About Henry
For those who follow me on Flickr, I’ve been posting pictures for a few days now. I first learned about Henry on Thursday night (July 17, 2008). A post on TexAgs was made, with a local student asking what to do about his roommate’s neglect of a pet dog. The thread’s long, but details a tragedy. In brief, the dog’s owner came home and found that the dog had a bad case of bloody diarrhea while left in the kennel during the day, decided that he didn’t want to deal with it, and since the kennel obviously smelled bad, he threw it (with the dog in it) outside in the hundred-degree July heat.
The answer from the community was to get the dog some emergency medical care (done, he has a bad case of whipworms), call animal control and get things documented (done, dog owner getting a warning to surrender or adopt out the dog within 24 hours or he would be cited for first degree animal abuse), and then find another home for the dog because our local shelter is overcrowded and would have put the dog down since he had medical issues and was not immediately adoptable. I ended up taking in Hemi (as he was named), changing his name to Henry (as it sounded about the same and was much better suited to him) and will care for him for the next 90 days or until he’s certified to be worm-free. That is, if I can’t talk my roommate into letting me keep two of them. But I’m a sucker like that!
Henry has learned, in the past few days, how to sit, how to lay down, that it’s not polite to put paws on people to get their attention, that stealing Eo’s bone is a bad idea, how to walk on a leash properly. We’re working on wait, stay, and come. He would make an ideal agility dog. He’s intelligent (can open a foldable wire crate himself), agile (even in his underfed, underweight, and malnourished state he can clear a three-foot-high baby gate from a standing start) and very, very eager to please.
Eowyn and Henry get along mostly fine — she’s in a lot of pain right now and has been known to react a bit harshly when he bumps into her backside. I’m keeping them from interacting where the opportunity for him to hurt her (inadvertantly or not) presents itself, and keep her on a down/stay with me protecting her hips when they’re both out of crates. She’s supposed to be on 100% kennel rest this weekend anyway, but I’ve been letting her out to sun herself and for some social time.
If Henry was not a 55 lbs medium sized dog to Eowyn’s large-breed 75 lbs, and if Henry had a ridge or Eowyn was without one, they could be siblings. My best guess at his breed is Blackmouth Cur / Lab cross… but who really knows. It’s impossible to tell. They’re mutts, they’re good dogs, and I’m happy to have them in my home.
Henry came into the family as an ill, parasite-ridden, underweight 41.2 lbs dog. His transition to a happy, healthy 55 lbs dog has been nothing short of miraculous. You can see it in his body language, the way he holds his head up and looks at you with his nose instead of hiding from you, by the way he carries himself when he’s playing in the yard with Eo or another dog, and the way he’s happy to curl up with you if you welcome him — but will also happily go lay down on the carpet in the hallway.
I think I can safely say that bringing Henry into the family has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.