside and he was excellent at following me, so we could walk/trot for quite awhile, something I did not expect. Off lead - he is only starting to get used to his collar. He has made good progress with it, actually. I've had it on and off him several times.
He certainly knows his name is Toko.
When we came inside we ran into issues. First, I was so focused on him, I forgot about the cat. She hissed. He barked. She ran. I caught him. He forgot about her. She sat in a corner. He found her. He looked at her. I held him. Then I took him away from her. Then he went back and barked. This time the cat ran down stairs, and there she still is. Poor cat.
Then there's the potty problem.
Although I have given him many opportunities, he has not gone potty outside that I have seen. He has gone potty inside once. grrr.
Now he is asleep. In his kennel. I do hope he will be happy to potty when I take him out after he wakes up.
The first five hours of dog ownership/pack leadership have been exhausting.
But he has learned a lot about my house and outside of my house. As I said, he is an excellent follower. Sometimes he will decide he doesn't want to follow, and sits, but he comes if I squat, clap my hands and call him. Then it's 'lets go' on the next leg of our walk.
Now, however, I need to see how the cat is fairing.

Toko: Everything You Want to Know About the Name

His name, subject to his approval tomorrow, will be Toko.

His registered name will be Coedwig's Blue Toucan.
Coedwig is the name of the kennel where he was born.
Blue is for his coloring. Grey and black and white is blue in Cardigan Corgi circles.

Toucan is his litter name. They were all named after birds. If you look at his body it has those wide stripes like a Toucan bill.
Here's a picture of him and all his littermates when they were just 10 days old!
 
Well, I just haven't wanted his everyday call name to be Toucan. So what nickname can you get out of Toucan?
It's somewhat of a stretch, but Toko does connect to Toucan. (the T and the K sounds)

And better than that, Toko is a special name.

It is short for the middle name of my #2 grandson Felix, (pictured here with a giant snail!)

I needed to write to him in Bristol England and get his permission to use his name for my dog.


Dear Felix,
I have an idea for a dog name, but I have to ask your permission before I think about it any more!
I want to call him Toko. But you are already Thoko - Felix Thokozani Gibson Brown.
So - would it be alright if my dog uses your name for about 15 years? (That's how long they live.)
If you don't like the idea of my dog being called Toko (without the h) I will not call him that.
If you say yes I will try it out on him when I bring him home on Friday.
If you say no, that will be the end of it and he will be called something else.
I hope you can let me know one way or the other soon!
Lots of love!
Grandma

Felix wrote back the next day: 

 Y E S!!!

LOVE FELIX

Where did Felix get the name?

Felix was born on Thanksgiving day, 2002 in Capetown South Africa, the first child of Taylor Brown and Sam Gibson (my daughter). They lived in Zambia at the time. English is the first language there, but Swahili is next, followed by many tribal languages. Thokozani is Swahili for thankful. Felix's dad still sometimes calls him Thoko to remind him of his name and its origin. So we are very grateful that Felix has lent his name to my dog Toko. I hope when I see him tomorrow, and bring him home, the name Toko will fit him every bit as much as I think it will. 

That is the story of his name. Hope he likes it!

8 Weeks Old - Evaluations for Show Potential

  I have chosen this dog.

 I think he has chosen me.

 

Today Kim had some dog show friends over while I was visiting. 

 

  They evaluated the puppies for conformation.

 It happened that they picked my dog as 'best in litter'!

I Still don't know if I'm gonna call him Toucan or Louie or something different.

Toucan? Louie?
Coedwig's King Louis Bleu Toucan?
(all that grey you see in him? - it makes him blue!)

But meanwhile, here are a few comments from himself - - -

Here I'm Snoozin' with my sister Chickadee. She's gonna stay with Kim so I will get to see her sometimes.

 
 Here's a closeup of Chickadee. Isn't she just sweet?

PS. The humans say she's almost as good in conformation as me. See ya' in the show ring, Chicka!

 

And here's the seven of us, all tired out from playing and having show evaluations. In not too many days we will all go our separate ways. Let us enjoy one another while we can!

 

 Happy Tails, my littermates . . .

Now I (me, Molly) will start learning the way of the show ring along with all the great dog lore from the Dog Whisperer and the Monks of New Skete.
Although I may not be the one to show my dog in the ring, I have promised to train him in how to behave during the show process.

Thank you, Kim, for entrusting me with one of your best!