Dog Blog Post #131: I am very pleased and honored to announce the arrival of Henry (the puppy formerly known as One-of-Ten)…
… and he’s adorable.
His introduction to Zachary was completely uneventful (yeah!)
Zachary was curious, but not unreasonably so. The sniffed each other through the ex-pen, Henry peed, Zachary peed, and that was pretty much that.
We spent the afternoon watching the boys (yes, it does feel good to say that again!) dismember paper bags and try to figure out how to play with each other.
Zachary’s motions are still “too big” for Henry, who backs away when Zachary approaches shaking a bag or a favorite toy. Henry has made several attempts, with the cutest little bark and play bow, followed by some scampering around, but Zachary appears perplexed as to how to interact with something so small.
Later in the evening, as things were settling down and Zachary was just lying next to me on the floor, Henry came up and gave snug bug a complete sniffy once-over - from tip of tail, to each paw, to his back, and finally his head and muzzle. That seemed to put Henry more at ease, and Zachary just watched with quiet dignity.
Later Henry decided Zachary tail was a great sport, and kept trying to catch it as it wagged.Zachary wags his tail a lot.
Henry had a great time.
Not all was fun and games… ok… it was all fun and games – but learning games!
I worked on Henry’s “default sit”. That is, when I’m in the kitchen, if you sit, you’re liable to get something good to eat. Henry picked this up really fast. I also worked on Food Zen (chewing on my hand doesn’t make it open), Toy Zen (see above), some play retrieves (I throw, you chase… and then eat. This obviously needs a bit more work!), calm for cuddling (he aced that one!), coming when called (no problems there (I know, just wait)), and Chewies 101 – that is, “I hold, you chew”.
I trotted the clicker out in there and he was fine with it. Hasn’t a clue what it means yet, but he’ll get there.
Oh, and I made a short video, titled (oddly enough) Henry's First Day.
Thus ends Day One.
(… and it was good.)
4 comments:
Congrats! Glad the intro went well for you (as I told you it would :) )
What a cutie!! I am so happy for you all! And Henry? Awesome! Our Magnus was almost a Henry, I love that name! Sounds like you are already ahead of the game with the little guy and training.:)
I would love to hear how one-of-ten turned out to be Henry. Was he the one you had in mind? It's so interesting since it's so different than how we came to have our new little guy.
Oh ya, one more thing, aint puppy breath great???LOL
I could say that he's Henry because he was one-of-eight boy puppies (groan), but I actually checked out a baby names book from the library, wrote down all the ones that met with out naming criteria (name length, sound, similarity to commands, etc.) and Henry was the winner!
I like Magnus - good strong name for a boy puppy!
Oh - and yes, he was our first choice puppy. :)
I think it's wonderful you got a rescue pup! When we decided to go the reputable breeder route to get Beau, seven years ago, I began making monthly donations to the local shelter. It feels good to say that in his lifetime I have donated enough to have bought him 3 times over (and then some.)
My wonderful cats were all shelter cats (3) and so I have real soft spot there.
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