Toby -- The Story of My Friend -- Chapter 11

Here is the next installment of the book.

Chapter 11

     Of all of the dogs I've known, Toby possessed the most unusual behaviors I've seen.  He wasn't weird.  He was unique.  He was eccentric.
     One of the strangest aspects of his behavior I discovered completely by accident.  I used to love to watch boxing when I was younger.  I would never miss a match.  I enjoyed working out on the heavy bag and doing shadow boxing to try to stay in shape.  Sometimes to get a little exercise, I would shadow box in the kitchen for a few rounds.
     One evening, while I was pummeling my imaginary opponent, Toby ran quickly to his food dish, and he began devouring his food in haste.  When I stopped boxing, he stopped eating.  When I resumed, the munching recommenced.  I thought that this was strange.  It would come in handy.
     Toby was always sort of funny about eating.  Sometimes he wouldn't eat.  Maybe, something was just slightly out of kilter in his routine, and he would just go off of his food.
     During one of these spells, I remembered how Toby ran to his dinner bowl when I boxed.  I started shadow boxing, and Toby started eating Eukanuba.
     This little trick almost always worked if Toby wasn't off of his food because of his ulcerative colitis problem.  If I boxed and Toby wouldn't eat, I knew that something was wrong and that a trip to the veterinarian was in order.
     I've never understood what is was about boxing that caused this response.  Maybe, he was a big fan of boxing like me, and this was Toby's version of eating popcorn and watching the main event.
     Another one of Toby's strange behaviors was fish jealousy.  I enjoy tropical fish.  I've never taken the plunge into salt water aquariums, but I've had some pretty nice freshwater set ups.  After being away from the fish hobby, I decided to buy a new aquarium and purchase a couple of nice fish.
     I bought a twenty gallon aquarium, a heater, gravel, all of the needed equipment.  After I set it all up, I put the fish into their new environment.
     Toby didn't like this one little bit.  The first time I fed my new fish, he looked at me with a piercing gaze.  If looks could kill, I'd have been disintegrated.  Toby was jealous of my involvement with some other member of the animal kingdom.
     No matter what I did near the aquarium from cleaning to feeding the fish, Toby would give me a dirty look as if I were a traitor.  He would then snort and turn away in disgust.  After I'd finish with the fish, he would be back to his normal self.
     One afternoon I spotted Toby sitting under the fish tank looking up at his mortal enemies.  I could almost see the thoughts of hate forming in his mind.  It was as if he was sending mental death telepathy through the waters.
     Toby didn't have to be jealous of the fish for too long.  I decided to give my aquarium set and fish away.  I just kept one Betta that I placed where Toby couldn't see him.  When the aquarium went out the door, I thought that I detected a faint smile from a well pleased corgi.
     When I told about Toby and his boxing and eating behavior, I forgot to mention another of his unusual eating habits.   Sometimes when we were at my Grandma's house in Cheyenne, Toby would have one of his not eating spells.  I tried the boxing routine, but that didn't work on the road; it only worked at home.  In order to get Toby to eat at my Grandma's house I would have to feed him by hand.  Sort of.  I would take a few chunks of his food from his bowl and place them outside of his bowl.  Now this is strange.  He would eat these food chunks as long as I placed two pieces outside of the bowl.  Not three, not one; it had to be two pieces.  If I kept doing this, he would eat the entire bowl.  He would only do this at my Grandma's house.  I could never figure this out.