PHYSICAL
Tobias (Toby) is gray with spots of white on his back, chest, and feet. He has one ear that stands up and one cute, floppy ear. And just look at those sweet, mournful, soulful eyes!


PROFILE
Toby is a lover--sweet and silly and an all-around excellent companion, and the proverbial Velcro dog. He requests only a couple of walks a day and a few rousing sessions of tug of war with his rope toy. His favorite pastime is being with his human, just lounging around and enjoying the comforts of home; but he is not anxious when alone.

Because of Toby's past, he has guarding issues with other dogs; so he needs to be the only dog in the house. But he does like other dogs and is not reactive toward them.

A low- to medium-energy dog, he is house-trained, crate-trained, and polite. He rarely jumps (only when overexcited). Toby loves to go for walks and his leash manners are quite good. Easy to train because he is very responsive to treats, he has mastered Sit, Stop, and Come; and he is doing reasonably well with Wait and Stay.

Toby loves car rides and is ready for any adventure! Toby will surely steal your heart!

HEALTH
He is up-to-date on vaccinations, microchipped, and neutered. Although he has a chronic skin allergy, it is well controlled on a chicken-free diet.

Toby tested positive for heartworms and is receiving a gentle protocol to gradually eliminate the heartworms: it starts with 28 days of doxycycline along with heartworm preventative (ivermectin--Heartgard, Iverheart, or Tri-heart) twice that month, continuing with the preventative every two weeks for a year.

With the gentle protocol, no excessive confinement is required. Dogs should not be out in the heat for long periods of time, and should not engage in heavy exercise until they test negative for heartworms. Heavy exercise that should be avoided includes full-speed running for any distance, jogging more than a short distance such as one block, repetitive ball chasing, and high-energy play with other dogs. Leash-walking is fine in most cases, as long as they do not get winded and it is not too hot.

Most dogs will test negative for heartworms within a year using this method. Toby began the gentle protocol in August 2020, so he should test negative by August of this year!

HISTORY
Toby was found as a stray and taken to a rural shelter.

IAR subsidizes post-adoption professional training with Jane Marshall (www.cheerydogs.com) to encourage a life-long and successful bond between the dog and the adopter. Group classes for puppies and adult dogs are provided at a substantial discount to IAR adopters.