Toby,
What a friendly and fiercely loyal but uniquely independent chow mix! He is shown here with life partner Jasper, a black shepherd, at an outing at Lake Jacamo in Kansas City.
Toby came to us as a stray in 1996 via a carpenter friend Mark who was working on a house in the upscale Greenstone subdivision. After several days of sharing lunch with Toby, Mark realized Toby probably had no home, so he and his wife hid him in their no-dogs-allowed apartment while trying to find his owners. When this effort failed they talked us into adopting him. We renamed him Toby (they had dubbed him Muttley, because of his obviously mixed pedigree).
Toby loved chasing squirrels, catching tennis balls, beer, and most of all, people. As long as he was with people, he was happy. Short and stocky but powerful and quick, Toby was completely fearless, ready to take on any perceived animal threat, no matter how large. One memorable Christmas Day he even took after 3 horses in a brief chase that ended with a kick that sent Toby sprawling. Toby was a wonderful dog, and I am lucky that a quirk of fate resulted in him spending most of his life with me.
Jim