Toby
It Had to Be You
In January 2011, Broadway singer Teri Hansen Kocyigit started casually browsing ASPCA.org’s Adoptable Dogs page. By February, she was deciding what kind of dog she wanted (a rescue, a working dog). And then in March, she saw a picture of Toby, a black Patterdale Terrier.
“He had that underbite!” she remembers. “The minute I saw his picture, I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, that is my dog.’”
Soon after, they had their first meeting at the ASPCA. “It was amazing,” she says. Teri decided to take a walk around the block to think things over, but soon she found herself in the checkout at a drugstore, ready to purchase some dog-care essentials. As she placed the items at the register, she thought, “What am I doing? This is crazy! My schedule is way too intense.”
But as she walked out the door, she thought of Toby. “I turned around and went right back in!” recalls Teri. She gathered up all the supplies again, this time making a purchase.
She stopped to get a slice of pizza, then realized she ought to call the ASPCA and tell us she was going to adopt Toby. When adoptions counselors told her that they couldn’t hold Toby for her, she says, “I didn’t even hang up the phone. I just ran with my Diet Coke and pizza to the ASPCA.”
That was 10 months ago, and Toby has been an important member of the Kocyigit family ever since. It wasn’t always smooth sailing—Teri had known from the start that Toby had a few issues—but Teri and her husband never gave up on their dog, working to train him and seeking out help from ASPCA behavior counselors. Today, Teri says “he is the best dog. He minds so well, and he’s so trusting and loving.”
Teri adds: “The amount of love and total joy and stress relief Toby brings—you can’t even put a price on it. It’s just ridiculous. No bottle of wine, no workout, no meal, no vacation could replace that. He has just brought so much happiness into our lives.”
