Have I Mentioned Our Dog?

Remember this post? Well, we are pleased to announce the newest member of the Tanner Clan, Harry Tanner—a.k.a. Erry, Hares, Erry Noodle, Harry NahNah, and The Dog.

Harry at Eight Months Old

We got Harry in September because if you buy a house, you must buy a dog….right? Doug too was a bit wary of my logic but when has he ever been able to reason with me? Anyway, Harry is a purebred Bouvier Des Flanders or The Dog of Flanders Field. Very romantic, wouldn’t you say. The Bouvier originated in Belgium. They were working dogs, used primarily for herding cattle and pulling milk carts. Because of their courageous and determined nature even under gunfire, they were used during the First World War to pull ambulance carts and carry messages through the lines. Hence the name The Dogs of Flanders Field. WWI decimated the Bouvier and WWII nearly drove them to extinction.

Today the Bouvier is a healthy though uncommon breed. You don’t find many Bouvier/Black Lab mixes at the humane society. You will, however, find them as police dogs in Europe, where they are appreciated for their intelligence, strength, and ability to tell the difference between real and perceived threats (unlike German Shepards, Dobermans, etc.). The Bouvier, it turns out, is also an awesome family pet.

So how did we come to own such a wonderful beast? And did we pay the $1600 typically paid for a Bouvie pup?

I’ll spill the beans so you don’t think we are living high in medical school.

We call Harry the clearance model. I had been disappointed searching for dogs at shelters and various breed rescues. It seems like most dogs in this area are infused with pit bull, not a breed I wanted to take on. As for rescue dogs, most had indeed been rescued from unhealthy situations and really weren’t suited for family life with small children. In addition, I was very particular. I wanted a dog that was mellow, good with children, protective but not unfriendly, possessed low prey drive; one that was non-shedding, non- barking, non- digging, non- pooping and so on---Harry is a stuffed dog.

Just kidding.

I came across an amateur breeder in the Eugene area who had two Bouvie pups left of a litter. I wasn’t overly familiar with the breed because like I said, they aren’t typically found at the humane society and as I balked at paying anything short of a nominal adoption fee for any dog, I never sought out a particular breed. But after reading a breed profile I thought the Bouvier might just be a good fit. So I emailed the Bouvier breeder and explained to him my sadness at not finding a dog at the humane society that fit our family’s needs. Would he consider taking $XXX for one of the pups? He was friendly in his reply, telling me he loved my story and in fact, the puppies had been raised with children the same age as mine, but no, he had several interested buyers willing to pay the asking price. I expected as much but let him know that if anything changed, keep us in mind.

Three weeks later I got an email from the breeder saying all of the potential buyers were dragging their feet or backed out—the economy, you know. The last pup was already 15 weeks old and he needed to be settled sooner than later as they were going on an extended vacation. If we were still interested, he’d sell us the dog for our humane society price.

Yes! We jumped in the van with all the kids and brought Harry home that day.

All My Children

Harry is a wonderful chap. We absolutely adore him. He’s all we could have hoped for as first time dog owners. I often think if anything ever happened to Harry, we’d never be able to replace him. He’d be our first and last dog. Our experience has been that good. Not that we haven’t had our moments but he’s one of the kids now and a perfect addition to our family.