On Friday, Isaac and I adopted (can you still call it adopting if you spent crap-loads of money at a breeder?) a puppy! We have been wanting a dog for a long time, but timing and my allergies just haven’t allowed it. After tying the knot, we figured it was time to add another member to our family.
I present to you our 7 week old Mini Chocolate Australian Labradoodle, Henry!
Unbelievably adorable, right? We are in love. The great thing about Henry is that the breeder we are working with understands our situation and how difficult it can be with allergies. She is allowing us to have him for a one week trial period to see how I do! If all goes well, he will remain our four-legged son. If I have allergy issues too severe to manage, we can bring him back to her for a full refund. Something tells me, though, that that won’t be happening no matter what. Several friends and family have already made it quite obvious that they will gladly take little Hen off of our hands if it comes to that.
So far so good! I can play with him and cuddle him without any hives appearing (AMAZING!) and my asthma is completely fine. I’m not going to lie, I woke up with a little eye swelling today, and they are still a little tender, but I’m not convinced Henry is to blame. After all, I am severely allergic to everything outside and have spent pretty much the past two days out there.
Isaac drove three hours away on Friday to pick up our little bundle of joy. Henry screamed the entire ride home, making it a very long car ride for both boys. When he got home, Isaac said he was happy as could be, romping through the grass and playing hard. Isaac gave him a good bath to get him ready for mommy to come home from work!
I was just a LITTLE excited driving home from work on Friday
I walked in the door and saw Henry snuggled up in a towel, still damp from his bath, in the arms of my husband. When I walked up to them, Henry’s little tail started wagging and he batted a big puppy paw at me. I burst into tears and was crying so hard it brought me to my knees. Ridiculous, right? It was just so overwhelming, seeing a dog. In my house. MY DOG. I cried for about 5 minutes, Isaac may have shed a tear too. We were so excited to have our little boy.
Since then, it has been a whirlwind. I have always heard people say how difficult puppies are, but boy are they right. And Henry? He is an AMAZING puppy. Still, it is exhausting. He is incredibly attached (read clingy) to both Isaac and I, but especially me. In fact, as I sit here typing he is hugging my left foot with his paws and his head is resting on my right foot. He always wants to be touching, cuddling, loving his mom and dad. We are okay with that, but are hoping soon it lets up a little bit. As of now, when I’m making dinner he literally follows me across the kitchen back and forth, back and forth as I grab pots, pans, and ingredients. He is in love, but so are we.
We are currently in the process of crate training our little monster angel. His first night with us, he screamed for 10 hours straight. It is heartbreaking and incredibly frustrating, but I know it will be worth it. Last night, he did a lot better but still cried quite a bit. I’m thinking by Wednesday he will be good to go!
This dog is smart, ya’ll. I feel like the cliche first time parent/grandparent with a new baby, saying my baby is smarter than all the rest, but he truly is amazing. He is almost completely potty trained at 7 weeks old. Whenever we put him in the grass he goes to the bathroom within 30 seconds, we give him a treat, and we go inside. It is incredible!! He’s only had 2 accidents in the house and that was my fault. I let him wake up from a long nap and didn’t take him out. Whoops. Also, he can already walk and run next to me on a leash. I didn’t know that puppies his age could do such a thing! Genius, I tell you.
And speaking of puppy naps…
Is there ANYTHING CUTER?!?!
So that has been my life lately. Crazy busy with a sweet, whimpering, adorable, puppy making completing normal human functions like cook dinner and clean my room pretty difficult.
We have another 5 days in our official “puppy trial” and it makes me sick to my stomach to think about giving Henry back to his breeder or to another family to live with. I love him so much already, and I would be crushed to see him go. That being said, I am not going to make my quality of life suffer even more than I already do with allergies/eczema/asthma just to have a dog.
If you think about it, send up a little prayer/meditation/positive vibe/magic spell/good omen for Henry and I. I so, so badly want this to work out.
And so does he, I’m sure of it.
The Other Courtney 
Congrats on the new pup!! I don’t think there is one single word in the dictionary to define how ridiculously cute he is! 🙂
Thank you so much!! I agree, he (she, LOL) is just the best and SO dang cute. Sometimes she does something naughty but then looks at me with a little cocked head and puppy eyes and I MELT!
He’s so adorable! I hope it works out for you!
Thank you! It is going REALLY well, yay!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOW DID I MISS YOUR NEW PUPPY???!!!
Oh I hope you can keep him, you have all clearly turned into giant balls of mushy love. The picture of you two nose-kissing should have a warning label: “Will induce a serious case of, ‘Squeee!'”
Also: can you please tell me more about working at a dolphin research center?
Hehheheh isn’t he the cutest?!?!?! I am sooo in love- and I’m pretty sure we are going to keep him foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. My allergies are doing really well, even in the midst of the horrible pollen here!
We are complete mushballs, you are right. I feel like we have a new baby. Isaac and I will just stare at him lovingly and get a little misty-eyed at our sweet fur baby. It’s kind of gross. And amazing.
Dolphins- yes! That’s where I met my husband back in 2007. I went down to the Keys as an animal care and training intern and he went to work in the education and research department. It was truly amazing. We learned so much and had some incredible experiences. I was grooming myself and preparing to be a dolphin trainer, however my body had other plans. I became deathly allergic to fish and could no longer feed the dolphins- anaphylactic shock isn’t something that guests like to see haha! Anyway, it was really cool. I wrote two posts on it a long time ago if you’re interested!
https://theothercourtney.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/dolphin-memories-part-1/
https://theothercourtney.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/dolphin-memories-part-2/
Awe!! So cute! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that your allergies behave for you!
Thanks so much!!! I think things are going great. 5 days with him so far and I feel good. I think this means he gets to be my permanent son!! 😀
CONGRATS to the both of you!!! He’s aaaaadorable!! 🙂 🙂 Since you’ve gotten him so young, I’d definitely recommend taking him to puppy training classes. It’s SO worth it, believe me. I saw a huge difference in dogs I had that WERE trained and the ones you DIDN’T go to the classes. Have you watched Marley & Me? I just watched it last week. OMFG I sooooooooobbed at the end. Post a video if you can!! 🙂
Thank you!!! I have thought about puppy classes, but we may just try and do it ourselves. When we met, Isaac and I were both working at a dolphin research center learning how to train animals, so we both have a pretty good grasp on how it works. But if it gets to be too much, we may try those puppy classes, thanks for the tip! No I haven’t seen Marley and Me, I can’t bring myself to watch it!!! I heard it is just devastating.
I have some cute videos, I’ll definitely post some! How does that work, do you know if you have to have a paid wordpress account in order to embed video?
He’s adorable! I hope it works out for all of you!
Thank you!! I do too 😀
How cute is that little face! Awe, Henry is adorable. 🙂
Thanks!! I think hes precious 😀
OMG, cutest dog ever! I’m more allergic to dogs than I am to cats, but allergic to both, and I felt the same way when I got my cat — I’d rather have Chloe than not have allergies..
Thanks Amanda! From my facebook posts you can tell I’m a little obsessed with him, haha. Funny that you’re more allergic to dogs than cats, usually it’s the other way around! It’s definitely the case for me- cats send me into an immediate asthma attack.
He could not BE any cuter! Oh gosh his curly fur… it just kills me. SWEETEST DOG EVER! So happy for you and Isaac on this new “baby”. It especially warms my heart ’cause I have asthma and eczema too, and historically being around dogs or touching them makes me very itchy. Last time I cuddled with puppies, I then broke out in hives, so I haven’t touched dogs in years, which is very sad!!! But this was like 8 years ago so maybe with the right kind of dog, I could be okay with it. So I’m really hoping little Henry works out for you!! 🙂
Thanks girl!! Yeah I LOVE his curls! I am SO hoping this works out with him- like I said so far the only allergy symptoms I have are swollen eyes and a little bit of an itchy face. BUT the pollen here was HORRIBLE this weekend and today at work everyone is miserable, even those without allergies. So that makes me a little more optimistic and wonder if that is what’s causing the puffiness.
I’m the same way as you are around other dogs/cats/animals in genera. Break out in HORRIBLE hives and have to load up on the Benadryl. Have you ever pet a labradoodle? You may have the same luck as I do as far as skin goes!!!
I have never petted a labradoodle! Are they supposed to be “hypoallergenic”? Maybe I need to take a road trip just to pet this cute dog and meet you 😉
They are! Ours is bred down 7 generations so both his parents were labradoodles, and both their parents were labradoodles, and their parents……7 times! He doesn’t shed at all and is soooo soft. I like it because he doesn’t look like a poodle, not the BIGGEST fan of how they look, but we still get the hypoallergenic coat. That being said, as you probably know, a lot of “hyopallergenic dogs” are still no good for allergy people. I was definitely allergic to my Wheaten Terrier growing up, and they are also supposed to be hypoallergenic. It just depends on the dog I guess.
YES roadtrip!!! You’d have a room to stay in and a dog to play with 😀
omg…he has a little white tie! Cutttttte!!!!
What are you going to name him? Curly! lol…he is adorable though. Yahhhhh for the new family member.
haha yep, I love his little white patch! I hope it stays. He didn’t have it two weeks ago! Funny how their coats change so much.
His name is Henry 😀
*hands you a BIG stick to whap me with*
Jaysus…his name IS IN THE FECKIN title. What was I drinking last night when I asked what the lil guys name was????
How is he doing today?
hahahah it’s okay, we’ll just say you were distracted by those big gorgeous puppy eyes. And the booze, the booze too.
He is doing great!!! He is sleeping so good in his crate at night now, I’m so proud of the little monster.
Great pictures and description of your first days with Henry – SO hope you can keep him! He is just adorable.
Thanks, Virginia! I do too, just love that little stinker.
Congrats on the new pup!
Thank you!!