Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Mr. Creature of Habit

At the young age of 5, it is always a standing joke that Benjamin is a cranky old man.  He’s been this way since he was about 1.  He’s not cranky in a mean way, he is just set in his ways.  He likes routine.  He’s a little like Raymond from Rain Man.  He’ll freak out if he doesn’t get to watch his Wapner at 11.

While Benjamin is not very smart at training and things like that, he is a master at picking up on routine.  He generally knows when I am going to leave the house before I even decide to go anywhere and he promptly goes to his crate and waits for me to give him his goodbye treat.  Sometimes, he has a long wait, but he is always right.

Since he loves routines, Benjamin is a pretty predictable fellow.  For example, every afternoon starting at about 3:45pm you will find Benny perched on the arm of the sofa like in the photo above.  He just sits there basking in the sun and watching out the front door.  After every meal, Benny must go outside to go potty.  It doesn’t matter that he just went before he ate.  His routine is potty, eat, potty.  That’s how he likes it and you better not make him wait for his after dinner pee pee.  In the evenings, he sits at the foot of the bed with his puffy in his mouth waiting for me to finish getting ready for bed.  When I get in bed, he promptly lays on my chest and is ready for his bedtime massage.  After about five minutes he will settle and will be ready for bed.  In the mornings he is always at my feet for the pouring of the Cheerios.

He likes structure and if I weren’t at home and Benny was not in his crate, I could pretty much tell you what he is doing at any given moment.  Henry finds doing the same thing everyday boring, but Benjamin thrives on it.  When his routine gets messed up he is spastic.  That is when the cranky really comes out.