That pretty much sums up Herc. In two days I’ve noticed a lot of things about Herc, mostly that he just loves attention, and regards it as a rare and precious thing. I’d give him more, except for the allergy.
And what an allergy. My hands literally burn immediately upon wet contact. As someone with no other allergies, it’s really amazing to me.
The newest Herc revelation: Herc can’t scratch himself. Like many purebred dogs, especially big ones, Herc suffers from a certain amount of hip displatia. It’s not the worst case I’ve ever seen (a neighbor’s dog at our last house had a rottweiler who’d undergone two major surgeries by 11 months of age), but he still isn’t at all good with stairs.
So, there’s another thing which explains part of his neediness; he loves being scratched (of course his favorite place is his chest, which is the worst of the dry places for me to touch), and apparently there’s just so many ‘good’ places, he doesn’t know what to do with himself when you start to work on them.
After I figured out how much he probably needed it, I got on an old sweatshirt, jeans, and some work gloves and went to town on him for about 20 minutes. When I stopped, he dropped immediately into a deep, satisfied sleep.
Of course, by then I coudn’t appreciate it, because my face, eyes and throat was burning from the unavoidable dust I’d stirred up off him.
He’s a good dog… as long as you’re not me.
