Name

Update June 7, 2010 (With a note of explanation... Benigan was one of our more notoriously "shy" (i.e. fearful) rescued dogs:

The storms of late still make Benigan nervous; even the temptation of peanut butter fed to him on a spoon in the midst of the storm can't even seem to calm his fear. As for some of his other fears, he is showing great progress. He has come around to some of the neighbors he consistently sees on his walks - he's let some pet him and he actually rolled on his back for another (the only thing Benigan asks of them is that they have a canine companion). But most of all, Benigan loves being at home . . . we do our best to make him feel safe when in the company of strangers or noises on his walks so when we are home he has become protective of us when anyone walks by our home. We've been able to notice the difference between the friendly bark & tail wag vs. the hair-raising bark and growl; it is comforting to have him around with us during the day.

Benigan likes to have ALL of us at home with him. He likes to play with Micah during the day. He loves his belly rubs - he'll lay down on his back right in front of our feet and "moan and groan" for a belly rub. Any time he hears us call his name he'll just slap his tail back and forth with such vigor and light-heartedness; it sounds much like a rattle snake so we've lovingly coined him "rattler". Life wouldn't be as sweet without him!

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” (Josh Billings)

Benigan (previously “Benny”) became the fifth member of our family a month ago. Our family and friends tell us how lucky he is to be with us, but we tell them we are the lucky ones to have him. Benigan has taught us to slow down and enjoy the quiet times we now find time to carve out in the busyness of our every day life.

When “Benny” came to live with us, we had no intention of changing his name. However, in the first couple of days whenever we called for either “Benny” or our 10-year-old beagle named Bagel, both dogs couldn’t make out who we were calling for. So it took us a week to come up with “Benigan”. We chose “Benigan” to honor the name previously given him (“Beni” for Benny) AND also to recognize that he was about to “begin again” with our family (“Benigan” which sounds very close to “begin again”). Benigan took to his new name instantly. So, now when we call for Benigan, Benigan comes and when we call for Bagel, well . . . both Bagel and Benigan come. Benigan tags along with Bagel to nudge our hands so that he too can share in the affection. We are so hopeful that since Benigan has learned to seek out our affection in his short time with us, he is making a recovery from the psychological and emotional scars put upon him.

We had never met a more scared, nervous, and shy dog than Benigan. He was scared in just about every facet of the human’s and dog’s life – he was afraid to walk alongside us, skirting us when possible; he was afraid to close his eyes to get some rest; he was afraid of human touch/affection; he was afraid of ALL sounds/noises; he was, quite sadly, afraid to eat AND drink. It took a couple of days for Benigan to warm up to us. When we first introduced him to our home, he quickly found his favorite “safety zone” behind our couch in the family room. He stayed there for the better part of 2 days staring blankly at the wall and didn’t come out to eat or drink. Our children would find their way back there to sit with Benigan or stretch out beside him. We didn’t encourage them to spend long periods of time back there with Benigan, only because we wanted to encourage him to come out from behind the couch and seek us out if he wanted the physical affection from us. He did find his way out in a matter of days.

In the first couple of weeks, it took some coaxing of our submissive 10-yr-old beagle to take on the leadership role to help Benigan move forward both physically and psychologically. Benigan has fallen easily into our daily routine in just a month’s time and we are so pleased with his progress.

Benigan greets the morning with a very happy, wildly, wagging tail and a nice long stretch. He loves his early morning and evening walks with Dad & Bagel. Dad says that unlike Bagel, Benigan is very alert & informs him with a low growl of any “out-of-the-ordinary” creatures that frequent our suburban neighborhood; e.g., a gathering of 2-3 deer up the block walking along the sidewalk or between houses. Dad says he does best on his walks in the dark because there are far less distractions and Benigan can relax and enjoy himself. But when Bagel and Benigan have a bead on something, you best hold on tight to their leashes because the two of them could pull you clear across the way in the direction of the scent they’ve put their nose on. Dad loves to share with us how tall Benigan walks and how high he holds his tail on their walks together. Upon returning from his morning walk, Benigan finds his way upstairs to look for our children and, sometimes, pleasantly surprises them by coming in to help Mom wake them up. He sits and watches as we proceed through our morning routine before heading off for the bus stop.

Mom and son take both boys (Bagel & Benigan) out for a midday walk around the neighborhood to familiarize Benigan to the sounds of daily life – laborers, neighbors, & other canines. He is still skittish of humans, but doesn’t pull and tug for dear life like he did a month ago. Yes, Benigan is more apt to go near a complete stranger if they too are handling a dog. However, he doesn’t care for ALL dogs we encounter – even though Benigan himself is not well-balanced yet, he seems to know which ones are and which one’s aren’t. He pays no mind to the un-balanced dogs in the neighborhood; Bagel and Benigan will not return one bark for another when it is with an un-balanced dog. Our two beagles will move right along. BUT, of all breeds, Benigan cannot resist the beagles. Other than Bagel, another 10-yr-old beagle recently moved in up the block SO Benigan naturally veers in that direction high-stepping it and holding his tail up so proud with, of course, that notorious beagle “howwwwwwl!” On the weekends, when the weather cooperates, we are able to take the boys out together as a family. That has been a joy for both humans and canines!

Bagel and Benigan get along fine – Bagel really pays Benigan no mind most times. Every now and then Bagel will bark at Benigan to get him to chase him around the house, but Benigan doesn’t always pursue. But it’s a different story after a good walk in the rain . . . Before Bagel and Benigan are allowed back into the house after their walks, they must first get their paws wiped off and, on the rainy days, they go through a good pat down with a towel. BUT you can only soak up so much with a towel and the rest needs to air dry. On the couple of occasions they’ve come back in from a soaking walk in the rain, the race is on when they enter the house. That is a blast to watch! If Bagel could he would spend 50% of his days outside soaking up the sun and completely passed out cold w/o a care in the world, but oddly enough, Benigan prefers to stay inside unless Mom goes out to sit alongside him on the deck. He does follow Bagel around, but often times now he follows Mom around the house as she tends to our son and the daily housework. As for feeding time, can you believe that we have 2 beagles that graze? When we put their food down, they don’t come running to scarf it down as many would expect – Bagel and Benigan come to sniff and then walk away until they feel like eating. However, we still keep a close eye on both just to make sure they are eating from their own bowls since Bagel is on the senior formula and Benigan is not.

a. Our daughter and Benigan share a very close bond (almost as if they are kindred spirits); he cries and stands at the door waiting for our daughter when she doesn’t return from the bus stop with us in the morning, BUT he is thrilled to pieces when she walks through the door in the afternoon.

b. Benigan is not 100% sure about the little boy in the house that pushes his cars and trucks around the house making strange noises and sometimes loud sounds, but he will sit and watch our son play.

c. Benigan likes to be with us at the end of the day when we share some quiet family time together reading books with our children.

d. Benigan also likes to join us upstairs for prayers before we tuck the kids into bed and THEN he knows it is his time to play (pouncing on his toys and, on occasion, getting to the plastic piece inside the toy that makes it squeak).

Benigan has completed our family. We love him dearly and we’d like to believe that he has fallen for us, too.

Bagel and Benigan both hung out in the yard while our family took care of some much needed yard work. What a beautiful fall weekend it was to rake the leaves, trim the landscaping, and get in a final mow for the year! Benigan did well with all the noises - the lawn mower, weed whacker, edger, blower, rake, hedge trimmer, and neighborhood children out enjoying the fresh air. But by the end of the day, Bagel and Benigan were looking forward to retiring to their crates for some much needed rest.

Benigan shares a special bond with each of us. But in the evenings, after our children have been tucked in to bed, Benigan will walk over to Dad and with one gentle touch, Dad can get Benigan to completely roll over on his side for a massage. Benigan will sit next to us while we enjoy some quiet time before bed and fall asleep with his head on our arms as we continue to pet him. That is, until it is time for that last walk of the day!

We were able to capture a special moment between Benigan and Dad last week.