Heeeeeeeere's Henry!

Well after much research, deliberation, waffling back and forth, pleading from the kids and finally praying about it, we have acquired a diminutive canine companion for the family. (a.k.a a Puppy!) How can it be that we could spend so much time and energy making the decision to get a dog when we had babies without giving it a second thought? It turns out raising a puppy is surprisingly similar to raising kids, with a few added perks like being encouraged to put him in a cage several hours at a time to give everyone a break and no breast feeding to worry about. (sorry about that mental picture!)

Our little Henry, whose official name is Henry Knox Byers, is a 6 pound Toy Poodle/Bichon Frise. That means basically he's a little ball of fluff. He's incredibly smart and keeps us laughing and on our toes. Luckily, there's been no sleepless nights and only a few accidents in the house, the worst one being the flying poo incident on the second day here. I saw him going into the living room, sniffing the floor and I KNEW he was looking for a spot. But he's dang fast and by the time I got to him he was already in the dreaded poo-poo crouch! I grabbed him quickly to take him out and the log that was already mostly out flew across the living room! Thank heavens for tile floors! haha

The panic and regret I felt in the first few days when he was crazy and play-biting everyone is mostly gone, thank goodness. We had a puppy trainer come and the best thing she taught us was how to communicate in Dog. When he's doing something he shouldn't, I growl at him and he stops most of the time. If he ignores me (like when he scores a sock -- why do dogs love socks so much?) we have a "bean bag" filled with metal chain that she told us to throw on the ground right next to him. It simulates the snap a dog would give if its growl was ignored. Who knew? That one works every time and we've pretty much eliminated the play-biting, though not the sock stealing.

He adores the little kids and runs around the yard like a crazy thing with them. This morning Eli and Gid set up a "finish line" tape and were racing across the grass to run through it. Henry was in pure ecstasy running across the grass with those silly boys. Jonah and Cody were a bit timid with him when he first came home, so they're working on getting him to warm up to them. I've encouraged them to give him treats because frankly, I think that's why he loves me so much. He definitely prefers me and follows me all over the house. It's so funny when I turn around and look him in the eye and he plops down on his bum and looks at me with those puppy dog eyes as if to say, "What are we gonna do now?" And he quickly forgives me when I turn around and step on him, not knowing he's there. What a good puppy! :D

Here's a few pictures from his first week. We had friends in town the day he came home. With 15 people in the house, you'd have thought it would be crazy, but he took it all in stride. His first steps outside you could just see how thrilled he was to be somewhere besides the cage in a pet store! We definitely tired him out, but I'm sure it was a good kind of exhausted.

Hannah and Henry on the first day.

Our friend Addison with Henry and his manly bow from the pet store. :D

This is what it looks like when you kneel down to take a picture of a dog who is rocketing across the yard to chew your camera strap!

We love it when Henry picks up random big stuff. He looks so proud to have snatched a garden shovel. (Sorry for the blur, he's fast!) My favorite was when he was running around chasing the kids with a 2 foot nerf sword in his mouth.

Curtis, our friends Addison and Jacob Everett and Henry.

Jonah, who prayed for a puppy, had his prayer answered and he couldn't be more thrilled!

The first night, Gid decided he was a puppy. Hoping maybe it would convince Henry to like his crate, I encouraged the game. These pictures pretty much tell the story.

At the end of a long afternoon, our puppy was tuckered out.

Lots of people questioned why we would get a puppy. We questioned why we would get a puppy! It just seems like the unconditional love a dog is a healing and happy influence in a home. We're not afraid of poop or work or training; otherwise, we'd never have seven kids! So, we're happy to put in the work to train this cute little ball of fluff (nicknamed Swiffer by my loving brother Ben). Hopefully, he'll be a part of our family for many years to come.