Henry's New Life

Maggie and I met Henry and his mom Kat at the dog run for the second time today. He has a great new life.

First and most important, Henry is still a delicate flower. He's terrified not only of thunder and lightning, which we knew, but he's also of it on TV. When a TV program had a storm on it, he shook and hid. Also, at the dog run recently a man with a big camera with a flash took Henry's picture. Henry tucked his tail, whimpered, and curled up near the gate. He had to go home. Clearly he believes that the camera steals your soul - or that the flash is a disciple of lightning. When he gets mad at his mom and dad, he stages protests. For example, he got scolded for going through the trash, and he took his bowl of food from the kitchen into the living room and throw the food from the bowl out onto the floor.

He doesn't like to go out after 7:30. He goes to sleep downstairs at 7:30 and if his parents want him to go outside after that, they have to catch him while he's changing positions. At 9:30 he goes upstairs to go to bed in earnest.

There's a parrot that lives on his street, and he hasn't seen it yet, but has heard it speak to him from the window as they walk by. He doesn't know what to make of that. He loves to run. It's great to see him at the dog run, running with the other dogs, barking at them to play with him. He has the deepest, loudest bark. Really impressive. All the dogs on his street go to this dog run (Wiggly Field) at the same time every day, so he gets to run a lot. He gets a 30 minute walk followed by 30 minutes of playing ball in the house each morning and evening. His mom takes him out when she wakes up at 6, then his dad takes him out again at 11, because their schedules are staggered, so he never has to wait too long to go out.

We're not sure if his reluctance to do his business at night comes from the storms that were so frequent his first week at his new home. Kat told me (last time) that the first night of a storm, she crawled into the bathtub and sat there with him and pulled the shower curtain shut to show him he was safe. She brings a little hand towel wherever they go to clean up the slobber that he often generates. He's slobbered up the walls a bit by shaking his head and spreading it like Hooch from Turner & Hooch. Kat isn't taking him to her parents next weekend when she has to go for the day because she wants him to feel secure, and not at all afraid that he might get left there, at a party with a lot of kids and people and confusion.

Bottom line: this boy has a great life. He's still incredibly fetching - people at the dog run seem to be taken with him - they ask questions and give him compliments all the time. No pictures, please.