Please welcome Henry to the RAGOM family. We call him “Happy Henry” because that’s exactly what he is! Whenever he’s not sleeping or napping, there’s always a smile on this boy’s face. Henry was lovingly surrendered to RAGOM because his owners are separating and neither was able to give him the attention that he deserves.

Henry came into our household and immediately made himself right at home! He gets along just fine with his two foster canine brothers and his feline sister. He has already started to play a bit with them.

So far, here are some of things we know about him:

• Henry is a big boy—he weighs about 90 pounds and although he probably could lose a few pounds, he has a large frame. He’s tall enough that he can almost get an eye-level view of what’s on our dining room table.

• He’s kennel trained. He came with his own BIG kennel (48” x 30”), which he loves. We have it set up in our bedroom. He happily sleeps through the night as well as takes some naps in it during the day. We also feed him in his kennel and he does a happy dance when we tell him to “kennel-up” at mealtimes.
• As far as we can tell, the only other command he seems to know is “sit” but he is very good at it—he sits before getting treats and before getting hooked up to his leash to go outside. Henry is very treat-oriented so we think that he will be pretty easy to teach other things.

• Henry likes to take walks. We think he may either have a bit of arthritis or perhaps has just not had a lot of exercise lately, But after about 30 seconds or so, he is up to full speed. He walks well on a leash. We’ve taken one-mile walks with no issues. We’ll be working to increase those distances each day.
• We were told that Henry had only been heard to bark a handful of times since he was a puppy. So far, in the week he has been here, we’ve never heard him bark. He joins with his foster brothers to make sure that no squirrels invade the house, but in the midst of their barking he just stands with them and watches the critters intently.
• We’ve been told that Henry has seasonal allergies every spring but that the symptoms can be controlled with Benadryl.

With Covid-19, we weren’t been able to schedule a vet appointment until November 19. We are on the waiting list in case there is a cancellation. We know that Henry is up to date on rabies and distemper but he will get his senior bloodwork, a wellness exam, as well as getting his Bordetella vaccine and preventatives at that time. We’ll let you know what else we find out.

At this point, we think that Henry is a pretty flexible guy. We believe that he would be fine as an only dog or as part of a larger pack. He’s that wonderful Golden combination of friendly and laid-back.

He would enjoy a fenced yard but he does well in our house (we don’t have a fence) taking walks and would be just fine being supervised outside on a tie-out.

He would be fine with kids but, as a big guy, he could accidentally knock over the little ones and, as an older guy, he likely would appreciate a quieter atmosphere so we are recommending no kids under 13.

We think that Henry is ready to find his forever family. We won’t be ready to actually adopt him out until we do know the results of his vetting on November 19, but we think we’re ready to start talking with potential adopters for this sweet boy.