Pet Digest

Tobias: When Growing Up Changed Everything Tobias struggled through his first year of life, but he did it with his head held high. His sister Nibbler was always by his side, and his cousins Jasmine and Manney were never far away. After surviving those early months, Tobias finally seemed to enter what I thought would be the fun phase of his life. .              (Nibbler, Jasmine, and Tobias) Visits to friends. Long walks. Car rides. Dog parks. Family gatherings. The world was his playground. He had gone from being a tiny handful of a puppy to a lanky teenage dog who was always up to something. Tobias loved water. He loved socializing. He loved being around people. He was active, affectionate and, for the most part, a really great partner in crime. There was one notable exception: housebreaking him. That was a battle I am still not entirely sure how we survived. But otherwise, Tobias was shaping up to be everything we'd hoped for. We Thought ...

Tobias is a tough guy and a survivor. After everything he had already been through, he somehow bounced back like nothing bad had ever happened. He was growing into quite the character—and quite the dog. By the time he was approaching his first birthday, Tobias had turned into an absolute beast of a guy, weighing in at around 70 pounds. That was a full 30 pounds heavier than we had originally expected. His personality had flourished right along with his size. Tobias was the kind of dog who ran straight to Mom and Dad whenever something wasn't right. Bump his knee? He was in your lap with those big, teary eyes. Something scared him? He wanted his people. In many ways, he wasn't just another dog in our home. He was another toddler. The Conversation About Neutering As Tobias approached his first birthday, we started having the conversation about neutering. At the time, I had already spent quite a bit of time researching the subject. My understanding was that large-breed...