I sent out an email the other day to some friends with a photo of my sons by the Christmas tree with one of my dogs. A friend of mine emailed me back to ask if the dogs had access to the Christmas tree. I hadn't thought about it like that, but yes, of course they have access to the Christmas tree because they live with us. The funny thing is the dogs reaction to it. Emma, our oldest, noticed it right away and barked at it incessantly as if it were a person who might play with her. It took her a few minutes to learn that the tree just stood there and didn't do anything so she got bored and doesn't even notice it anymore.
Bella hid behind me when she first saw the Christmas tree. She wasn't sure what it was or if it was friendly or not so she was very cautious. As with Emma, after about five minutes she went up to it and started to sniff around it. She hit a couple of ornaments (the ones that don't break) with her tail and they clinged together which caused her to jump for a moment. And then she noticed the bows on the presents. My goodness, did she have some fun with the bows! I have noticed that she gravitates to blue bows. Fortunately I only had two of them under the tree so I let her tear them apart and I put new bows on the presents. Now she isn't that interested in the tree or the bows, but she's also not afraid of it either.
Max was hysterical. Max is my explorer. He went right up to the tree, walked on the presents, sniffed everything around it, knocked the ornaments with his tail and when he realized it wouldn't play fetch with him, talk to him or pet him, he passed right by it and hasn't looked at it again since.
Finn had a similar reaction. He went up to it, sniffed it for a moment and then came to me to try to sit in my lap. He hasn't seemed to notice it since either.
We put up three Christmas trees in my home because we love the holiday. Perhaps my dogs are just used to seeing Christmas trees as they've been up since before Thanksgiving. Or perhaps they are so smart they understand who can actually play with them and what just stands there all day. Whatever the situation, the dogs and the tree seem to be able to happily co-exist in the Martin family.
Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Puppyhood with English Goldens
Puppies rock! They are sweet, full of boundless energy, loving and such joy to be around. I can play fetch with mine until my arm is about to fall off. They never tire of fetching. It's that gundog instinct in them. But my puppies can be a challenge too. Take for example the garden I used to have. I had the most lovely backyard complete with blooming azaleas, hibiscus and hydrangea. My Indian Hawthorn plants were thriving and my laurels were growing quicker than I ever imagined, some surpassing six feet in just three years! That is until puppies landed at Goldensglen. Now my yard looks like a barren wasteland. All of the shrubs have been trampled or eaten. Even some of the trees were not safe. And I always thought about putting a pool in my backyard, but now I don't have to worry about excavation. My dogs are professional diggers!
Teaching puppies can be a challenge too. Thankfully for me, the Golden Retriever is a very intelligent animal. They learn quickly and want to please their owners. In fact they are in the top four of the smartest breeds there are. The thing they don't tell you is that the owner needs proper training to be able to train their dogs. I'll let you in on a little secret...dog training is less for the dog and MORE for the owner! But it's necessary because you want your dog to be a part of the family where he/she can be enjoyed and not continually scolded for eating furniture, jumping up on people or using the bathroom on the floor. Now if children could be so easily trained!!
One issue we are dealing with now is my five year old and our new puppy, Zoe. Zoe is only nine weeks old and she's sweet as sugar. But she is a puppy and puppies teethe. Zoe likes to put anything and everything in her mouth. In the past two weeks she's eaten through my computer power cord (unplugged of course) and the power cord to the dog bowl that filters their water. Yes, I was thrilled about that! But she is constantly looking for things to put into her mouth. As my five year old would have it, he thinks it's funny to put his arm in her mouth....until she bites down too hard and he cries! We are trying to teach him that she's a baby and she doesn't know any better and he would be better served to put toys in her mouth, but that hasn't stopped a few alligator tears for teethmarks in his arm. Gosh it would be easier if children and puppies came with instructions manuals!!
Perhaps the most interesting interaction we've experienced has come this past week between Emma, our oldest who is in her first season now, and Finn and Max. For the first ten days of her cycle, they didn't act any differently around her. They played, fought, chased and did all the normal puppy things they usually do. But on day 10, EVERYTHING changed! Max, our Camrose with a pedigree to die for, suddenly found his inner stud. Now at 7 months old, he's not doing much, but he's trying really hard! Finn, our lovely Majik boy from Finland with another amazing pedigree just stays by her side and sniffs her every time he sees her. It's times like these that I wish I was a dog whisperer. Oh, to be in the mind of these young dogs at this time in their lives!
Teaching puppies can be a challenge too. Thankfully for me, the Golden Retriever is a very intelligent animal. They learn quickly and want to please their owners. In fact they are in the top four of the smartest breeds there are. The thing they don't tell you is that the owner needs proper training to be able to train their dogs. I'll let you in on a little secret...dog training is less for the dog and MORE for the owner! But it's necessary because you want your dog to be a part of the family where he/she can be enjoyed and not continually scolded for eating furniture, jumping up on people or using the bathroom on the floor. Now if children could be so easily trained!!
One issue we are dealing with now is my five year old and our new puppy, Zoe. Zoe is only nine weeks old and she's sweet as sugar. But she is a puppy and puppies teethe. Zoe likes to put anything and everything in her mouth. In the past two weeks she's eaten through my computer power cord (unplugged of course) and the power cord to the dog bowl that filters their water. Yes, I was thrilled about that! But she is constantly looking for things to put into her mouth. As my five year old would have it, he thinks it's funny to put his arm in her mouth....until she bites down too hard and he cries! We are trying to teach him that she's a baby and she doesn't know any better and he would be better served to put toys in her mouth, but that hasn't stopped a few alligator tears for teethmarks in his arm. Gosh it would be easier if children and puppies came with instructions manuals!!
Perhaps the most interesting interaction we've experienced has come this past week between Emma, our oldest who is in her first season now, and Finn and Max. For the first ten days of her cycle, they didn't act any differently around her. They played, fought, chased and did all the normal puppy things they usually do. But on day 10, EVERYTHING changed! Max, our Camrose with a pedigree to die for, suddenly found his inner stud. Now at 7 months old, he's not doing much, but he's trying really hard! Finn, our lovely Majik boy from Finland with another amazing pedigree just stays by her side and sniffs her every time he sees her. It's times like these that I wish I was a dog whisperer. Oh, to be in the mind of these young dogs at this time in their lives!
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