Dog Park/Backyard

There are two dog parks at my apartment complex. Most evenings after work Bennie likes to drag me down to the park to play with his friends. Here he is socializing with a few of his friends, Grace and Ally.



He's always got a giant smile on his face when he's at the park.

National Arboretum

Bennie and I had a great weekend. First, he let me sleep in until 8:30 on Saturday! I haven’t slept in that late since the weekend before Bennie came home.

We spent Saturday at the U.S. Arboretum. I had no idea how pretty it is and how many exhibits are available to walk through. We had a great time walking around.

Here is Bennie posing with the columns behind him. The columns are from the U.S. capitol. In 1958 when the East Front underwent an expansion, the columns were removed during construction. They were replaced with replicas. In 1990, the original columns were restored and brought to the national arboretum.



For an arboretum, there are surprisingly few sticks on the ground. Of course, Bennie found the ONLY stick on the grounds and just had to play with it…





Here he is in “Fern Valley”, a path lined with many different fern plants. As we walked out of Fern Valley, I found a sign that said, “No Pets.” Opps. I suppose pets aren’t allowed because so many types of ferns are toxic to pets. At least Bennie was respectful and didn’t eat any. We’ll find a different path to walk along the next time we go.

A Few of Bennie’s Favorite Things: DESTRUCTION

Bennie has lost all of his baby teeth and has entered full-on destructive chewing mode. Every so often he finds things to chew on that I’d rather he leave alone.

I was getting ready for work one morning and after coming out of the bathroom, I was greeted with this sight. Bennie had ripped apart my newspaper. Here is a photo of the mess.



Here he is posing with it. He looks slightly proud, if you ask me.



An another day, I caught him ripping up a card that came with a book I checked out from the Library of Congress. The card is supposed to go back with the book so the librarians can check it back in. Thank goodness he didn’t try to eat the book!

Here are some of the chunks of the card.



Here is the card pieced back together.



Here is the nice note I wrote on the back of the card explaining to the good librarians at the Library of Congress that my dog tried to eat the card.



Here he is sleeping off the destruction.



He also chewed on my bedside table.



This is how I found him after discovering the table.



Here is the blue, fuzzy bear he got for puppy graduation. The bear will always have a scar...

Graduation

Bennie graduated from basic puppy obedience on Monday night. He can now sit, down, stay, come, and walk loosely next to me. Granted, I have to pump him full of treats to perform any of his new tricks.

Each puppy was awarded a diploma. Here is Bennie's:



After the puppies receive their diplomas, each puppy got to pick a toy out of a big bone-shaped toy box. The other puppies were a bit indecisive. Not Bennie. He ran up and grabbed a blue fuzzy toy that he hasn’t let out of his sight since picking it up.

Here he is chewing on a chew bone while lying on his blue, fuzzy bear.



Here he is resting with his blue fuzzy bear. He had just woken up as I snapped this photo.



Also of note, Bennie destroyed his toy within 2 minutes of having it. He ripped a bunch of the stuffing out as we waited for Nacho, his classmate to pick out his toy. Don’t worry, though. I performed emergency surgery on his new friend when we got home. Now it’s good as new.

April Showers Bring May Flowers (and Kate to Buy Stupid Things)

In March, we had a full week of rain and I felt bad making Bennie walk through it every morning. If I didn’t walk Bennie he’d have gone crazy with energy, though. Plus, it was really annoying having to dry him off every time I took him outside. So, clearly, I had to buy him a rain slicker. Here is the little model, posing in his new rain gear.

Beach Pup

I took Bennie to a dog beach in Maryland. He loved splashing in the Chesapeake and chasing the other dogs. He was a little too timid to jump in, but did dunk his head in the water to try and grab a sunken stick at one point.





The video shows him trying to get a green ball that belonged to another dog. The other dog's owner tossed it in trying to coax her dog to go in after it. Unfortunately for her, her dog was more timid than Bennie. You can hear both of us encouraging him to pick it up in the second video.

B.R.A.T. Update

So, my little brat didn’t get better right away. The vet recommended I put him on prescription bland food for a few days. Other than the fact that it was basically like paste (so it took him FOREVER to eat it) he enjoyed his new food. So much so, that I snapped a photo of him with some he was trying to save for later…

My B.R.A.T.

Bennie got an upset stomach this weekend. His doctor recommended I put him on a bland (kind of like a BRAT) diet and some simple medication. So, for the next few days while I eat ramen, toast and leftovers, I’m making Bennie rice and chicken (NOTE to mom: I'm not really making myself junk while Bennie eats prime. I just typed that for dramatic effect).

Here is a photo of my B.R.A.T. sleeping off his upset tummy.



Also, for anyone deeply concerned, Bennie's doing just fine. He is drinking plenty of water and his energy level is totally normal. He just has a little stomach bug and we caught it right away.

Mom/Nana Visits

My mom (Nana to Soren, Adam, and Hanna) came to town for a long weekend. We visited several new places including the Clara Barton Historic Site in Glen Echo, Maryland, Old Town Alexandria, the Georgetown Campus, and Annapolis, Maryland.

Here is a photo of mom/Nana getting to know Bennie



Here we are outside of the Clara Barton Historic Site and getting a drink at a bar in Old Town





By the end of the trip, mom and Bennie had become best friends

Bennie and "Resources"

Bennie found this duck at the dog park tonight. It was dirty, stinky and love at first sight. The moment he found his new friend he just had to show it off to all the other dogs at the park. When we left the park, Bennie brought his new friend home. Here he is chewing on the duck in his favorite duck chair.