Einstein...Our Newest Addition



Last one, I swear!!!

 

When Hero died in the Spring of 2014, Bones was a little lost. I think she enjoyed being the only dog, but she now had nobody to play with. Knowing what a difference puppy Bones made to mid aged Hero, we decided to add a new family member that summer after my Biltmore LD in July.

 

We disagreed on who that new member should be.

 

I wanted to get a 2-3 year old dog from a local shelter. I love my Bones mutt and figured a dog in that age range would be over the puppy annoyingness and maybe house trained. Both of these things sounded wonderful with a toddler.

 

Dusty was not so keen on this idea. He was worried that a dog of unknown history might not enjoy the toddler so much and he worried Wyatt would get hurt. So that nixed that.

 

If we were now looking at actually purchasing our first pet, I wanted a Basset Hound. I had been wanting a Basset Hound for many years. Now was my chance. Add to that the fact that Dusty had promised me a Basset when I allowed him to find Lulu (the pitt bull pup who showed up at our door the previous fall) a home other than ours, and I thought I had the Basset locked down.

 

Except Dusty played the "We have 4 house pets and I had no say in any of them" card. Crap.

 

He wanted a Boykin Spaniel. My first thought was "What the heck is a Boykin Spaniel?"

 

Apparently, it is the state dog of SC bred to be both an excellent hunting dog plus the best family dog around. He figured the dog would have enough energy to hike, run and ride with us, but would still be able to sit around the house as well. It seemed like a good choice. He also just happened to know a breeder who had pups of the perfect age. We went to look.

 

Now....

 

If you ask Dusty he will tell you that I picked out Einstein. In a way this is accurate. I was the one who looked at the entire litter, grabbed up Einstein, declared him ours and gave him his name.

 

But....

 

He put the following restrictions on my choice:

 

- Must be male

- Must not be the largest

- Must not be the runt

 

There were three males. Once was tiny, one was large and one was just right. Not much of a decision to be made. I remind Dusty of this often.

 



 

Einstein at 8 weeks old

 We waited a few weeks to bring him home and he immediately took to all our family members including Wyatt. The cats hated him at first sight. Bones was ambivalent.

Wyatt meets Einstein summer 2014.

Worn out on his first day home

Einstein is special. In a take the short bus kinda way. I'm not sure where Dusty got his information, but this breed is not well endowed in intelligence. Seriously, the dog has rolled off the couch numerous times, ran head first into trees and took 9 months to house train.

I'm special

But....he is also the sweetest dog I have ever met. Einstein is not happy to merely be sitting by you. He will climb into your lap and sit on you and be perfectly content. He will lay on top of you if you let him. And Wyatt? He puts up with everything that kid throws his way. Tackling him from across the room? No big deal. Trying to ride him like a horse? Sure, why not? Pulling his stub of a tail and his big, curly ears? Ok by him. Hangin out in Wyatt's clubhouse under hot, stinky blankets? Sign him up! We couldn't have asked for a better toddler friendly dog.

Wyatt watching a movie with his two best friends

He stayed like this for about a half an hour until Wyatt decided to move

 Einstein is also a great trail dog. We have always let our pets off leash in the park as long as it is not busy with others. While Hero was extremely intelligent and Bones moderately so, it took them both about 3 years to be 100% trusted off leash to not go chasing everything and to come back when called every single time. Einstein did this from day one. He has an innate sense of sticking around and while his hunting breeding will kick in to make him circle around us, for being just about 1 year old now he is amazing off leash.

Einstein doing what he does best.

He adores swimming as well. He splishes and splashes with Wyatt and has been caught jumping into the bath tub to enjoy the water with Wyatt.

Playing fetch in the woods

Most of Einstein's behavior issues can be directly linked to the fact that he is a high energy dog who is crated Mon-Fri while we work full time. He goes to Puppy Day Care on Thursdays where he is the biggest hit with everyone. We also hike with him every weekend and once the weather cools he will start running in the evenings again.

The only big complain I have is that he is very mouthy. He chews on everything he can get his mouth on and has destroyed so many items I can't even think of them all. Part of it is pent up energy, but even after a strenuous run he still chews on absolutely everything. We are both doubting that he will ever fully grow out of that.

Wyatt adores him though and is always calling him into whatever room he is in, covering him up with blankets and in general loving him.

Going for ride in Wyatt's care seat