ben

name: Benjamin Baxter

nickname: Ben, Benji, Benjers, Baby-Ben

gender: male

date of birth: 28 January 2020

breed: shih tzu mix

birth story: Ben is the son of Abby and Tucker. We had taken the two of them in intact from their previous homes, and kind of unexpectedly. While we knew what could happen, I stupidly didn't expect that Tucker would actually get Abby pregnant. Well, surprise! Ben was the only puppy in the litter, which really surprised us. We weren't even 100% sure that Abby was pregnant until about a week before he was born, because she was hardly showing. He was born around 12:30 AM on the morning of January 28th. I sat on the floor next to the crate that Abby had decided was her nest/box, and got to actually see him be born. It was pretty amazing.

name story: As soon as Ben was born and we made sure he was okay, I decided that I needed to wait up for Abby in case there were more puppies. I waited up about two hours, and none came. I went back to bed, figuring we might wake up to more puppies, but there were none when we woke up at 8:00 or so in the morning. We called the vet, because I figured that at this point, if there were still babies, Abby and the puppies could be in distress. They got us right in, and much to our surprise, there were no more babies! $175 for an x-ray later... my husband joked that we should call him Benjamin, because this little 8 hour old puppy had already cost us a couple of "Benjamins." I thought it was adorable. Benjamin was also the middle name of one of the cats we had lost a year before (Oliver Benjamin). I picked Baxter for his middle name after another cat we had lost (Baxter Elwynn).

fun facts: When we named him, I swore he would usually be called Benji, but it's super rare that he's actually Benji. The majority of the time, he's called "Baby Ben," always in a really high pitched exaggerated voice. Ben is bigger than both of his parents, and has long, lanky legs - we think that the combination of him being the only puppy and getting all of the milk, and a calcium supplement that Abby was on when she was nursing are the reason he's so big.

favorite things: Me (his human mommy). Stuffed animals. Laying on his back and having his belly scratched.

dislikes: Meeting new people at first (he turned six weeks the day that the world shut down due to COVID. We lost a lot of prime puppy socialization time because of that - even our family wasn't around us - but we are making up for lost time now). Being yelled at. A certain type of cookie that I bought - but he always forgets and grabs one from my hand and then spits it out onto the floor.

Ben when he was a teeny baby!