Month: January 2022

Belated Happy Barkday, Toby

Toby’s barkday was at the end of last month, but thanks to me getting sick and then the car breaking, I wasn’t able to get him any presents. This week, G & G took pity on my little boy and brought him a fresh bag of tennis balls. The down side is that now he wants to play all day every day. The up side is he he is working off some of those holiday pounds.

Get that camera out of my face and throw the ball already!

Puppy dressed as ferocious hockey player.
Wow, you're pretty good at blocking thos tennis balls. When I grow up, I want to bMario Lemieux!
Bu Mario Lemieux isn't a goalie. Then I wanna be Wayne Gretzky!
Gretzky isn't a goalie either. Geez, where have you been learning about hockey? Mommy!!

To Toby, the game is to either catch the ball or touch it with his mouth. Then it is considered out of play.

Tennis balls with fuzz handles that a puppy has chewed from their covers.

The first thing Toby does when he gets a new ball is chew a fuzz handle into it.

Like most places, it is snowy and barely in the teens here. Toby doesn’t mind going out because he has a nice pet human to warm his paws when they get cold. If the pet human tries to thaw her paws on a warm puppy tummy, though, all heck breaks loose. Toby’s pet human is grateful for the tennis ball game so they don’t have to freeze as much.

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Care to find out what Bitey and Toby have been up to? Then check out Dream Our World! Inside, the boys view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.

Dream Our World

Dream Our World is available at my shop at L Bowman Studios.

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What Happened to Toby?

What happened? She's been drawing cats.

No, I didn’t trade Toby in on a green-sweater-clad feline, but I did think about it.

Toby had a grooming session at the beginning of the month. Afterward, he could no longer hide the fact that Gma had been slipping him goodies over the holidays. Now he is on a diet, and he just howls and howls for food.

Toby, pre-furcut.

Toby, post-furcut.

Toby howling for food.

Evidently Toby didn’t do much better on his second visit to the groomer than he did on his first. The woman working with him said that he hates the blow dryer so much that he fought and fought her about it. By the time she was done drying him he was thoroughly exhausted and fell asleep. She had to put him in a sling in order to reach to trim his paws and tummy. Who would guess that such a sweet-faced little guy could cause so much trouble?

While Toby’s year started off with grooming and a diet, mommy’s started with two broken teeth, a broken car and a pair of broken glasses. Yay 2022.

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If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can still pick up copies of Dream Our World. Inside, Bitey and Toby have a fantastic adventure as they visit the museum of their dreams and view the world of art from a canine perspective.

Dream Our World

Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.

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Gender Reveal

A few nights ago, I was throwing tennis balls for Toby. One time, I decided to let Rah Ru the tiger throw one of the balls.


In this picture, I am hugging a sock. – Rah Ru

Afterward, I praised the toy, ”Good boy, Rah Ru! Great throw!” Then I started to wonder, was Rah Ru a boy or a girl? Did Toby think of his tiger as having a gender? The idea dawned on me, why not ask him?

Boy or Girl

I gathered up the B and G flashcards so I could ask Toby “Boy or Girl?”. We went through a quick list of humans and pups we knew so I could make sure we were on the same page. He got them all right. I moved on to the toys and asked him, ”Is Rah Ru a boy or a girl?” In case you were wondering, Rah Ru is a girl. (Oops. Bad mommy. )

As for Blue Puppy, Blue puppy is a boy.

Toy kitty with stuffing ripped out of its head.

Humpty Kitty is a girl

Tiger turned out to be a girl too.

Mommy, however, is still a boy.

This exercise turned out to be a breakthrough moment for Toby and me. Since then he has been excited to do flashcards. I think this gives him a chance to tell me things he otherwise couldn’t.

😊

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