Facebook Note from 1/15/2011 ~ "Toby and the Mail Lady"

I let Toby out to play in the snow while I was painting woodwork. I could see him out the window jumping around and rolling around in the snow in the front yard. He really does a good job of staying close and every once in awhile he'd come up and look in the window from the front porch to check on me - or to make sure I was checking on him. ha. He's funny to watch - throwing snow and digging - doing circles.

I started down the hallway and that meant I had to paint awhile and then get up and look for him to make sure he was still there. Pretty soon Sparky starts growling and doing these little barks so I figured Toby was probably at the door wanting in. I get up, walk in the living room and see some woman running after Toby in the neighbors yard across the street!! OH BOY!! I didn't have time to put my shoes on, so I ran out there in my socks. Sure enough, Toby has something in his mouth that this woman wanted and he was doing a very good job of playing keep away. What I couldn't understand was why her car was parked in the street with the door open!!

I yell at Toby to stop and he does for a second - a very brief second and darts off again. "What's he got?" I yell at the woman. "The mail! He grabbed it from me before I could get it in their mailbox!" "You're the mailman??" OH CRAP!! We both are trying to chase him, but of course he thinks it is a game and he is having a ball running circles around us dropping pieces of mail as he goes (and because he still has his Christmas collar on he is jingling as he goes too). I'm yelling at him that it is a federal offense to mess with the mail, that my feet were cold and - that I was NOT playing and he needed to stop right now and finally I yell in my meanest voice, "GD it TOBY!! DROP IT!!" And to the complete surprise of both of us - he did! In fact it was such a surprise that we both stopped and looked at each other, but then when we started towards he darted off again and thank goodness forgot to pick the mail back up.

I felt horrible, helped the mail lady pick up the mail and we stopped to talk because I just felt so bad and to well, catch our breath, and she was telling me how she went to put the mail in the mailbox and he came up and grabbed it from her. I told her how I was teaching him to bring in the mail. She said, "Well not THEIR mail did you?" (nooooo geesh).She is pretty flustered and worried she didn't get all the mail picked up andthen....I see it --over her shoulder in strange slow motion disbelief.....Toby circled her car, jumped in her open door, was up on her front seat, looking at us through the passenger window while grabbing more mail!! All I could say was, "Ohhhh NOOooooo Toby no, no, no!!" and the woman turned and saw him and yelled something that was between a cry of despair and a scream of anger and all I could think of was 'I wonder how long house arrest will be for stealing mail from a mailman's car?"

The only thing that saved us was he was having a hard time turning around in her front seat so he could get back out of her car! He couldn't figure out how to back down from her car without turning around either so he was stuck a second or two. This gave us our chance to quickly make our move to the car. He managed to get turned around and was about to jump free of the car, when his hind leg or butt or side (whatever, who cares) landed on the horn and it honked - scaring him - so he dropped the mail on the ground just as he landed outside the door.

Now, at the car door, the mail woman quickly grabbed the mail on the ground and I quickly grabbed Toby's collar. We are both relieved and I apologize another 500 times as Toby keeps trying to jump up and get the mail from her hands (I'm sorry I say - he did go to manners class - noting I didn't say he PASSED). She gets in her car (not before brushing off the snow that Toby dragged in) and says something like no one will ever believe this (and I'm thinking - oh yeah - tell them whose house you were at - they'll believe it!!!)
Then she says, "What kind of dog is that?"
For a brief second I'm thinking she can't be that mad if she is wanting to know...so I say, 'He's a goldendoodle and really is a pretty good dog ...' but before I could finish she says, "that's what I thought my daughter has been looking for one but I'm going to tell her not to...." and she closes the door and drives away.

There, Toby and I stand in the middle of the road - me holding onto his collar with clumps of snow frozen to my socks while he sits there with clumps of snow frozen to his paws and his 'Wow that was sooo much fun, mommy' look and I can't help but say to him, 'C'mon let's go get a treat - some people just don't get us Toby'.