Monday, May 12, 2014

Introducing Henry

As many of my friends know, Greg and I lost our beloved little canine companion Maggie Muggins, just one month shy of her 16th birthday.  I cried practically non-stop for a couple of days, but pretty soon the "busy-ness" of concert and festival production helped me not to focus on how much I missed our sweet -- and sassy -- pet.  Sometime toward the end of March, St. Patrick's Day madness having come to a conclusion, we began to look in earnest for a dog who'd be a good fit for our crazy but happy lifestyle ...

Enter Henry

Henry is a dog who needed "re-homing."  If you're not familiar with the term (I wasn't), it means that the dog currently has a home but for one reason or another needs to find a new home.  Rather than simply surrendering the dog to a local shelter and hoping for the best, the current loving owners decide to supervise the adoption -- the re-homing -- themselves.

Here's Henry's story: About five years ago, he was found as a stray in North Carolina's Watauga County, up in the "High Country."  He was immediately reported lost at the local shelter, but his owners never came to look for him.  So his finders decided to keep the healthy and happy year-old pup, naming him Henry.  All was wonderful: Henry learned a bunch of useful things like sit/stay, roll over, dance, and everything was fine until his loyal and loving new owners welcomed a baby into the family.  As the baby grew into a toddler, it became apparent that Henry wasn't fond of the squealing and running around of a happy and healthy little boy.  And although Henry has grown to accept his "little brother," the concern is that he might not be so accepting of play companions, etc.  So the conclusion, probably arrived at with a bit of reluctance, is that what's best for Henry is that he find a home that doesn't have children.

Enter Marcille and Greg

We met Henry and took a short walkie last Monday at Black Mountain's Lake Tomahawk.  We all seemed to like each other well enough, so we arranged for a little sleepover last Thursday night.  Henry fit right in!  He loved exploring the Asheville East KOA, where we're currently living, and was immediately comfortable for his overnight in our Airstream trailer.  Slept right at the foot of our bed, he did, and welcomed us with great swishing tail wags the next morning.  We already knew that he traveled well in the car -- in fact, here's a funny little side-note: Henry usually rides in the back of his owners' SUV, so when he positioned himself between the seats in our van, he faced the back of the van!  :-)  He loves people and loves others dogs and is a pretty amiable fella all-around.  In other words, Henry's just the dog we were looking for -- just the dog we were meant to have, and at the right time!

Henry's coming to us this Wednesday.  Please welcome the new CEO of Celtic Heritage Productions, Inc.: