Bennie

There is a cute puppy running around my house. His name is "Benny" and he is visiting until someone falls in love with him and whisks him off to an adoptive home.

I don't know much about Benny. I believe he came from a shelter West of here, an owner surrender. He appears to be at that gangly adolescent stage that Labradors tend to live their entire lives in. I don't know his parentage. The guess seems to be border collie/hound. Maybe he's border collie/Labrador. Anyway, he's a cute black and white medium size bundle of legs and tail and questing nose, probably seven to ten months old.

He's very gentle for a puppy that age. He doesn't mouth at all, so far. Benny is respectful of the cat and the other two dogs without being frightened or intimidated. He likes everyone he meets. When trying to get your attention, he is very tempted to jump up on you or at least paw at you, but he is working on that. He does well on a leash, for a puppy. Benny has little or no recall, but, again, he's working on it. He has mastered "sit" and "down" in a couple of very short lessons. He doesn't get fetch yet, but can see there are possibilities.

Inside, he hasn't had an accident or destroyed anything yet. He stayed in his crate nicely overnight. He doesn't understand that people food doesn't = puppy food, but he's working on it. When opening the car door or crate, Benny tends to rush off and so the concept of "wait" is being introduced. Benny has a wonderful "off switch." Each time I've come to my computer, he has curled up on his bed and dozed off. Puppies often are prone to car sickness, and Benny is no exception.

Anyway, that is my impression after 24 hours. If you are interested in Benny, check out http://www.broandtracy.org/broandtracy/index.shtml Benny is the smooth-coated dog at the bottom of the page.

Thunderphobia

I don't know why my Spoiled One has thunderphobia. Weasel usually has the market cornered on neurotic. Anyway, last night, Weasel, the cat, and I were all curled up on the bed peacefully sleeping. Suddenly, Spoiled One leaps up on the bed. He landed on Weasel, and dodged over to stomp on the cat, then slunk over to huddle against me, trembling in terror. I hadn't even heard the thunderclap, but that's about the only thing that sets him off like that.

I can remember playing with him in the midst of hailstorms when he was younger. I don't know what changed his opinion. I hear rumors that it can be a vaccine reaction. It seemed to develop when we moved to New Mexico, with the wonderful thunderstorms we have here - especially after he was left out in it once. I suspect he was tramatized and I must have unconsciously encouraged his fear after that.

Poor puppy. I didn't mean to give him a phobia.