Dear Mary,

Life has been great, at this very moment I am sitting on my designated tie died foam chair with the pink fuzzy quilt cover keeping an eye on things in my neighborhood.

Your puppy, Toby

Hi Mary,

Mari and I are constantly amazed and amused by Toby and are so grateful that he is a part of our family. Almost every day we wonder how we were blessed with such an awesome dog. When we were picking up Toby your husband told us that we were going to be back in six months for another one. We have definitely passed the six month mark, but it is not because we didn't want another one by then. We are actively planning and saving for Toby to have another Mini Pin for company (and to burn up a lot of the energy he seems to have stored away).

Let us know when you are having litters and we will continue to check the website.

Toby has picked out his last toy or two at PetsMart and has quite a definite opinion on the subject. The all time pick of his so far is a yellow squeaker in the shape of a football and just about as big around as a tennis ball. It squeaks with the slightest touch and he loves how much noise he can make with it. The last time we had company over he was feeling a little left out so he started squeaking it with all his might. We humans lasted about three minutes before we collectively decided we had to capture the squeaker to save our sanity. It took three of us a good ten minutes to catch him (he knows the house better than we do, especially the small spaces underneath stuff). By the time we captured the squeaker we were tired and he was tired and felt played with so we were all happy the rest of the evening.

Toby is addicted to bully sticks and attempts to force us to hold them for him if he can. It is quite funny and he is extremely persistent. We just had a new shipment delivered for him a few days ago so he should be set with bully sticks for a long while.

We take Toby almost everywhere with us...almost literally...some of the places he frequents are: dog parks, hiking trails, people parks, traveling between AZ and CA, church youth group, and the pet stores and feed stores. Everybody who meets him just loves him. He is quite outgoing and really enjoys meeting other dogs. Just last week I had a good friend tell me that he and his wife decided that if they could push a button and have a dog exactly like Toby they would push it that very instant. What is so interesting about that statement is that the wife is not an animal person AT ALL and she loves Toby! I am sure it has nothing to do with him wanting to snuggle up next to her and give her attention when she comes over. Another example of how much people like Toby and how much he goes with us is the fact that when friends invite us over they invite the three of us and invite Toby by name.

He has an affinity for water, and we have to be careful with the shower curtain because if it isn't pulled all the way closed he will jump in and stand under the water with us. Baths are another favorite of his and he jumps around flailing his feet and splashing water all over the place.

The Mini Pin book we bought before we got Toby said that Mini Pins are good indoor dogs and since they are small can exercise themselves inside the house or apt. I don't know what kind of Mini Pin they had because that is not the case with Toby. In our quest to tire Toby out and get him some exercise we have got him to the point where he runs two to three miles a day at one time. It does mellow him out some, the problem is that the more we run him the better shape he gets in and he wants to go farther faster and has more of his energy left when we get home after exercise. Besides being healthy, he is getting
quite buff and the puppy look is slowly melting away and the dignified look of a mature Mini Pin is starting to come out more and more.

Sincerely,

Matthew and Mari Kirk

Picture Comments:

*Toby didn't get a ride on my brother's motorcycle, I just held him so Mari could take a picture.

*Toby is waking up with a big yawn after a night of luxury filled with down pillows, electric blanket, and a king sized down comforter with a
silk duvet cover--yeah, he gets the best nights sleep of any of us.

*He took over our friends giant "lovesac" bean bag as soon as we got to their house!