Puppy Time!!

Ben "Bennie" Hana

[Jason] On August 19th 2010, Andrea and I went to the pound on my lunch break to see if Bennie was still available for adoption. When we got there the ladies behind the counter at first thought he had been adopted already, however, after looking on thier system they discovered that he hadn't been. One of the ladies said that she thought there was going to be a line out the door waiting to adopt him because of how cute he was. We asked if we could go view him, and she informed us that he was with the staff vet currently and that we would have to come back after 2:00pm.

So, I went back to work for a couple of hours, and we headed back at 1:50 (we didn't want someone stealing our puppy!). Once we got there, we went pretty much straight back to meet him. We didn't know where he was, and didn't see any staff around at first so we started walking into the different areas. We got barked at a lot! Andrea got sad because she saw all the dogs in their cages (Andrea would adopt every dog if she could!). Andrea then left to find some staff. She directed us to the nursery and we got to meet him. We both loved him from the get go. He was quiet, soft, and really nice. So we decided we were going to get him.

We headed back up to the counter and started filling out the paperwork. The lady started singing "Bennie and the Jets" by Elton John while she was completing paperwork and then asked us what if we had a name in mind or if we wanted more time to get to know him. I couldn't get that song out of my head so we decided to keep his name Bennie. Everything was going well and we were just about done when they had to call my landlord (my parents) and see if it was fine that a dog was going to be entering the house. We had been told that Bennie would be between 20-30lbs by different people and when she called my Dad and he asked how big he was going to get, she said 50-60lbs! Andrea and I both looked at each other in shock as this was the first we heard he would be this big! So, my Dad told the lady that I wasn't allowed to have a dog that big in the house...

Andrea came to the rescue, and called her landlord and asked if it would be alright if he stayed at her apartment. Her landlord Joe said it wouldn't be a problem and so we changed up the adoption papers. After about 10 minutes Bennie was offically ours!

We got him from the back, went over some paper work and some info about his future neutering and microchipping and Andrea drove me back to work. We had to show off the new addition and everyone at work thought he was super cute and nice!

[Andrea] However, once he got home he was a totally different puppy! He began biting my feet, legs, and hands every time I took a step or moved in general.  He also began peeing everywhere.  It was a pretty overwhelming.  Bella (my 8-year old Beagle-Jack Russell) was not thrilled with getting bitten every time she moved either and decided to stay on the couch or chair once she realized that he was too small to jump up after her.  Finally, I googled how to stop biting and discovered that one way is to spray something that tastes bad on the things they bite.  I quickly remembered that I had some apple bitters from when I first got Bella and sprayed it on my legs, feet, and a pair of gloves that I put on my hands.  It worked only for a few bites and before I knew it I was applying it to my legs every 15 minutes.  I finally had enough and picked him up and held him so he couldn't reach me to bite.  This is when I first witnessed the transformation from Ben to demon dog...he began growling, baring his teeth, and whipping his head back and forth extremely quickly.  It was one of the most epic hissy fits I had ever experienced...when I later told Jason of this I coined the term "puptrum" (puppy tantrum).  I was so relieved when Jason got back from work to help!  It was so much easier to keep an eye on him together than when I was alone.  Bella also appreciated being able to get some attention from one of us also!

Bella and Ben!