Friday, April 13, 2007

Who would have thought?

The boys turned 5-years-old a few weeks ago.  They are a week apart in age, so we had back-to-back birthday celebrations.  Nothing fancy, they each just got a day of their favorite things.

With the boys turning 5 it really got me thinking about when they were puppies and how they have changed, and have not changed over the years.  After 5 years there are some things that really surprise me about them.

How Benjamin surprises me:

• Benny and his puffy are still best buds.  Well, actually what I more surprised about is the fact that we have been able to keep the puffy for 5 years.  It has needed to be washed countless times,  but it is still holding up very well.
• To this day, I still can’t believe Benjamin is potty trained.  It took forever for him to learn and even once he learned I thought it was just a fluke.  It has been years since we have had an accident *knock wood* in the house and for that I am ever so thankful.
• Benny has turned into a lap dog.  When he was younger, Benjamin never cared much for sitting on your lap.  Instead he would curl up beside you and he would only sit next to you for a few moments.  But, in his older age, Benny has become a real lap dog.  Every time I turn around it seems like he is jumping up on my lap.
• Benjamin is still terrified of sewers.  The first day we brought Benny home we found out about his fear of sewers.  To this day, Benjamin will drop to the ground and claw his way from any sewer.  Beyond that he knows exactly where every sewer is in the neighborhood and he avoids them like the plaque.

How Henry surprises me:

• Henry’s hips and knee have not given us any trouble over the years, *knock wook again*.  When Henry was around a year old, we found out that he had hip dysplasia.  We were told that as long as we kept Henry at a healthy weight he should never need surgery on his hips and so far that has proven to be true.  Unfortunately, Henry did need to have surgery on his knee to fix his luxating patella problem when he was about a year old.  I have always worried that he would have ongoing issue with his hips or knee and over the last few years he has been fine.  Granted he can’t jump up as well as Benjamin & Luna, but other than that you would never know he has hip problems.
• Henry uses his smarts for evil.  When Henry was a puppy he was so eager to please and learn new things.  Now, Henry uses his smarts to con his brother out of bones and get extra treats.
• Henry is no longer a big fan of baths.  When he was a puppy he loved to get a bath.  But now, he really doesn’t liked to be bathed.  This just strikes me as odd because Henry loves to swim and he loves to play in sprinklers.

And even though Luna hasn’t been with us for quite as long, I have still been thinking about how she has changed over the last year since she has been part of the family.

How Luna surprises me:

• Luna came to us potty trained!  At first, I thought it was just a fluke that we managed to take her out before she really needed to go potty, but after a year there have been plenty of times when Luna has done her little potty dance by the door letting us know that she needs to go out.  Since she came to live with us, the girl has not had an accident in the house!  Now, that calls for an extra treat!
• Luna is closer to Henry than Benjamin.  When we first adopted Luna, I was a little nervous with how she would fit in with the boys since they were very tight.  I thought for sure that her and Ben would get along the best and I was worried because I didn’t want Henry to feel left out.  Well, it turns out I was completely wrong.  Luna hangs out with Henry more than she does with Benny.  Now don’t get me wrong, Benjamin and Luna are best of friends, but when it comes time to settle down for a nap, Luna always looks for her old pal Hank.
• Luna likes her crate.  When we first adopted Luna she was not crate trained.  Crate training her was quite hard because anytime she was in the crate she pitched a fit.  We have video tapes to prove it.  But one day she just realized that the crate was not too bad and that she actually liked it.  It was a space she could call her own.  Now she retreats to her crate every morning after breakfast to catch a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep.