Tuesdays With Toby: Best Friends

Last Tuesday was created just for this column—it was a true

(Confession? Not all of my dog columns are about things that my Lab and I do on Tuesdays. However, last week was a pure, distilled form of what this column is all about).

Help me out here and think back to what happened last Tuesday (Hint: the ground shook!). It wasn’t my first , but it was the first time I was in a building that was literally swaying back and forth.

Like a dummy, I was standing in front of the large glass windows in my living room. Toby was there too, running circles around my legs. I tried to catch him by the collar and soothe him, but he wasn’t having any of that.

When it all stopped, I leashed him, tried to find the cat (to no avail) and grabbed my phone and keys. We waited outside at with some lovely neighbors. It was hot as Hades that day and I had to wait in line for 10 minutes just to buy water for the dog.

After about an hour, it seemed safe to return to my apartment so I gave Toby a bowl of water and grabbed my stuff for work (Again, couldn’t find that cat). There was no way I was leaving my Lab in that apartment alone!

So, we worked together for a while in the lounge downstairs. Toby (of course) made some new human friends and sniffed around the room. In a while, we hopped in the truck and headed to after the place was evacuated. Of course, he got hit on again.

All the kids loved him and wanted to pet him and shake his big, yellow Lab paw.

Toby was happy to oblige.

Later, he hung out with me while I rendered a video and wrote some articles for Patch.

It wasn’t a super spectacular adventure we had, but it was indicative of the deep bond between mutt and master. And had the earth split open in a more vicious quake, I would gladly have thrown myself down the crevasse before letting my precious friend fall to his demise. What does that mean?

I don’t know what I’d do if I had kids.