Benson

The first part of the week was spent of coming up with dog names.  Many, many, many names were suggested over the course of 3-4 days.  Josiah really wanted "Dog."  Henry's favorites were Rocket, Blaze, and Dash.  Caroline liked Cuddle, Snowball, Cinderella, and James.  (Todd really wanted Starsky, but I vetoed that.)  Finally, I wrote down a list of the top fifty (yep, 50) names the kids, as well as Todd and I, liked.  The kids got different colored pens and put a colored dot next to the names they liked.  Only three names had all three dots from the kids: Cuddle, Buddy, and Blue.  That wasn't good.  I actually liked Blue, too, but Todd vetoed that one.  So Todd and I decided to narrow down the list with names that we would actually use.  From that list we were down to Hutch and Ravi.  There were literal tears from more than one child because they were on opposing sides of names.  It got so bad that the night before our appointment at the SPCA Todd and I ditched all the names and came up with two more that they had to chose from:  Cannon and Benson.  It was another 2:1 situation, with Henry in the Cannon camp and Josiah and Caroline rooting for Benson.  When we had our appointment and saw the dog, Henry said it looked like a Benson.  So Benson stuck.  But at some point when we told the kids the two possible names, Henry had misunderstood the name Benson and thought it was the dummy's name from Toy Story 4.  Todd reminded him that the dummy's name was Vincent.  But when you say Benson quickly, fifty times a day, it sounds like Vincent, so now I've almost called the dog Vincent and while it's a wonderful name, it's not the dog's name.  I think we should have gone with Tux or something because he has a black coat with white paws and a white front. 

We all masked up for our SPCA appointment.  They brought the dog out and it was scared to walk outside, so the woman carried it to a crate so we could interact with him.  He was very friendly once in the crate and she said that he was found in a lumber yard with his mother and two siblings (and ten dead puppies).  He was only in the shelter for a little over two weeks before we got him.  He is about 4 1/2 months old and over all he's been a good dog.  He was excited in the car on the drive home.  We had a box to put him in with a blanket on the bottom in case he peed.  Of course it took the kids a while to get their seat belts on so while they were fumbling with those, Benson jumped out of the box and then proceeded to pee soon after we had gotten on the highway.  I told the kids to put the blanket under him so the pee would go on the blanket.  Then after the peeing was done, Josiah starts to open his window because he was going to throw the pee soaked blanket out the window.  Meanwhile I'm driving 70 on the highway asking him what the heck he's doing opening his window.  Put the blanket back on the ground!  When have we ever thrown anything out the window?

My biggest issue with getting a dog was potty training.  Not a fan.  Been there, done that, not looking to do it again.  The first day he peed in the kitchen.  That apparently marked his spot, because he peed in the same spot the following day, and again the day after.  Finally I wised up and put our big recycling trash can in the exact spot and he hasn't done it since.  However, I've been on high alert since the first pee incident.  Whenever we're awake, I'm always on the lookout for where he is and what he's doing.  Not looking to have more accidents.  He's improved a lot just in the few days we've had him.  He barks when he needs to go outside to do his business and doesn't bark much more than that.  He's been accident free today, so we're (I'm) really happy about that.  He also sleeps in his crate at night with no problems.  Lays down and sleeps all night.

The boys were really excited to get him.  They have enjoyed playing with him and having a dog of their own.  They're on board with the feeding and watering and giving treats.  They bring him outside and toss the ball.  They've done well.  Keeping an eye on him while he's potty training hasn't been their cup of tea, but once he is totally trained in that department, we can relax on the constantly watching him.  (I can relax on making everyone constantly watch him....)

Caroline, however, has been a different story.  Caroline wanted a dog....before we got a dog.  She has really, really struggled.  Just watching her as we drove home from the SPCA with him, she was holding back tears.  I could see her little chin dimpled trying to keep it in.  She was really upset that Benson peed in the car.  She does not like accidents.  We have had lots of one-on-one conversations and she's said that his barking scares her and that he follows her when she's downstairs.  Sniffing and licking her feet.  She has asked (more than once), "Can we bring him back where we got him?"  She has spent most of her days upstairs, which we told her cannot continue.  She told me that if we (she and I) take a walk in the mornings then she would feel more comfortable with the dog.  It would make it easier for her to come downstairs.  So now I take her for a walk in the mornings instead of the dog.  I asked her to give it two weeks and she's willing to do that.  We're praying she comes around.

Caroline has been very good at directing us about what to do with the dog.  Every time he drinks from the water bowl, she announces, "He's drinking.  You need to take him out."  (Do you pee after every sip of water?)  She keeps track of where he is and what he's doing.  She's quick to tell the boys how to handle him.  All from the safety of her counter-height chair with her legs tucked firmly under her.

Todd took the dog to the vet on Saturday morning for a complimentary check-up courtesy of the SPCA.  The vet told Todd that he thought the dog would get to 70 lbs.  That's a big dog.  He also gave us the clearance to bathe the dog on June 30th.  We've had to wait since he was neutered, yet to the olfactories, he is in desperate need of a bath.  We also picked the wettest week possible to adopt a dog.  We have had thunderstorms for much of the week which made the potty training all the more fun.  He had a strong dog odor when we first got him and the rain only made it that much more pleasant.  Fortunately we've had a dry weekend, which has helped in the smell department.  That or we're just getting used to it.

It is amazing how the dog has taken to Todd's commands.  He knows that Todd's the alpha.  He sits the best for him and uses the bathroom the best for him, too.  And Todd's the best at poop patrol.  He's picked it all up.  I, for one, am very, very grateful.

And just like that, we're a dog family.

Caroline has been asking for days (weeks?) to go to the pool.  This weekend I told her that I had made it a goal to go on Sunday.  She kept asking me what that meant.  A goal.  It means that we'll go if we really have to, but I'm silently praying for thunder.  But after we got a lot of yardwork done, I took both she and Henry to the pool.  Josiah was off at the neighbor friend's house and didn't show up at the appointed time so we left him.  (There's been a lot of "I forgot" from said child when we have asked him to do things around the house, so when he missed the time I just figured he forgot.  Then I thought that maybe if he forgot something fun then he'd work on remembering.  I don't think my logic transferred to him at all, but that's how it went in my head.)  Plus, we have to do the pool at specific times because of how they're only open for 90 minutes before shutting down to clean.  Caroline was really happy to go.  Super excited.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much she remembered from her swim lessons. She remembered how to do the freestyle, but, like Henry, tired quickly.  It was really encouraging that she remembered the skill though.  We had a good time and stayed the full 90 minutes.  Then, as we are driving up to the house, we passed Josiah walking over to neighbor friend's house with his swim trunks on and a towel in hand.  He was going to their backyard pool for a while.  Caroline went from having a pleasant afternoon to "that's not fair" in half a second.  Immediately tears and anger that Josiah got to go to their friend's pool and she didn't get to go.  Sometimes you're durned if you do and durned if you don't. 

Happier times.