Emma’s dog Toby is incorrigible. Each day of the week brings a new indiscretion: Monday he gets into the garbage, Tuesday he runs into the road, Wednesday he eats a loaf of freshly baked bread, and so on. By Sunday, he’s worn out and resting, but on Monday it starts all over again. Emma’s parents have had enough. Toby is enrolled in obedience school, where he turns out to be the star pupil. But the following week he’s back to his old tricks, and special training with the teacher is required. Toby returns from his lessons with “a strange twinkle in his eye.” A new week brings many surprises from Toby: “On Monday, he took out the garbage. On Tuesday, he baked some bread…” Corinne Demas’s fresh, funny story is matched by Noah Z. Jones’s blithe illustrations that have a cartoonlike simplicity perfectly suited to the whimsical spirit of the text. (Ages 4–8)

Even after attending obedience school, Emma's dog Toby misbehaves until she takes him back to become a "specially trained dog."