Benji is adopted
Benji was sponsored by Diana M.
We just met Benji on Saturday night, but here’s what we have learned so far.
Benji is your typical fun loving terrier. He is extremely sweet but still a puppy in many ways!
He will require a home who can provide him with the training and exercise he requires. As mentioned, Benji is quite young and puppyish, so he would highly benefit from basic obedience training. He doesn’t really respond to any commands right now. He does know sit but only does it for a treat and sort of ignores you when you ask him to sit without one in your hand. He does come when you whistle though!
He gets along well with our 40lb terrier mix. Our dog is pretty chill though and doesn’t really play with Benji in the way Benji would like. I think Benji would really benefit from having a fur sibling with an equal amount of energy who likes to play also. Older dogs who don’t want to play might be annoyed with him and would likely find it stressful to have Benji around. He will also bark a bit at other dogs on walks sometimes- mostly just saying hi I think because he seems to love everyone.
Yesterday Benji met 11 year old and 8 year old girls and was great with both of them. Again because he is puppyish still and likes to play with his mouth and people’s hands, you’d want to be mindful of him around younger kids because of those pretty sharp little teeth.
He has had a couple accidents in the house (only #2’s) but that’s pretty common after a long stressful 12+ hour drive from Kentucky and a change in food and schedule. However, he is still very young so he might also just still need some work on housetraining skills too!
I did crate him for the first time this morning when I left the house for 1.5 hours because frankly I do not trust him to be free in my home right now. LOL! He’s got little sharp puppy like teeth and so I don’t want to give him an opportunity to be destructive. He has chewed a hole in a piece of clothing that was on the floor and this afternoon he just chewed his leash in half on me–however, it was just a cheap thin one! 😉 He hasn’t tried to chew any furniture or shoes, but not to say he wouldn’t if left to his own devices.
Benji doesn’t love going in to his crate initially and cries and barks quite loudly at first. He does settle down with some time (10- 15 minutes). I’m sure he’d get better with more crate training or being slowly given free range at home likely. But just be aware that training is necessary. Given the fact that he might bark for 15 minutes when you first leave and again if there are knocks or lots of noises this could be an issue for anyone living in an apartment/condo or close living quarters.
A yard isn’t an absolute deal breaker for Benji (but it is a BONUS if you have one and it’s fenced!). It is important that he get lots of exercise like going for good walks and some runs to expend some energy- because he does have quite a bit of it. 😊 We took him for a 4km walk yesterday, and he kept right up no problem. He is not trustworthy to be off leash AT ALL . He is small but a very fast runner.
