Thursday, April 3, 2014

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Today Henry turns 12 years old!

To celebrate Henry's birthday here are some of my favorite pictures of Hank - one from each year he has been with us. If you can't get enough of handsome Henry, check out more pictures of him on Flickr.

June 2002: Ironically enough, it took Henry a few months to grow into his eyes as a pup. He had such a dark mask and the most velvet ears I had ever felt. To this day, his ears are silky smooth.

July 2003: Henry has always been a water lover. He has never been an excellent swimmer, but that has certainly never diminished his love for the water. Whether it be a pool, the ocean a lake or just a really big puddle, if Henry can splash around in it and fetch something out of it Henry is having fun.

November 2004: The beaten path is never where Henry wants to be. Henry was always running off and exploring. The less worn the path, the more he wanted to go that way. I guess you could say that he has always been one to blaze his own trail. After all, that is how he did find that peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

January 2005: Henry has always been a big chewer, however he is the only one of the pugs that actually chews the Kong. When we give the pugs a kong, we usually fill it with peanut butter. Benjamin, Henry and Luna lick and lick until they get all the peanut butter out of the inside of the Kong. At that point, Benjamin and Luna give up. But that is when Henry is just getting started. He collects everyones kongs to make sure no one left any peanut butter behind and then he goes to town chewing on the kong like he is going to be able to crack it open and get every last drop of peanut butter.

June 2006: You can't talk about Henry and his favorite things and not talk about lounging in the sun. You can be assured that Henry gets the recommended dose of Vitamin D every day.

July 2007: Being a pug, Henry of course loves food. One of his favorites has always been noodles. Since we frequently call him Hanky Doodle, when he has noodles, we like to call them Doodle's noodles. Overall, Henry likes surprisingly healthy foods. He loves most vegetables, including the gross ones like brussel sprouts

July 2008: Henry has always been the official ear cleaner and takes the ear health of both Luna and Benjamin very seriously. It has worked great for Luna and Benjamin. Whenever they are at the vet they always get a great report on their ears. Unfortunately for Henry, neither Luna nor Benjamin return the favor to help keep Henry's ears clean.

February 2009: Henry has always been the co-pilot. He loves car rides and his preferred way of travel is with his head out the window. The faster the car is going the more fun he is having.

April 2010: Curious would be a good word to describe Henry. He is super smart and is very laid back, so when he encounters something new you almost see the wheels turning his head trying to process the situation. This makes him a lot of fun because he is game to try anything!

October 2011: Don't get me wrong, Henry likes his creature comforts, but he loves the great outdoors. No matter what the season he loves to be outside and exploring. He's never been camping, mainly because his humans enjoy the finer things in life, but we have always surmised that he would love it!

March 2012: While Benjamin has always been an early riser, Henry is perfectly content to turn breakfast into brunch and catch a few extra winks of sleep in the morning. Not only is he a man after my own heart with sleeping in, he also makes the best hug up buddy.

April 2013: Because of his calm demeanor, Henry sometimes gets to go on little trips by himself. A yearly tradition for him is to go to the Bark at the Park event for our local minor league baseball team. Henry loves the yearly outing because he has made friends with a few of the concession workers. So, as soon as he gets to the park, he finds his friends and scores plenty of ballpark snacks.