Life With A Golden

Just your typical day with a Golden Retriever who loves all things snuggly and loves to retrieve your things for you....whether you want them or not!

Our New Chuck It!

Oh boy did we have fun at the park the other day!

We got a new Chuck-It for Christmas and we were just dying to try it out!

Dad threw it as far as he could!

Then one of us would chase the other! It was so much fun!

We kept bringing it back to Dad who threw it again and again!

Murray kept being a ball hog but that's okay! We had so much fun and slept the rest of the day!

- Genevieve

The First Snowfall!

It snowed! This is just a bit of the dogs having fun in the snow!

Happy Birthday Murray!

This weekend we are celebrating Murray's 6th Birthday!

thegoldenduo in Doggy Tubby Time!

Chasing Ducks

These ducks love the chase!

They flock around us, quacking and begging us to come after them.

Look at this one mocking us! How can we ignore that?

But every time we get a little too close...

...they take off! What a tease!

One day ducks. One day.

- Genevieve & Murray

Daily Life In The Country With thegoldenduo

Genevieve & Murray Explore The Upstairs!

Now that I work from home and spend the majority of my time upstairs, I was feeling guilty about leaving the dogs on their own for most of the day. Our dogs have never been allowed on the top floor of our house as they make the small pets nervous and two of our cats, Charlie and Indie never seemed to socialize with the dogs properly. A lot of this I'm sure is because Genevieve has always been incredibly high strung and would chase them excitedly when they would come around.

I slowly began to put this plan in action about a month ago when I moved the cat litterboxes down to the laundry room. I didn't do this to be mean but I wanted to force the cats to interact a bit with the dogs. I also wanted the dogs to get used to the cats so they wouldn't be so excited when one suddenly turned up. I also was tired of all of my clean laundry going right in to a linen closet that also contained a litterbox! Yuck! 

The litterbox trick worked perfectly and we started to see Charlie and Indie come around a lot more. In the evenings, Charlie has even jumped up on the couch for a cuddle with me! We've never had this issue with our other cat Cali as she has kept the dogs in line right from the beginning!

So since everything seemed to be going according to plan it was time to give the dogs access to the top floor. I made a new spot for the cat's dishes in the bunny room and put the baby gate up there. That way the dogs don't have access to any of the small pets or the cat's food. Then I went about my day. 

A few minutes later Murray made his way up the stairs. He had a quick look around, saw me in the office and settled in to a spot near my desk. 

I'm not sure what Genevieve had been up to (I'm sure she was busy causing some kind of trouble) but she didn't show up for about a half hour or so. Of course her tail really started to swing when she realized she was being allowed in forbidden territory. Unlike her counterpart, she had to get in to everything!

There were, of course, bonuses to having Genevieve upstairs like if your feet were cold she would bring you some socks. They might be covered in dog slobber and have holes in them by the time they made it to you but it's the thought that counts right? Or one morning she even brought me an entire outfit! How thoughtful! And just in case the temperature dropped 20 degrees over the course of the day, you could always count on Genevieve to bring you a blanket or two. 

Some days it seemed, they thought the extra space they'd been given was so they could have a good tussle! 

And of course the only way to get Genevieve to settle down, was to let her up on the bed. Hubby and I had agreed that if the dogs were to come upstairs they were not allowed on the beds. They already had the couches and we didn't want our bedsheets smelling like doggies. Well of course that's the only place that Genevieve would behave! I resorted to letting them have the spare bed only. 

 They both seemed content with this new agreement!

And my plan was working! One afternoon I took a coffee break and found Genevieve laying on our bedroom floor with Indie only a few feet behind her!

And another afternoon I was plugging away on the sewing machine when Charlie jumped over Murray and made herself comfy on the bed!

They've seemed really happy this week.

And how can you get mad at a face like that?

For The Love Of Dogs

Genevieve completely exhausted after vacation at Patti's

I have to tell you about the amazing in-home boarder we use for our dogs when we're away on vacation.  We stumbled upon this business accidentally while we were fretting about who would look after the pups last summer when we went to Watkins Glen.  My husband was actually at work and Patti, the owner of For The Love Of Dogs In Home Boarding came in to do some printing.  He got talking to her and immediately called me to check out her website.

I have to tell you I had looked around everywhere for the right people to look after our two spunky Golden Retrievers.  It would be our first time leaving them for more than a night or two (in which case we had family stay with them) and the thought of them being thrown in a barn with 20 or so other dogs or being stuck in a kennel all day broke my heart.  I wanted somewhere that I wouldn't have to worry about how they were being treated, or how much love they were getting or how much exercise they were being given.  I wanted to know that they were having a fun vacation just like we were!

Well I checked out the website and was so excited we began e-mailing back and forth right away.  Patti is very thorough, making sure all dogs are up to date with vaccines and flea programs.  She even requires a puppy play date in advance at her house to make sure the dogs are suitable to being in a group setting, get along well with her young Golden Retriever, Jack and so that we can tour her setup.

It was so hard leaving them for our first vacation that summer.  I had no doubt in my mind they would have a great time but it was our first time leaving them, and with people we didn't know!  Well Patti took care of that!  She updates her website daily with a quick blog on what dogs have come and gone, what's happening and even adds photos so you can see just how great of a time your dog's having too!  That first trip we were on her website every morning to make sure Genevieve and Murray were being treated well and you know what?  They were having the time of their life!

Murray slept for 3 days after he got home!

For our second trip, Genevieve and Murray were there for just over a week and I didn't worry about them once.  Sure it was hard to leave them (especially when Genevieve started whining at the gate) but the daily updates showed us just how much fun they were having without us which meant I could have fun without them!

The best part was how tired they were from a week's worth of playing and running around!  We were exhausted when we came home but didn't have to worry about them, they were asleep in the back of the truck before we even hit the highway!

So if you're in the Durham or Kawartha area in Ontario and your dogs are an important part of the family there isn't any boarding establishment I'd rather recommend than Patti at For The Love Of Dogs In Home Boarding.  Her and her husband are truly amazing people and are running the business for the right reason: because they love dogs!