It has come to my attention that certain parties feel I am remiss in posting playful puppy pictures (and other tidbits of canine cuteness). I wouldn't want to seem neglectful of my blog or anything...wait, too late for that. Anyway, here goes...
Henry is a fully integrated part of the family now. Of course, I am still his favorite (through no apparent effort on my part, he finds me endlessly appealing), but he also loves to cuddle with the little boys, do tricks for Ren and beg food off of anybody and everybody. It never fails that as the children emerge from their beds in the morning, they walk out and answer my "Good Morning" with a high pitched, sickly sweet, "Hi Henry!" So the dog follows me everywhere and I'm invisible to the children.
He will pretty much do ANYTHING for a treat and often runs through his whole repertoire of tricks spontaneously if he thinks you have some tasty morsel hidden in your palm. It's pretty entertaining to watch him sit then lay then roll over then lift his paw to shake ending with a soulful look all in less than 5 seconds!
Maybe the reason he likes me so much is because, like me, he has the Bolton family tongue! We Bolton women are known for having very long tongues...I'll leave it to you decide if Henry takes after my side or not. (There will not be a picture of me sticking out my tongue though, sorry.)
(this was a yawn -- Ren is NOT pulling on that tongue.)
He is pretty reliable in his potty training, so we finally gave him access to the whole upstairs. When I can't find him at night, he's usually cuddled in with the boys, who insist on sleeping on the floor. That's perfect for the puppy, he just picks the least wiggly one and settles in.
As you can see from the pictures, our puppy was getting pretty scruffy. His hair just grows and grows and grows. I felt bad when I realized he couldn't see and that his mustache was so long it was in his mouth, so I took him to the groomers. The kids begged me not have his hair cut, but I think the result was pretty cute. It's amazing how in the before pictures he looks like a scruffy, old dog and in the after pictures, he looks puppy-like than ever. When the groomer brought him out, we didn't even recognize him! The boys reaction was, "They made him look like a girl!" Maybe that's why I think he's so darling. ;D
He's a born model, I didn't make him pose like that, he just did it and gave me his best look of innocent sweetness. Then I'm sure he grabbed someone's undies and hightailed it out of there!
We find ourselves wondering what the big fuss was about getting a puppy. We debated and debated, agonizing over how much work and trouble one would be. It turns out, this little guy was the perfect addition to the family. We even forgive him for stealing our socks when he turns that angelic face up at us. Like Gideon and Eli are always saying to me when he crawls in their laps, "Aw, look Mom, I have a puppy!" We all do and he's a keeper.
