How Henry The Weather Dog Endured His First Winter, Was Unimpressed By It, But Came Out Victorious

Henry the Weather Dog, with a "What am I doing here?"
look on his face in early December, the start of the first
Vermont winter. He gradually grew accustomed to it, sort of.

Time for a little fun. And a cute little video at the bottom of the post to illustrate everything. 

I'm sure people who have seen this blog thingy have seen images of my co-worker and close friend, Henry the Weather Dog.

He took on the weather watching job here in St. Albans last May, not long after Jackson the Weather Dog passed away after 14 years of exemplary service. 

Henry proved very much up to the task even though he, like Jackson, hated rain. I guess rain messed with both their hairdos. Or their aura. Or something. 

Henry is a South Texas dog, hailing from San Antonio He was used to hot weather and sunshine. 

He was in luck not long after he moved to Vermont. His favorite weather is warm sunshine. Actually hot sunshine.  He could spend hours basking in sun, As Henry soaked up the sun's heat, I told myself he was helping me study how the sun's intensity changed, how it affected our temperature, and humidity. And whether it would help produce thunderstorms, which are my favorite kind of weather. 

The thunderstorm never really came. During the summer and fall, a severe drought took hold. So did unusually high temperatures. Sometimes record highs. While his humans wilted in the heat, Henry thrived in it. He must have thought Vermont's climate was just like what he experience in the torrid San Antonio summers.  

Boy, was Henry in for a surprise! It abruptly turned colder toward Halloween. Henry had never seen snow before. How would he handle a Vermont winter?

The answer came in November and the answer was: Not great. It was bad enough when we had a dusting of snow on November 9. His reaction, like mine, frankly, was "What is this shit?" Except he'd never seen it before. If the snow as a movie, he'd give it a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. Given a chance, Henry would literally throw rotten tomatoes if it would make the snow go awy. 

Henry is a little guy, so a couple days after that his introduction to snow flurries, we got our first big snowstorm of the season. Nearly a foot of snow fell. Henry was not having it. 

Henry never came around to really love the snow in our long, cold winter. It seemed the snow would never melt. But ever the trooper, he found the bright side of it. 

He discovered critters hid under the snow. He could hunt! That was his favorite winter activity. Twice this winter he dug his snout into the snow and murdered two voles (I sanctioned the crimes, so all is good). I dug paths through the snow, so he can follow his nose and track where everything has gone. 

As the winter cold deepened, his visits outdoors shortened. He spend a few seconds to confirm it was below zero outside, and then he scooted right back inside to burrow into his cozy blankets. 

Even so, Henry has been productive. He ate ice off of the driveway, doing his part to make the pavement safer. He kept predators away. Deer and rabbits, desperate for food because of icy snow covering the ground for so long, decimated some of my hydrangeas. 

It was only 20 degrees or so today, but the March sun
is feeling warmer. So Henry the Weather Dog is 
lingering outside a little longer now that the
sun and the pavement feel warmer 

Henry is trying to save the hydrangeas by peeing around them to provide a deterring scent.

 On several occasions, most recently yesterday, he saw deer approaching the house and barked and snarled them back deeper into the woods. Don't worry, he was on a leash, he doesn't chase deer into exhaustion.

Both Henry and I have noticed the sun getting stronger as we head into March. 

It was only 20 degrees or so this afternoon, but the March sun actually felt kind of warm. Henry sat down, lingered on a dry spot in the driveway, sat down, closed his eyes....and basked. 

Spring is coming. Eventually.  

The deer will go away like they do every spring, to be replaced by hordes rabbits, which he will gleefully flush from the gardens. 

Henry has found his home. Despite its drawbacks, he tells me he's going to continue on as my weather dog for quite some time yet. He deserves a raise. 

Video: Henry's journey through his first Vermont winter. He wasn't always happy about it, but he persevered. Click on this link to see the video, or if you see the image below, click on that.

 

Meet Henry, Our New Weather Dog

Meet Henry, the newest addition to our St. Albans,
Vermont family. He has taken over duties as 
the Weather Dog to assist with this blog.

 Back in April, you read here in this here blog thingy that Jackson, our loyal weather dog for 14 years passed away.  

Nearly two weeks ago though,  we welcomed our brand new weather dog. Meet Henry.    

No dog can replace Jackson, of course, But in the short time he's lived with us, Henry has proved himself a more than worthy successor. 

He's settled right into our household, loving the belly rubs, exploring the outdoors and helping me with my daily weather routines. 

Obviously Henry doesn't exist just to help me with the weather. Jackson didn't either. 

There's just something about caring for a dog, being responsible for its well being, and keeping both the dog and I entertained is what it's all about. 

Henry, age 4,  a chihuahua and terrier mix, has already proven himself a supremely happy dog, despite his rough beginnings. 

He was found in San Antonio, Texas, having been hit by a car. He had a broken pelvis and leg. He was brought to an animal shelter for care, but nobody claimed him. No tags. No microchip. 

Henry was actually put on a euthanasia list before a rescue organization saved him. He got the medical care he needed to heal his pelvis and leg.  Judging how Henry now runs around at full speed, I guess the recovery went well.

An extremely kind woman named Bonnie fostered Henry and nursed Henry back to health, and taught him how to live, love and experience joy again. Bonnie had become quite attached to Henry and wanted to keep him with her as a forever home .But she had bigger dogs that weren't not so enthusiastic about Henry .

Bonnie's big heart knew that Henry needed a safer home, So she flew to fly to Vermont with Henry, where she tearfully said goodbye to him and kindly turned him over to Jeff and me. 

Henry was understandably nervous in his new Vermont house with us for the first couple of days. But he quickly warmed to the occasion, and now he's right at home. He's not afraid of jumping up on the couch for a neck scratch or even turning over on his back to enjoy a bely rub  Announcements that it's time for dinner or do go outside are met with him literally jumping for joy, as if he'd won Mega Millions.

Being our Weather Dog, Henry does have some preferences  He does not like being out in the rain. He's not a fan of cold weather.  This being a Texas dog, we'll have to wait and see how he reacts to snow, but I'm not optimistic. He likes basking in sunshine, and loves breezy days as they are filled with scents to keep him entertained,

Henry has also already proven himself adept and removing pesky birds and rabbits from our yard.

So say a warm welcome to Henry.  You'll see him off and on in this weather blog, and we'll of course keep you posted on how he's doing.