Our Quirky Dog

This post is dedicated to the first child in our lives. Long before Jack and Anna, there was Hank.

You might remember this summer when I posted about how petrified Hank was of the fireworks for the Fourth. We knew what New Year's would be like and so we were prepared for a night of this 100+ pound dog trying to cram himself into the smallest spaces in our house.

And that's exactly what he did. He's actually fairly calm in this picture, but he's still squeezed into a space that's way too small for him.

What we were not prepared for, though, was his quirky behavior this afternoon. Once Jack finished washing his hands in the bathroom, we tried to leave and close the door behind us (we keep it closed so Jack doesn't play in the toilet), but Hank wouldn't budge. He was whimpering and would not leave the bathroom. This is as far as he would come out, even when I closed the door and opened it again trying to scoot him out.

Now, you really have to know our dog to understand how extremely weird this is for him. He is a people dog. This means wherever I go, there he is - ALWAYS! Even when I'm putting up laundry and I'm up and down stairs and in and out of everyone's rooms, Hank is always right on my heels until I sit down. The fact that he wouldn't leave the bathroom was mind boggling to me!

Now here's the kicker . . . he didn't leave the bathroom for 20 minutes!! The UPS guy walked onto our porch, rang the doorbell, and Hank barked at him from the bathroom! That is completely unheard of with this silly dog. If a leaf falls off of a tree he barks like someone is trying to break in and runs from window to window to scope out the situation. Again, let me reiterate that Hank did not leave this bathroom for TWENTY minutes! Wanna know what finally lured him out? Lunch. It was time for Jack to eat (he always "shares" with Hank) and once he got into his highchair Hank came bolting out of the bathroom like he was being chased by the boogey man. I guess hunger won out over fear. I never did figure out what had him so perplexed today, but here's a video of me trying to coax him out of the bathroom - please ignore the screaming child in the background!