Benny vs. the Meetup

It has been quite some time since I’ve made a post about our boy. A failing computer and an iPhone that had to go in for repairs made adding pictures and videos very difficult.

But it is now time for an update. He is now almost 9 months old and nearing 60 lbs. For the past few months he has had a problem with recurring diarrhea, but $600 in vet bills and a food change later, I think we have finally kicked the problem.

He now makes weekly trips to doggy day care. $20 for a full day and we get back a well exercised (read: exhausted) puppy. We have tried a couple, but so far PetSmart has the cleanest facility. I don’t like that they go potty inside, but they are closely watched and can’t get into anything. And given half a chance, our boy will lol. Just like a child he likes to put everything in his mouth!

Yesterday we went to a dog group that was celebrating 100 members. He made all kinds of new friends, and a couple of enemies in stupid pet parents. A bit of dog group etiquette: if our dogs are simply wrestling and no one is making a complaint, keep your hands OFF my dog or I will end you!!

Overall though, we all had a great time. Our friend Shawn brought his German shepherd/husky mix puppy and he had a ball too.

There are some great action shots, and you know your boy had a good play day when he NEEDS a bath when he gets home (literally crusted with slobber from a bouvier and a Bernese mountain dog). And then he slept for 5 hours straight lol.

Benny’s Pictures

We haven’t had many new videos lately (we have one of his first snow incoming, but it still has to be edited), and my friend (shout out to Shannon) made the very logical suggestion that we post pictures on the blog as well!

Since my brain is winding down for the weekend, what better day to round out my work day than by sharing awesome pictures of my super awesome pup!

Here’s one of Benny on the slide… trying, unsuccessfully to climb UP it, rather than to go down it!

You’ve seen the video, and here’s an action shot… a bit blurry… has made me realize how much we need an actual camera!

Peering out from the balcony.

After running insanely through the leaves, he takes a moment to reflect on how awesome nature is, that it provides him with his favourite toys.

Benny is the ultimate seat thief… he is also a fantastic actor. He may appear to be soundly sleeping and cozy, but no more than 30 seconds before this was taken, I had gotten up to grab a drink. “Oh, look ma, I’m super cute, there’s no way you’d make me move!” You’re right Benny… I couldn’t do it…

For the Grand Finale…. “I’m ready for my close-up!”

Enjoy for now! Have a fantastic weekend Benny fans!

Benny vs. The Slide

– dary! (This is the post I planned to follow The Sand lol)

The same day Benny played in the leaves, he also had some fun playing with another of his favourite things – a slide! After the first time he went down, he couldn’t get enough of it. Super cute!!

I muted the volume on this video because there was a lot of background noise and talking – so it’s silent for your pleasure.

Benny vs. The Leaves

Our Benny has always loved leaves. Besides sticks, they are his favourite toys. They serve to distract from walks, commands, meals and pooping. Imagine his delight when he found thousands of his ‘toys’ all piled together. Well, you don’t have to imagine, you get to see!

Part 4 of why our Benny is super awesome!

Benny vs. The Sand

This one is going back in time a little bit… on our second day of having our dear Benny he discovered the wonders of sand. It took him a few minutes to figure out what this strange new substance was, but once he realized that sand was meant for digging, the fun was on!!!

 

On Sunday we will be taking a video that will be legen… wait for it…

 

 

Benny vs. The Stairs

We don’t have stairs. We live on the sixth floor of an apartment, and we take the elevator up and down.

Because of this, our Benny didn’t see a stair for about a week – and he didn’t really know what to do about them! To make matters worse, he is not a very good jumper yet.

The first time he encountered stairs, he put his front legs on the first step and then whined, barked and struggled to not go any further. It was quite funny. He eventually figured them out.

He still can’t jump very well, but with 5 minutes of struggling he has managed to get onto the bed!

Here is a view of Benny going both up and down the stairs:

And now from the bottom of the stairs:

Benny vs. The Others

A little over a month ago my boyfriend and I decided, after much discussion, that we would expand our little family by adding a furry bundle of joy into it – a dog.  We weren’t specific over type, gender, age or size (well, except that we didn’t want a small dog), we just knew we wanted to ‘rescue’ a dog that would have otherwise ended up in a shelter, or one that was from a shelter.  After weeks of searching through various papers, kijiji and shelters, meeting dogs, and deciding they weren’t the right fit for our household, we finally visited the SPCA of Western Quebec.  We were very impressed with their site, and we went in prepared with a list of five dogs that we wanted to have a look at.

First, there was Bernie who had been there for two years already, and we felt so bad for the happy looking boy.  But he would have needed a firmer hand, and much more un-training and re-training than we had experience with.

There was also an adult golden retriever, Buddy; a puppy collie mix named Betty; a very young puppy named Lucy; and then there was our Ben, who was a husky puppy.  We took Ben out for a test-walk last, but I think he was already first in our minds.  While all the other dogs at the shelter were jumping up on their cages and barking at the new comers, Ben was just sitting calmly in his cage with this little cone on his head (he had just been neutered a couple of days before), looking at us curiously.

After taking him out for a walk, we decided this was definitely our boy.  He was curious but calm, good on the lead and smart.

To make things even better, he was so good in the car! He mostly just sleeps lol, but now that he is getting used to it, and us, more, he is beginning to look out the window and place his head on our shoulders.

More posts to follow about his progress, his cuteness and his attitude lol – he wouldn’t be our dog if he wasn’t a bit of a smartass!