As of today, we’re the proud owners of Jodie, a beautiful Golden Retriever.
My boys have been wanting a dog for a long time . . . but we have 6 cats (Bullseye, Sir Francis Drake, Bilbo, Frodo, Dixie, and Snowball) . . . so I’ve been putting it off.
However, some friends are moving tomorrow and can’t take their dog with them, so we adopted her.
She’s 4 years old, spayed (after 1 litter), recently had her 3-year rabies shot, housebroken, indoor-outdoor, and used to living with cats.
Now honestly, if we were ever going to get a dog, now was the time, wasn’t it? I don’t think it could get any simpler than that.
I expected at least a few days of chaos from the cats, but after the initial hissing and hiding on the roof with fluffed tail (picture a bottle brush), they settled down pretty quickly and have been inside “with” the dog all day . . . cautiously peeking around corners and perching on top of the piano.
Late tonight one of the cats even ventured within one foot of Jodie! Quite a lot of progress for the first day, I’d say. I’m expecting to see a few of them snuggled up with her in front of the wood stove this winter.
So the cats are adjusting, the boys are wild with delight, and Jodie seems to be getting accustomed to her new home. Besides sharing the boys’ pleasure, I’m enjoying having her around, and I know she will be a good companion for me when my boys are away visiting their dad. (I adore our cats . . . but they decide when they want to be companionable and when they want to do their own thing, y’know?)
What does a bibliophile do in such a situation?
You guessed it!
To prepare for the adoption I went to PetSmart, compared all four books about Golden Retrievers, and selected The Everything Golden Retriever Book. It even had a chapter on bringing home an adult Golden. I don’t think we’re going to get into the fancy clicker-training stuff . . . but it has some great info.
My friends have responded to the dog adoption by calling me everything from a really great mom to a sucker. A sucker! Can you believe it?!? I’ll go with Group A. 😉
Hope you’re having a wonderful summer!
Mary Jo Tate
Goldens are great dogs! Congrats on your new family member.
Di
Hey, I say if you can skip the new puppy peeing-on-the-floor, chewing-on-everything-including-the-furniture stage, getting a new dog is great! As far as getting the book . . . MJ . . . you have a serious disease! I’ll be laughing for hours! I hope your boys enjoy her. Who’s sleeping with her tonight? Lisa B.
family member! The whole point of those books is to read them BEFORE you buy the dog. LOL. I learned that after buying Shih-tzu and found out the HARD way that they don’t House-break easily.
Blessings from my home to yours,
Jessica