The Letter R

R

Rambunctious Retriever

Three years ago I adopted a wonderful Golden Retriever puppy. He was the quietist one out of the litter. There were 2 males and 5 females and they were all adorable but for some reason this one stole my heart within the first 5 minutes. Well, needless to say he was the one that I adopted. The Vet on Wheels (a veterinarian that makes house calls to huge litters) gave him a clean bill of health and I cradled him in my arms and carried him out to the car while the other half counted out the money and placed it into the hands of the Breeder. My oldest daughter took one look at him and smiled. She said his name should be Bentley and for some reason that name fit, so Bentley it was.

It didn’t take Bentley long to find his place in our home. We already had an older dog and well, the love hate relationship that happened between them kept us on our toes for sure. Well, what started off as a 7lb sweet lovable frisky puppy quickly began to explode into a clumsy 30Ib pup. If you have ever seen the movie Marley and Me then you’ll know what I’m talking about. Bentley loves to chew and I mean chew, He has eaten a hole in the living room chair, lost a piece of his treat on the couch and dug his way through the material, passed the fluffy stuffing to uncover the springs and he has grown a hatred for flannel. Now during the winter months I NEED my flannel sheets. If the bedroom door isn’t closed Bentley will use every stealth movement he knows to sneak up on the bed and pounce. Once on the bed he’ll give a low warning growl as he digs past the blankets to uncover the enemy called flannel. When the enemy is in his sights he’ll begin to snarl and rip it to shreds. Once he feels confident that the enemy will no longer be a threat he’ll proudly jump off the bed with threads of flannel hanging from his mouth and find his way back to the living room to hunker down behind the safety of the chair. You’ll not hear a peep out of him until his name is bellowed out when the other half enters the bedroom.

The other half insists that Bentley is out of control and that I baby him too much, which isn’t true in the least. Just because he sleeps with ME on MY side of the bed doesn’t mean that I baby him. If I DID baby him I would certainly insist that the other half gives up his side of the bed so that Bentley will have more room J.

We have been told by the Vet that Golden Retrievers usual do not calm down until the age of four. When the other half heard that he looked at me with shock. It was hard not to smile as I said, don’t worry Hun, it’s only another 12 months!

It's a dogs life!