Geez, the North Pole even! Benji sure has been around the block! It's great to see his owners have taken him everywhere, well besides Hawaii (and their long mandatory quarantine times). And of course he draws a crowd!
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HERTFORD — He’s checked out a fireplug in Texas, looked over the trees in Montana, wagged his tail in Mississippi, woofed in New Hampshire and shaken himself at the North Pole.
Benji, a 15-year-old, 12-pound Yorkshire terrier named after the movie dog, has visited every state in the union except Hawaii. “We couldn’t take him there because he would have had to be quarantined for two months beforehand,” said Benji’s owner, Herman Hill .
Hill, 79, retired from the Navy after 43 years and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth after 12 years. He and his wife, Joyce, a 76-year-old retired home economics teacher from Norfolk, live with Benji in their Willow Street home.
“We always travel by car or truck,” Herman Hill said, “and he always stays in the back seat with his water bowl, a blanket for cool weather and his food, which we keep in a large container.”
In the past, finding a pup-friendly motel was a problem, but that has changed. “We go to motels that take dogs. We have a guidebook showing those places,” Hill said. “Most of them have rooms set aside for dog owners. Benji has never messed up, and we’ve been traveling with him since we got him as a pup in 1991.”
Benji loves vehicular life. Open the car door and – whoosh – he jumps in, heading straight for the back seat. “He enjoys looking out the window,” Hill said, “and he doesn’t bark in the car except …”
For reasons known only to Benji, he barks and barks when he sees cows. “He wants to get out and play with them,” Hill said.
Benji seems to draw attention wherever he goes.
“ People come up and talk to him. A lot of young ladies come up and talk to me because of him,” Hill joked.
On the road, the Hills and their pet make a pit stop about every 100 miles. “Joyce walks him while I fill the gas tank,” Herman Hill said.
There have been bleak spots, and age has accentuated some of them. “He’s still in good health except for some kidney problems,” Hill said, “and he has arthritis.”
The roughest time was when Benji was 8 years old. He had a herniated disk that required a $3,500 operation to repair.
Many pets would have been put to sleep because of that price tag, but as far as the Hills are concerned, the love and loyalty are priceless.
At home, when there are visitors, Benji will bark for a moment or two to make sure all is well.
Then, he curls up on his rug near the back door and pretty well stays put.
But he is not home all that much. A couple of months ago, he went on a camping trip to Indiana and, in September, he visited Utah. Wherever he goes, so goes the video camera.
There could be more footage of Benji than of Lassie and the 101 Dalmatians combined.
Those dogs may be famous, but they have never been to the North Pole. “We went to the Arctic Circle in 1992,” Hill said. “We went about five miles beyond the pole – it’s marked – in a 1990 Chevy Crew cab.”
Like most travelers, Benji has his preferences.
“His favorite places are mountain tops. He loves to stand on the ledges and look down,” Joyce Hill said. But he also relishes city life.
“He enjoys the big crowds,” she said. “He stays busy sightseeing.”
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