Amber had not been at our house 20 minutes before she offered to help make the meatloaf for dinner. She was more than willing to assist with the hamburger -her feet on the counter, a nose and a long tongue right in the middle of all the fixings. So Amber is now boning up on some house rules: no nose on the counter, no feet on the supper table, no pulling out the garbage. The first of many new lessons, but she is a very quick study. Don't worry, I will teach her that stuff.

Amber went through a bunch of life changes with the neutering, a new home, living with new dogs and cats and moving from outside to inside all in less than two weeks. She handled it all with grace and a great attitude. She thinks the air conditioning is great and our king size bed is wonderful once she figured how to leap up on it. (Oh, maybe I was not suppose to tell y'all about that last part!)

Some of you more avid readers of GRR Adoption Profiles will recognize my ultimate test of GR intelligence - catching Cheerios. This is a very scientific test of a dog's ability to gage the wind velocity, hang time inversely proportional to the Cheerio mass and how sticky Dad's fingers are. Amber scores in the upper 95th percentile on this test. She is a natural for catching anything you want to throw at her. Just be aware, that carrots come right back at you. Phewwyyyy!

Amber would not leave our living room recliner alone. She had her nose stuck in the back corner of it, scratched under it, smelled it all around, laid in it and eventually got her head inside the Velcro'ed back cover. What was this dog doing? Finally, she and I pulled the cover off the back of the chair and there it was... a brand new tennis ball. How long it had been in the recliner we will never know, but Amber's nose knows. And she was insistent on pulling the ball out of the chair mechanism herself. What do you do with a ball and a Golden Retriever? Well Amber will be happy to teach you a few lessons of her own.

After we dismantled the recliner together, Amber has been my dog 100%. She is never more that 6 feet away at anytime when I am home and I defy you to do anything on the floor without her nose stuck in the middle of it.

Amber prefers her crate at night and the cool tile floor during the day. She loves to play ball, is respectful of the cat, always hungry and prefers sleeping under your desk while you work on the computer. The other night when we had a central Texas thunderstorm roll through, and Amber disappeared. We found her curled in a small ball at the very back of our closet. Guess she heard the weather man say the safest room in the house was the inside closet. Yep, she is a little skittish with storms. She walks well on the leash and loves to lay next you in bed as long as you have your hand on her. Amber plays with our GR and shares her food easily.

If you and your family are looking for an amber Amber that loves her man, catches Cheerios and is very inquisitive, we have the dog for you. Amber Amber will be heading for a forever home soon.

Update 5/21/05:

We are now starting our third week as Amber’s foster parents. She has settled down to be a wonderful Golden. It took two weeks for her to decide our house is her place. She still feels
the need to be very close to us, but is no longer concerned if she loses sight of me. I was out of town for 4 days this week and she transferred her affections to my wife with no problem. She understands the house rules and learns very quickly, and she has dug all the stale Cheerios out of the easy chair. Amber is now on speaking terms with the cat. She loves to walk down to get the mail and walks on the leash very well.

The latest breakthrough to report is we have had her around a 7-year-old this weekend. And not just any 7-year-old, but a little girl with dog treats in her hand! Amber sat for the treats and took them very gently. She followed the girl around like she was a life-long member of our family. I was very proud of her.

Amber went to the vet’s today. She passed her wellness check-up with flying colors. She greeted all the dogs in the waiting room with tail wags—even the big pit bull (I was not that brave!). She has gained a little weight and is now at her ideal weight of 60 pounds. It will be your challenge to keep her there, because she loves her food (and yours, too).

Amber continues to amuse us with her ability to adapt to her new surroundings. She is becoming a great member of the family. She is right in the middle of everything we do. Yard work is a great adventure. House cleaning is fun. Cleaning out the closet was the greatest because I would throw the old shirts on top of her and she would shake her way clear of them.
You can make a game out of anything when you are part of a loving family.

So I think the amber Amber is about ready for adoption by the right family. She will need a busy family; maybe a family with a couple of kids to keep track of; a family that can be patient with her as she settles in and becomes a real home body; a family that will love her as she learns their routine. Don’t think you will be doing this dog a favor by adopting her. She will adopt YOU and give you so much love you will feel like the luckiest family in the world. Be first in line for this great dog!

Note from GRR: We don’t know much about Amber’s past. Her owners dropped her off at the Waco animal shelter at the end of April because they were moving and didn’t want her along. The poor girl was so distressed and sad that she huddled at the back of her cage and didn’t even want to get up for a pat or a treat. She had clearly been neglected for a long time—she was ten pounds underweight, badly matted, and very dirty. Once a volunteer bailed her out, though, there was a transformation! After THREE luxury baths and a good meal and a night spent on a comfortable dog bed indoors, Amber began to feel good about herself and life again. Since then it has been up, up, up all the way!