There is something wrong with our sweet new puppy, Henry.
We discovered it last week when we took him to the vet, and it was both startling and confusing.
All was going well until the doctor checked Henry’s reproductive organs. With a semi-concerned look he said, “I can’t find his testicles.” I can only imagine the worry that spread across Isaac’s face as the doctor searched for our little boy’s jewels only to come up empty handed, quite literally.
He did more frisking down under and said, “I can’t find his penis either.”
With Henry in his arms, the doctor broke the news to Isaac that our sweet little boy was missing both his testicles and penis.
Don’t worry though, there is a name and long-term prognosis for little boys who are missing penises, testicles, and all things male…it’s called BEING A FEMALE.
It is with my tail between my legs that I share with you- our little “Henry” is a female. Yes, we lived with him (her) for a whole week and did not realize he was a she until a medical professional broke the news to us.
The most necessary face palm ever
In our defense, we had no reason to look at our puppy’s genitals. We were told we were given a boy puppy and believed that his manly parts would be there. Sure, Henry pee’d like a girl, but all puppies do! Sure, I didn’t notice a certain protruding sex organ from his lower abdomen, but I thought maybe our little boy just drew from the short end of the dick stick where genitals were concerned .
Isaac called me after the vet appointment and I’m fairly certain my jaw hung open for 5 minutes straight. I couldn’t stop saying “what? I don’t get it? How did this happen?”
So here is what happened. There were ten puppies in the litter that we adopted Henry from. Each puppy wore a different colored piece of yarn around his or her neck so the breeder could track them as they grew and buyers could reserve certain puppies. We reserved a little chocolate male with a tan piece of yarn around his neck:
When Isaac went to go pick up our boy, the breeder accidentally grabbed the puppy with the yellow piece of yarn around her neck, the colors were very similar and I even remember thinking that when we went to play with the puppies several weeks ago.
The breeder was mortified. She and her husband apologized probably 20 times, but we insisted it was an honest mistake and didn’t change how much we loved our puppy, male or not. Admittedly, we were pretty bummed at first. We both really wanted a male dog, and his name was “Henry” for a reason. The money we bought Henry with was left to Isaac by his deceased grandfather, Henry. Henry the human loved animals and we wanted to do something with the money that he would have approved of- so we got a dog.
We were given the option to bring our puppy back and get the one we had reserved, but we decided to keep her. As Isaac so eloquently stated in his email to the breeder:
“Thank you again, and I apologize for the long email. I just don’t want you two to feel bad, everything you’ve done has been perfect, and we are so grateful it worked out. I know grandad is up there laughing away at this whole situation, and that in itself is even more comfort that this is definitely the right decision.”
I felt good about our decision. I immediately went to Petsmart and got Henry a new name tag:
“Henry” is now “Henri” and no it is not pronounced ahn-ree, we still call her hen-ree. She is our awesome, smart, silly, cuddly, tom-boy dog.
Isaac and I believe that things happen for a reason, and there is a reason we were given yellow ribbon puppy instead of tan. We couldn’t be happier and we are falling more in love with her every day.
The Other Courtney 
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Phew!!! That was a big relief! Glad to hear that the only issue was an identity crisis vs. a medical one! Henri is still ridiculously adorable!! 🙂
heheheh thanks!! Yep, my dad says she is going to need therapy for the week we thought she was a boy 😉
So cute! I love that you kept the name (even though you changed the spelling)! I guess this means that the allergies are not too much for you and you are able to keep her?
Thanks!! The allergies are doing great, woohoo!!! I have seriously thanked God every single day for three weeks- I am so so happy. The only time I have any allergy symptoms is when we are outside for a long time and she rolls in the grass/bushes and then I hold her. But that is my allergy to the pollen/grass, not so much the dog.
We are still not letting her in our bedrooms, she lives downstairs and I think it was a good plan to start training her that way. We will keep all the crap she drags in downstairs 😀
OMG…that was totally funny. And I am super glad you decided to keep Henri *smiles* …. and I love, love, love how your husband … I still like writing that for you *smiles*…anyway, I love how he thought that even that mix up and the laugh his granda would have had.
Tell him that his granda would be proud of him nod nods.
Yes, Isaac sometimes has the best words to put everything into perspective. It’s one of the many things I love about him! His emails sometimes bring me to tears!
Henri is doing great and I know grandad is loving watching our craziness in being “new parents” haha.
Too funny! I’m glad it worked out in the end! (Ha, Ha!)
haha thank you! 😀
HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAmazing. I thought this was going to be a story about the dog eating your expensive necklace. This is much funnier.
LOL nope she hasn’t eaten any of my jewelry or shoes yet (BIG YET, she is well on her way to destroying shoes, trying to nip that). Glad you enjoyed the ridiculousness hahaha. My husband should be especially embarrassed- he was a biology major in college and his parents both worked in education and taught sex ed. Whoops 😀
Hahaha. that won’t be the last unexpected thing that happens while owning a dog. When we went to adopt my dog Dave (a female, on purpose), my husband was like “What is that hanging off her butt? Is that poop?” And we tried to pick it off. It was just her dark-colored girl parts. Poor dog:(
hahahahhah, poor girl probably felt violated!!!! It happens though!
And wait, your dog’s name is Dave? Please say it is so!! That is awesome. Do you have people tell you that you can’t name her that? I’ve had two strangers tell me “You can’t name your girl dog Henri, at least call her Henrietta or something.” Another guy was acting pissed and said we should name her “michelle”…ummm what? People seriously need to mind their own business haha!
It was meant to be! Glad you kept Henri. 🙂
Thanks Johnathan! We are glad we kept her, too.
Bahaha! What a funny and sweet story. It’s amazing how the perception of Henry/Henri’s gender changes now that I look at her….. in your other post I was like, “Dang, what a handsome studly dog” and now I’m all like “This dog is such a beautiful stately little princess”. LOL!
Isn’t it amazing!?! That is exactly what I said to Isaac a few hours after we found out it was a girl. It TOTALLY feels different, even though nothing has changed. He said the cutest thing: “yeah, I feel different now too. Like when I gave her a bath after we got home from the vet and she was shaking, I felt so bad and I was cuddling her a lot and babying her a lot more.” haha- just goes to show that we innately treat men and women differently, no matter the species.
I of course think she is a cuddly, glamorous, princess girl too haha. In fact, my newest nickname for her is “Misses.” I’ve warmed right up to the fact that she is a SHE. 😀
She’s a total fashion model in that pic second from the top. 🙂
Right? Such a diva!
The same thing happened with my cat, except we thought he was a female until the vet said, “I think this kitten is a male.” (Which, of course, prompted me to say, “You think he’s a male, or he is a male?”)
But of course it doesn’t change the love you have for Henri any more than it changed the love I have for Maurice (who was Maggie for more than a week). He turned sixteen last September, and he rarely mentions the mix-up anymore.
And Henry or Henri, your puppy looks so ridiculously cuddly!
haha, whoops!! I really love the name Maurice for a cat anyway, that is awesome. I’m glad he’s not making you feel guilty about it anymore. My dad is telling me that Henri is going to need therapy for the week we called her a boy haha! 😉
She is SO cuddly, you are right. I love when she gets worn out and sleeps on my belly or nuzzles under my chin, it’s the sweetest. Key words being *when she gets worn out* haha- she is half lab half poodle after all :-p