Dog treats

Dogs have their own personalities.  Duh.  Anyone who has had a dog for more than a week has already figured that out.  


My two very needy Golden Retrievers have unique, distinctive personalities.  Grayson, the young one (4 years) is the wild one.  He is my outgoing dog - always looking to play with other dogs.  Always up for a walk, run, wrestle.  High energy with a low key attitude.  He can be clingy at times, but he is also a couch dog.  If there isn't any food involved or the possibility of a walk, he can be found camped out on the couch/chair or perched on look out with his head propped up on the windowsill.  

Napping in the sun

Camped out in his favorite ratty old chair

Claire, the senior (8+ years) is a true Velcro Golden.  She is pretty much by my side most of the time.  She is a low key, low energy dog with a spark of a wild side.  She loves walks and running in the park, but prefers to lay around the house right in the middle of everything (she's become the speed bump in the hallway).  She is an older dog that has had a few litters, so she's been around the block once or twice.  She will play with Grayson (she starts it), but not many other dogs.  Prefers people over other dogs.  


I'm taking Claire into the shop this morning.  Time for her annual exam, bordetella vaccine, heart worm testing.  Her old Vet moved to Colorado, so we going to meet the head Vet at the clinic (I hate changing doctors - you have to rehash your history all over).  Claire is a bit on the heavy side and I want to thin her down to avoid health issues.  She will eat pretty much anything you set in front of her while Grayson is a bit more picky.  She gets regular exercise and I have both dogs on the diet dog food and try to not give her treats, but with those brown eyes, it is hard to say no.  I will probably have her thyroid checked again to make sure there is not any medical concerns.

I luv you

We do give our dogs treats.  Not many, but a few.  Anything bacon flavored is pretty much inhaled.  They prefer the rawhide chews after their morning constitutional.  Both dogs are not really big on toys.  Terri's pictures showed Lucy Pie chowing down on a Kong, but mine have not really had any interest on those kinds of toys.  Shadow (my previous Golden) was big on toys.  I had all sorts of ropes, stuffed animals, pulling toys and he loved to play tug-of-war.  I had a knotted rope toy that he would latch onto and I would try to get it away from him.  I could pull hard and he would be locked on the other end growling the entire time.  I could even pick him up off the ground still latched onto the rope.  Neither one of the two new dogs have had a serious interest with those toys.  It is one of the downsides of getting an older rescue dog - you don't know how they grew up or how they socialized. With Shadow, we had him as a puppy so all his quirks, traits, tricks and bad habits were all our fault.  Grayson & Claire are older and don't play the same way.  Some dogs live for the ball (chase, retrieve, repeat), but not these two.  Still, they each have their own quirks/endearing qualities that makes them unique.  One thing that they have in common is, like all Goldens, they shed constantly.  I cannot count how many vacuum canisters we have emptied.