Henry, our new family member

Aneeda72

Aneeda72

Well-known Member
It’s been a year since I’ve owned a puppy. I had thought to never own a puppy again, because I have discovered I don’t really care for dogs; but puppies, I love puppies. With our last dog, Stella, happily settled with her new owner, I thought no more dogs.

(To remind everyone, my friend loved Stella. My friend‘s dog died. We were moving, she wanted Stella. My friend“s husband was very ill. I gave her Stella. My friend’s husband died. Very glad I gave her Stella.). And I thought, no more dogs for me. But plans change.

And I decided to get a puppy. (Very complicated reasons for this decision, and not sharing those). An older puppy, not a young one, and while I prefer females, I decided any sex would do. Price was important, not anyone expensive; the expenses associated with a dog are huge and our funds are more limited. Didn’t want a specific breed except hypoallergenic was necessary.

I started looking on KSL classifieds.

And one morning, there was Henry.

A big fat 15 week old very hairy laid back mellow boy puppy (hmm sounds like my husband) more bark than bite, who, according to his breeder, no one wanted. And he had to go-puppy fire sale. It happens. He had been for sale for an hour. I called the breeder, got the fat guy at home up, got into the car, drove to the breeders, and bought that slug of a puppy for my slug of a husband. I had a plan.

I told my husband to pick him up. Why he says? Cause he’s not my puppy, he’s your puppy. I will be the puppy overseer, you will be the puppy”s owner. You like lap dogs, you like male dogs, you are now a dog owner. 😂

Henry cost 300 dollars.

Henry has been dewormed, and has had all his basic shots. Henry is partially crate trained, over the mindlessly biting your hands stage, partially potty trained, hypoallergenic, and a real gem of a lap dog. Henry is a very short dog with very short legs and weighs 11 pounds at this time. On track for his breed, short fat dogs.

His hair is very long and straight. We have had him for 3 days. He is unbelievably cute, has no other training at all, not even leash trained, or stair trained, or finish your food in 10 minutes trained, and seems to think when he is called to come he should run very fast in the opposite direction and get under the bed, way under the bed.

Henry feels he should be petted 24/7. My husband feels he should be petted 24/7. A perfect match, except I have a plan. And slug Henry and slug husband are in for a shock, cause I have a plan; and I am going to deslug these 2 fellows.

Henry is a Coton de Tlear-for 300 dollars. 😲. Go figure that.
 

I'm so excited, Aneeda! Where are the pictures?

I had to look them up because I never heard of them and yes they are running about a thousand more than you paid.


Coton-de-Tulear-puppy-outdoors.jpg

I, too, think they should be pet constanatly!
 
hollydolly said:
Nope...Aneeda only loves puppies...:D
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Aneeda has decided to go to mental health therapy to discuss why she loves pupipes and not dogs. It’s a complicated situation and I have decided that I spend so much time energy on puppies, only to rehome them as dogs. I am determined to stop this behavior.

I have a referral and am waiting for an appointment. @hollydolly
 
hollydolly said:
I wonder why no-one wanted him. He is christmas card cute...
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I think it’s because he’s supposed to run to people and he runs away. Some trauma happened probably, but we will help him overcome that. Just giving him a couple weeks to settle in. He won’t let the other old people pet him, and 2 dog encounters left him sitting between dad’s legs and growling. But on the third encounter he was a bit more behaved.

The older pekingese was not impressed with his growl 😂. Henry ignores the cats, squirrels, and birds so far.
 
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So we bought the puppy, next shopping. Now I have not been feeling well, but I wanted the puppy. Now I need to get the basics and I am already drained. He says let’s stop at this petco. No, it’s gone. He disagrees, he’s driving, we drive to that Petco. 🙄. It’s closed.

Then we drove to the Petco I wanted to go to, it’s open. Get the very basics, including an overpriced harness and leash. He has the worker show him how to adjust the harness. I keep my mouth shut. Yeah, hard, very hard. It’s his dog.

Finally, crate, brush, couple toys, leash, harness we load up and get home. It’s late. I’m tired. It’s completely dark outside. I don’t lIke dark. Take stuff in house, set it up, he puts the harness on Henry and says let’s take him potty. I question the fit. Dagger eyes, I know what I am doing, husband says.

His dog, his dog, his dog.

Go outside. Henry has never been up and down stairs, lovey. Finally he half rolls half falls down the three steps, and I go to walk him. Great, never been on a leash. He pulls back, and pulls the harness off, looks around, and RUNS.

Well, shit.

Henry thinks the word come means runs faster. Well, shit. I hobble after him. I’ll never catch him. I curse my husband. And Henry, breaks, says to himself, cat pee. Gotta smell the cat pee, Dead stop, sniff, sniff, and I grab him up. Go back into the house and contemplate killing my husband.

I tell him to go to the nearby grocery story, get a collar, a leash, and before he goes he can shove the harness up his, well, you know. Not a dang word. GO. Puppy has to pee. He goes, he comes back, he puts the collar on the puppy, and the leash. Henry does his falling down the stairs trick, our 83 year neighbor, and her son walk out their door. Henry bolts.

Husband has NOT completely latched the collar. Well, shit. Collar gives away. Henry runs.

The four of us corral Henry between the cars. Henry breaks right. Now he’s against our mobile. I am in front. Barbara is behind.Husband and Barbara’s son block access to escape left. I distract Henry from the front, his eyes on me. Barbara sneaks up behind him and grabs him by the butt.

Caught again.

I carry Henry up the stairs, husband follows. I contemplate knocking husband down the stairs, but there are witnesses. I mean how flying hard is it to latch a dang collar. We get inside, and there is one verbal lashing going on. Wisely, the unwise man keeps his mouth shut. I send him back to the story for another collar and leash.

He returns.

Once again Henry gets a collar put on. I check it. Leash. Next dang collar is put on. I check it. Both collars are appropriately closed. Take Henry outside, he stumbles down the stairs, apparently he is catching on. Take him over to pee, he does. But he doesn’t know how to walk up stairs. Lord love a duck. This night will never end.

I go first gently tugging on the leashes, husband follows behind gently pushes on Henry’s butt, and Henry manages to stumble up the stairs. YAY. Neighbor, enjoying the show, claps. Husband announces he is putting Henry to bed. In a pig’s eye, I say. What? He says.

Henry has to be brushed every day. He has long flowing hair which mats easily. He's your dog, I scream, slightly hysterically. YOU HAVE TO BRUSH HIM. 😂😂😂. Henry and my husband both seem to roll their eyes. I can brush him in the morning. Yup, you will. But you will also brush him tonight.

Cause he’s YOUR DOG. And I go to bed.
 
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Henry has made great strides in just a few days. He has gone from extreme anxiety to little anxiety. He has learned to get up and down the stairs, a real feat for those short legs. He has started eating a decent breakfast and dinner. He seems comfortable wondering about the place. He will come, sit by our respective chairs, and let us reach down and pet him, sometimes.

Leash training is getting there for me, not so much for my husband . But even though I have to walk Henry, cause my husband has trouble walking himself, let alone the puppy, my husband must walk down to the mobile home park with us. Cause it’s HIS dog.

And that is a major part of my plan to get my husband moving, and have a keeper for life dog. If you want a dog, you must walk the dog. If you can not personally deal with walking an undisciplined puppy, or training one 🙄 and he can’t, then my husband must still must walk with us, cause it’s his dog. He agreed.

We have lived here a year. This is the first time my husband has walked down to the park. He now walks down there 3 times a day with Henry. I hold Henry‘s leash and walk Henry. (Make no mistake, my husband is not walking with me. He is clear on that. He will not walk with me. He’s walking with Henry.). Down and back, half a mile. Husband has to stop about 4/5 times and catch his breathe. Henry doesn’t 🤪.

Henry and I walk husband back to the mobile, and then Henry and I walk some more. Henry is doing very well. He tries to walk where Stella walked. On the inside of the front walker wheel, next to my foot. But Henry is no Stella 😂. Stella was 4 pounds, very tiny yorkie. Tons of energy. Nothing tiny about short fat Henry, and his energy levels are a bit low. He usually ends up walking behind me. His chin bounces off the back of my foot.

When husband is along, Henry walks between the two of us, but he is not as calm. Henry has learned not to walk in front of the walker unless he wants to get hit. Stella also learned this very quickly. Koda, our very well trained service dog (who died) never learned this. Koda, a standard poodle announced he would walk wherever he wanted to walk-silly dog.

Henry self corrects on our alone walks. He still shows no interest in the wildlife around him. He will be our PTSD service dog so his lack of interest may change, when it does, I will correct him. But not any time soon. I have figured out the source of his trauma. Stupid backyard breeder, she should have known better.

Never, ever hit a puppy.
 


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