10 February 2012

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.

4 comments:

Rock Chef said...

That is a great pair of dogs you've got there.

My dogs will play a bit of fetch indoors, usually in the evenings but not outside.

The one thing that really bothers my two is the dogs (usually Springer Spaniels or Border Collies) who are totally fixated on balls to the exclusion of all else, even other dogs. They see them coming and wait to say "hello" but they flash past, in hot persuit of the ball, leaving my dogs looking puzzled and hurt.

Abby said...

Nice pics of the dogs! Goldens are very photogenic, anyway, but I think you captured their personalities nicely.

I'm taking China to the vet's today - bordatella and heartworm check too, so Claire is not alone. China's never been big on toys either. She had a rough childhood.

ShadowRun300 said...

What sweet dogs. :) We have a golden retriever as well. She's 10 now, and showing her age, but every once in a while her inner puppy will come out. Most times it's in the morning. My husband will throw a ball for her and she'll go running after it. She'll fetch about 4 times, then she's ready for a treat and a nap. She'll occasionally have puppy friends over, but she doesn't romp with them as much as she used to. Her biggest companion is my husband. It's very sweet to watch them interact. :)

terri said...

Lucy loves treats, but I have to watch her. Everyone wants to give her treats all of the time. She came to us a little underweight, so she's fine right now, but if we're not careful, I could see her gaining too much weight.

Our Shelby didn't play with toys at all either. My brother gave her a rawhide chew once. She ignored it unless someone came to visit. Then she would pick it up and bring it to show the visitor.

Lucy is not happy unless all of her toys and bones are scattered around the house. She's still a baby and her personality is fun.

Your dogs have sweet personalities, a good mix between the two. Lucy would love Grayson. Their combined energy would be something to see!