Characters / The Canon
Toby
Half spaniel, half lurcher — the finest nose in London
“I would rather have Toby's help than that of the whole detective force of London.”
At a glance
The profile
Toby lives at 3 Pinchin Lane with the bird-stuffer Mr Sherman and lends his talents to Baker Street when scent outperforms reason. An ugly, lop-eared, waddling creature by Watson's account, he is also — by Holmes's — worth more than every inspector at the Yard, which from Holmes is a knighthood.
His great case is the Sign of the Four pursuit: six miles of dawn London on the trail of a creosote-dipped foot, ending in triumphant barking at a barrel of the stuff — the canon's gentlest lesson that even the best trail must be checked against sense. He collected his sugar anyway. On this site he lends his name to the goal tracker, because nothing in the canon pursues like Toby.