Henry and Luna pictures

Updated pictures of the dynamic duo

Luna on guard duty

Henry and Luna snuggling

Getting kisses from my little girl

Their favorite spot is in the sun on the porch

Henry looks like a cartoon character

I put all their toys in the basket...and they pull them all out

Aunt Shanna sent them new toys that lasted all of 30 seconds

They got in trouble for ripping up a shoe box and I couldn't even be mad they were so upset with themselves...Henry sprinted into the laundry room hallway and crouched in the corner and Luna lunged under a table

Afternoon nap

Snoozin' after their morning hike

We got this old ottoman for the dogs to lay on - Henry loves being a king

Cooling off at the dog park! Henry howling as usual....

Luna after her bath

Henry smiling after his run

Smile, Luna!

When I sit at the counter and eat lunch she jumps on the couch and watches me

They are so cute

Watching dad in the bathroom

Henry enjoying some rubs from dad

Updates on Henry and Luna time! Both had a great summer of swimming, trail running, going to the dog park, snoozing, and becoming best buds. Luna is a little bit of a terror but is overall a good dog. She's only destroyed 3 pairs of shoes, an encyclopedia, a pair of glasses, a few pairs of socks, part of a coffee table, a set of retainers, 2 harnesses, and every toy in the house. I keep expecting to walk in the door and find her hanging out in our neighbors apartment because she chewed through the wall - but it hasn't happened yet. Henry is still the good boy that he always has been. I've noticed a certain maturation in him lately, or maybe it's because I now have Luna to compare him to. But overall, both are awesome.

Henry is currently snoozing away because he got stung by a bee today at the dog park. After putting on a dramatic show that would make anyone think that he had been shot in the foot at point blank, I brought him to the vet (as I always do if either of my dogs so much as hiccup). Henry limped around, ate his weight in dog treats, sat wagging his tail as I paid the $46 vet bill, scarfed down a baby aspirin, and is now completely drugged.
I'm beginning to think Henry purposely gets sick/hurt (or fakes it) just to go to the vet. Everyone fawns over him if Henry so much as glances at them with his big, sad, coonie eyes. "Awwww poooor Henryyyy" can be heard throughout the office as the staff rushes over and shoves various pieces of dried, dead animal in his mouth as I sit by scowling at my dwindling bank account and tell myself "no more vet visits unless his brains are LITERALLY hanging out of his ears."

Then Henry limps, sneezes, or cries again and the process is repeated. I wonder if they have a frequent buyer card at the vet office.

Good thing I love my hounds.

Luna the Escape Artist

I had a "Marley and Me" moment this morning while picking up Chris' birthday breakfast at the coffee shop. 
I'm a top-notch owner who wants to expose her dog to new things and Luna loves car rides so I brought her along and left her in the car parked in plain sight of the coffee shop with the window down. 
So I'm sitting there ordering, 5 in line people behind me...so I'm all "yup I'll have a medium Americano...a medium coff- AHHHHHHHHH LUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" 
My dog runs by the coffee shop front door. 
I SPRINT to the door, leaving my keys and wallet at the counter, to wrangle my airhead animal who had wiggled out of the half-opened window and rappelled down the side of my car.
I left my keys on the counter inside so I unlocked my car through the window - and what happens?
The effing car alarm goes off.
So I have my 45 pound dog under my arm, the car alarm is going off, my keys and wallet on the counter inside, and a small audience gawking. I get Luna back in the car and sprint back inside to get my keys.
I turn around and Luna is, once again, half in and half out of my window, stretched down on the side of my car and appears to be stuck. I scream yet again and sprint back outside (car alarm still going off, dog still hanging out the window, wallet still on counter).
Finally, I put her in the car, stopped the alarm, rolled up the window, composed myself, and walked back into BuzzBru Coffee like absolutely nothing happened. Naturally.
Henry would never pull this shit. He would just howl his head off until I came back and then eat all my food and spill all my coffee.

Lady Luna

Big news: Henry now has a little sister!  She's a golden retriever/heeler mix (the vet thinks) and we named her Luna. We weren't planning on getting another dog, anyone who has met Henry knows he's more than enough dog for anyone, especially first-time dog owners but she's here and she fits right in with our crazy pack.
This summer I have an internship where I do speech therapy home-visits with families for children under 3 years old. Most of the town I live in is considered "low-income" so my supervisor and I see a fair share of "not ideal" situations - Luna being one. We drove out to a placed called Corinne, Utah, which is basically just farmland for a home-visit with a family. When we got there, no one answered the door so we called and the mom said she'd be home soon, so we told her we were happy to wait on the porch. While we were waiting, out from under the porch crawls my future dog. She wasn't putting weight on her back right leg, she had 3 ticks (that we could immediately see) on her, her fur was matted, dirty, and covered in dust, and judging from her white gums she was severely dehydrated.
She walked right up to me, sat on my foot, and licked my legs as if to say "Hi. I'm your dog. What the hell took you so long to get here?"
Within seconds I knew that I wasn't leaving the house without this dog and, luckily (which seems to be a running theme this week), my supervisor felt the same way. We agreed that whether we take the dog now or we come back later that night and steal her, we were taking custody.
Again, luckily, at the end of the session when my supervisor casually mentioned we were admiring their beautiful dog on the porch, the owner said that she hadn't fed "the dog" and they tried to scare her away because the farmer they worked for hates dogs, and that they didn't want her...and when we mentioned we would take her, she was more than happy to tell us we could do what we wanted with her. She didn't even say goodbye to "the dog"- she said "the dog" was probably under porch, and with that she closed the door behind us.
Since then, the new pup has been fully vetted (Luna had never been to the vet or had a vaccination), bathed, brushed, clipped, trained, and named (twice, actually. First "Leila", which was changed to "Luna", as I was outvoted by Chris and Murphy's owner, Kate). In less than a week she learned to walk on a leash, sit, come to her name, and is potty trained. Her and Henry play constantly - and I mean constantly. When they're not eating or sleeping, they're wrestling toys from each other or nibbling each other. She's fantastic in the car (she drools excessively but then immediately falls asleep) and completely ignores other dogs.
The best part of all of this is how well she and Henry get along - I'm so thrilled. Chris and I have been talking about getting another dog on and off for the past few months, but never seriously. And this one just fell into my lap...actually sat on my foot, but same thing.

More on Luna to come - Friday she gets spayed...eek! Poor thing.

When Luna got to the apartment for the first time she immediately went down and fell asleep - and her fur was so matted! This was even after the vet cleaned her off.

Chris meeting Luna for the first time

All 3 dogs snoozin'...I'm also pet-sitting Murphy - it's like running a zoo here!

I put a little treat on her arm for when she wakes up

At Kate's apartment. Cool guys - I'll just sit on the floor.

What a sweet face she has -she's wearing her first collar/tag! 

Murphy, Luna, and Henry catching some rays at Kate's apartment

I looked over and Luna was dead asleep like this

Absolutely dead asleep....what a silly girl

Murphy and Henry week

Henry and I have a house guest this week! Murphy's owner, Kate, had to go back to New York last minute so Henry's best friend gets to hang out with us this week. Besides being completely unaware of his 100 lbs, stocky black lab frame and "beaver tail", we hardly notice Murphy is here. He's a great dog and Henry just loves him. I like having another dog around being they entertain each other with various shenanigans of chase, tag, wrestling, and tug-o-war. They also enjoy waking me up at 6:30 am ready to start the day- and if I don't get up immediately, they entertain themselves by watching me sleep while breathing heavily. But most of the time they're snuggled up together napping in the sunshine.

Murphy is half black lab, half bloodhound - he doesn't do it often, but he has a fantastic howl

Their relationship: Henry howling his head off and Murphy being extremely tolerant

Sniffing things

I could not get them out of the baby pool for the life of me - this was by far their favorite part

Murphy hiding in the bushes

Sunbathing

Chris was gone for the weekend - Henry was happy to have him back home

Happy 1 Year, Henry Hound!

On Sunday we celebrated Sir Henry being with us for 1 year! We picked him up last year on Cinco de Mayo and brought him to his forever home. The past year he's brought us more laughs and more love than we could ever have imagined coming from a dog. He's exactly the dog I've always wanted - the one that is truly my best friend. I don't think I've ever adored an animal as much as I adore my Henry.
We spent the weekend in Zion camping, running, and exploring southern Utah. It was the first time Henry had ever been camping and slept in a tent - and after some confusion with the netting in the tent (he tried to walk through it several times) he was really good in the tent! He curled up in a tiny ball between me and Chris and only woke up twice to howl at what I assume to be animals.
On Saturday we brought him to the St. George half ironman and in typical Henry fashion he ignored most of the people and pulled us over to the most of the dogs. Later in the day after he got thirsty and exhausted his behavior went downhill and he started barking at dogs - I feel like we pushed him a little bit with being outside in the warm weather all day. As soon as we got back to the car he drank a camelback full of water and fell completely asleep until we got to Zion - at which point he amused himself with attempting to track and eat lizards in the parking lot. Fantastic.
We camped Saturday night in the desert and once again Henry was great - he fell asleep even faster than the night before (probably due to pure exhaustion). We woke up Sunday and went for a run in Dixie National Forest. Henry had a blast running the trails and jumping over falling logs. It was a breezy 50 or so degrees - perfect running weather!

We got home Sunday afternoon and made Henry a grass fed bison burger (complete with cheese, ketchup, and a bun) for his "birthday" dinner...He ate it so fast I don't even think he tasted it. Henry slept for literally 2 days straight after that...I feel like such a good dog owner when he's exhausted!

Zion!

Desert sunset

Henry really appreciates it when I snuggled him eeextra hard

'

Henry's first time in a tent....he handled it much better than expected (He looks dreadfully unhappy in this picture but I swear he had a great time!)

Dixie National Park - this is the trail we took Henry for a run on Sunday

Me and my sidekick on our morning trail run behind our apartment

K9 5K

Henry competed in his first K9 5K yesterday....and won! He literally pulled Chris like a sled dog he was so excited. The 5k was to benefit 4 paws rescue in Logan, Utah and we raised over $700 for our rescue dogs! Henry had a great time playing with the other dogs, getting lots of treats, and, of course, running. It was so great to see so many awesome people bring their dogs out for the run.
Here are some pictures from the race! I absolutely love bringing Henry to events like this, it's so good for him and people absolutely love Henry's big ears and goofy personality. I love telling people about what great pets coonhounds make!

And they're off!

Come in for a strong finish! (I think Henry was running for the food table)

The race is over and Henry still wants to run

 Henry's best friend, Murphy, also ran in the race

I picked out a gold harness for him to celebrate his first win - it's a little flamboyant but I think he likes it

And one more picture that has nothing to do with the race...I took it a few days ago - what a pretty boy