River Walk and Peace Returns to Dogville… Almost

My cousin Ron and his Barbara recently sent some photos of their Sandy and Maggie out for a nice stroll along the Housatonic River. Now this is the relaxing sort of walk you can have if you only have one or two Goldens with you. Looks like a nice change of pace I might enjoy sometime.. But I would feel badly about leaving someone behind. They make such sad faces and dejected barks when they are not going with the pack.

Back here in dogville, we have returned to mostly G-rated behavior. Lucy is the only one in heat and that is subsiding. We had been getting up between three and four AM with the puppy still, who would not stop barking until we let him out of his crate, and cuddled him for awhile. This was not a good habit to continue. So with me on call this weekend, Barb brought the fourth crate upstairs and put him in our bedroom with the rest of the gang. And lo and behold, he slept through the night. So we will try this again. Goldens are such social animals that they really pine when they cannot be with their kind or ours. A non interrupted night’s sleep would be a luxury as I am back on call tomorrow. The only downside is that our bedroom is starting to look like a dog crate warehouse…

Unfortunately, this morning I have to write that Rocky was up and barking at 3:30 AM, coinciding with the chimes from our grandfather clock. Then the other five had to be let out at the same time. A fifteen minute interlude that then settled down for another two hours before our dog household stirred again. All this to be expected I guess when your hobby  grows to the point that it has its own special requirements of separate space and another level of commitment.