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Henry came to us before Christmas 2004 at a time
of particular pain as we knew it was the last days of our beloved Megan who was
in the grip of an aggressive cancer. Henry's arrival was good for all of us and
Henry sorely needed a stable home. Henry came to Daneline at a tender 14 months
after a family breakup and had suffered from a tragic excess of love and
attention but a lack of discipline. We soon found that Henry was a dog with
character, many characters!
Henry the horrible; all Danes are capable of a secret gas attack but Henry had
an arsenal of weapons of mass asphyxiation. He can clear a room and the
nightmare scenario is to be in a traffic jam, in the summer and the car's
electric windows suddenly fail!
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Henry the happy wake up call; if I sleep on the edge of the bed I risk waking up
to a wet jowl against my ear. "Good morning daddy I love you, and I am hungry".
If I sleep at the centre my waking dream is of an earthquake as Henry burrows
under the pillow in search of a handkerchief. He has a "white things" fetish
that includes socks, underwear and paper tissues which he gathers and parades
around the house, eventually discarding the sodden bundle for the unwary to step
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Henry the Hoover; he looks down on the kitchen work surfaces and can spot any
morsel from the smallest crumb to a more substantial offering such as the time
that six sausages turned into four. He is largely cured of this because he does
not like the taste of the disinfectant spray that is always handy to wipe the
surface but I know that look!
Henry the humongous; actually he came to us as a bit of a wimp and barely 50kg.
We tried all sorts of different foods and even considered remortgaging to pay
for one particular hi-tech diet. Chicken and pasta seemed to stabilise his gut
and slowly he began to put on a little weight. He is now on proper food and
devours his tripe and wholemeal mixer with glee. He is a leaner and loves to
apply a 75 kg shove to pin the unsuspecting.
Henry the hesitant hero. Wimp is a better word to describe a hulk with a deep
fear of water. He will cross a stream in pursuit of a squirrel or a cat but the
return journey brings the horrors of alligators and monsters of the deep (deep
is anything greater than one inch). Henry will not cross, instead he paces up
and down, howling and crying pitifully until he is rescued |
Henry the handsome; he is a good looking lad and his tiger coat is the delight
of admiring school children who he meets on his afternoon walk but his gait
takes on a new dimension when he strut his stuff with his favourite toy in his
mouth.
Henry the humble; toys are Henry's weakness and our other Dane, China, exploits
this cruelly. She had never shown any interest in doggy toys until she learned
that she could cause great distress to the poor lad by stealing his toys and
taunting him. Sisters!
Henry in lurv; Oh it is sad. Henry hankers after a very pretty fawn Dane called
Grace who he often meets during his morning walk. They run and play like
pre-teenagers in love. Henry will walk with legs splayed and nose to the ground
to follow her scent but if he reaches the park before her he sits stubbornly,
looking longingly towards the direction where she might appear. Ahhhhh! |
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Henry the huggable. Henry is happiest while being hugged and will manoeuvre
himself to put his head under my arm then he will slowly sit and raise his head
to look up at me with his huge, melting brown eyes. Who could resist him. |
