Sunday, December 19, 2010

Introducing Gentle Ben

Ben is starting to settle in around here. He's a bit of a mystery to me, as he won't eat at this point; he takes treats only but will not eat his kibble. I've never met a lab who wouldn't eat!! However, the poor boy is completely out of his element; he has been taught NOTHING in his short life. He doesn't sit or down on command. He didn't know how to do stairs until yesterday. He hadn't been in a car until 2 days ago. And he's a HUGE (76 pounds worth!) boy but sooo gentle.


It's a horrible pic, I know. He would NOT sit still during his photo shoot and since he can't even sit on command, this was a huge challenge to get anything of him!

Ben is hysterically funny; he bounces in front of me, with a big toothy grin, as if to say "I'm cute! Pet me!".  And he loves Soph already; they've been playing nicely in the yard together. That alone is shocking to me; Soph plays with him. They bounce in and out of play bows, then off to run and body slam each other. It's quite funny. He's even great with Murph! I have to be honest, I haven't introduced Spike yet because he's so big that if something went wrong, I don't know how I'd be able to intervene. That being said, I have no indicators that it would go badly, but I still worry.


Look at me! I'm cute!!  He WAS looking at me directly with his toothy grin but silly boy bounced and moved his head as the photo snapped, LOL

In any case, he's beautiful! He might be a big, black boy, but someone is going to get an gentle giant in this dog. He's truly got a beautiful temperament! If he wasn't soooo darned big, he'd be staying here for sure!

Don't move, don't move! Shoot, you moved. It's blurry now! Sigh.


Pretty boy! I have to get some photos of him with Sophie to show the size difference. She looks dainty next to him!


Smile, Ben!


Oh, wiggle bum! That would have been a great photo, silly boy!

5 comments:

Dexter said...

A lab that won't eat? That is curious. He sounds like a wonderful guy. I sure hope he finds a furever home.

Slobbers,
mango

Ms. ~K said...

Oh My, what a handsome, big boy he is!!!
I'm worried about hims not eating...maybe too much excitement at once...
Hope the initial meeting w/ Spike goes well.
Keep us posted.
~K

Robin said...

Awww, he looks so sweet :)

Unknown said...

Aww...he is really, really gorgeous!! I'm sure he will find a good home soon - who could resist such a lovely boy?

Poor thing - I can't believe people keep dogs and then don't spend time teachign them anything - it's almost cruel!

I'm glad you managed a good introduction with Spike and it sounds like they all had a good play in the garden.

Fingers crossed for a possible adoption!

Hsin-Yi

Melissa said...

Hi Jen,
I first want to thank you for what you are doing for these foster dogs! I think it is so wonderful!
I am actually the owner to the father of "Ben", and it broke my heart to hear the situation Ben was in. I was actually the one who told the orignal owner to get in contact with New Hope. Ben looks exactly like his father Mason, and the personalities sound so similar as well. If you, or the adoptive parents ever would like some information on Ben's background,please feel free to contact me @ cmsilvernagle@xplornet.com. Not only do I have the father (who is an absolute wonderful dog), but my in-laws have one of his sisters (her name is Sierra and she is so sweet!).

Good luck to Ben! I know he will bring so much joy to someones life!!

Merry Christmas!!