Our Chihuahua seemed very happy with one chew bone and didn’t ask for another. But we had a hard time keeping up with it. So I went up to the store and bought a pack of 10 leather (we hope) chew bones, and doled five of them out during the week as we misplaced them one by one.

We now know our misguided wish to give our dog everything he could want has not resulted in happiness and well-being.

In short, Toby-One-K-Doggy — or as he is commonly called, Toby — is driving himself into an early grave worrying about his possessions. He knows their worth and fears for their safety.

Every evening, just before he retires for the night, he spends a good deal of time carrying his chew bones around, looking for a safe place to leave them.

He can spend up to 20 minutes doing this. His little brow will become wrinkled with worry and he will pace from one room to another trying to find the perfect hiding place.

Clearly he doesn’t trust the humans, as if anyone enters a room while he is locating a safe place, he will quickly remove the chew bone from their sight and look for greener pastures.

It’s very sad.

He buried, or attempted to bury, two in the pile of dirty towels next to the washing machine. He does this by jumping amidst the pile with the chew bone then using his nose to cover up his precious possession with a washcloth or hand towel.

If he thinks no one is watching, he’ll leave his treasure there. But if he thinks anyone spotted the hiding place, he’ll go get the bone and take it to a new location.

Nowhere is really safe enough. He’s surrounded by people who covet his things, and this worries him to death.

This wasn’t our intention. If the chew bones are collected from their various hiding places and set aside out of sight, he constantly searches for them.

He’ll turn a suspicious eye on the humans when he can’t locate what he’s looking for. He knows something is going on.

Clearly they are worth stealing, and it’s a huge responsibility to keep them safe. Maybe he should do like the dog in the television commercial who takes out insurance on his bone.

We’re sure he’d do that if he thought of it. So this all goes to show you can have too much of a good thing. Your possessions can become obsessions, and that’s what has happened here.

Well, we must learn from our mistakes. And so we shall.