The Happy Go Lucky One

Finn. Kengali's Leap of Faith. He was born in the month of February in a Leap Year... but sometimes I wonder if his breeder took a "leap of faith" entrusting a show pup to relative newbies to the breed and someone that has never shown a dog before !! I guess only time will tell.

Finn. My paper shredder. My 5:00 am alarm clock. My very typical Ridgeback in that he eats all of his food and then looks up at me as if to say "that is not enough..." At 7 months, he has already passed up Beau in the weight department and he is edging him out on the height, too. He loves to chew. I have so many Nylabones laying around. He'll chew on one and then move to another. I have to replace them every few weeks. Oh. He is already sleeping in the bed. We vowed that we would never have a dog sleep in the bed with us... now we have 2! We never heard Beau bark until he was 5 months old. It was such a momentous occasion, I called my husband who was on vacation. Finn has barked since the day we brought him home. It has evolved in to this very deep, very hound-like bark. I think it's enough to keep any prospective no-do-gooders away from the house. Little do they know he is just a pup.

He is a joyful, happy go lucky puppy. Runs thru the yard and the house - but raise your voice and he looks devastated and immediately tries to make amends. Dog Parks tend to overwhelm him at first and to be honest, I have only seen him romp and play and wrestle with other Ridgebacks. Here he is on the beach with his half brother, Jack.

As a pup, he was hard to potty train. We were told a few cracks on his ass would do the trick. And lo and behold, it was one crack and it did the trick!! I worried constantly about him playing with Beau - they just played so rough and... what if he got hurt and I had to make the phone call to the breeder to tell her his potential show days were over? Not a phone call I wanted to make. Now that he is bigger... I worry about Beau!! He is also not a very good leash walker. Why? Because of his joy for life and his natural curiosity. He walks at the very end of his 16 foot Flexi leash and he goes from side to side sniffing, looking, leaping off curbs and just having a grand time. He has been known to tangle me up in his leash as well as himself.

He is an absolute joy to have around the house. He keeps us entertained with his antics and his personality. The one thing I do know... as different as they are, Beau and Finn love each other and that is a good thing. I was worried bringing in another male to the house and how that would affect Beau. So far it's been a good thing.