ADOPTED

Remy...His name is Remy. His color is reminiscent of red to amber cognac—and like his namesake, Remy Martin, he will get even better with age. This lovable, curious Golden boy was picked up as a stray a few weeks ago. After a few days at the Town Lake Animal Center he came to Gold Ribbon as a sad, scared pup. Now he’s a fun, curious, confident, TV-watching, peanut-butter-loving, blossoming young Golden. The shelter put him at 3 to 4 years old, but we think he acts more like a puppy than a maturing adolescent! The personality change in his first 2 weeks in foster care has been marvelous to see.

We introduced him to our two 8-year-old Golden boys, and he wanted to play right away. In fact, we have found that play is his answer to almost everything. He loves being with our other dogs, and he’s especially curious about “new” dogs we see on walks—and CATS, too! He is learning how to be sociable with other dogs, and sometimes playfully barks at them to get their attention. He loves finding active sprinklers when we go on our walks, and he lies down next to them or “eats” the water coming from them. It’s fun to watch!

Remy wasn’t completely housebroken when he arrived at our house, but he’s learned to wait until we let him outside. We think he may have been in a house where there wasn’t much love for him, and maybe he was made to be afraid of things. He’s such a likeable dog, not aggressive or pushy, so we don’t know why anyone would do anything but love him. Of course, he can be “rowdy” and playful, and he gets curiouser and curiouser with each day—it’s all part of blossoming into a wonderful “young man.” We crate him when we leave for a while, and think he’ll get his “full roam of the house” privileges very quickly. We don’t know how he would behave with cats in the house, but think he would learn quickly not to mess with them.

Remy is full of wonder about his new world, and loves seeing all the things that being in a loving home can give him. After exercising, he settles down and rests just like any other Golden Retriever. In fact, he loves to watch TV, and really gets into his favorite show on Animal Planet, “The Dog Whisperer.” He likes to watch himself in the mirror too. He sleeps on the floor in our bedroom (he’d be the bed if we’d let him) and sleeps through the night without a problem – not even snoring!

He learns quickly. He has learned to swim, but doesn’t fetch yet. He has learned to eat ice cream, but doesn’t know how to keep it on his tongue. And he loves his rewards! Especially peanut-butter-stuffed bones or kongs. He particularly is enamored of birds and squirrels and will watch them intently and chase after them at every opportunity. We think they may have been the only “playmates” he had in his previous, probably “backyard-only” existence.

Remy likes to be the leader on walks, but pulls slightly on the leash and then is very light on it when he is reminded to stop pulling. He loves his walks and when he’s allowed to play off the leash with other neighborhood dogs in large enclosed areas he runs like a deer. His exuberance is wonderful to watch, and we see him gaining confidence and personality every day.

He would do best with a family that has another dog and maybe some school-age children. His lovable nature will make someone say, “We’re sure lucky that Remy waited for our family!”

Update 07/09/05:

Remy has "graduated" into the "free run of the house when we're away" category. He has proven himself as a well-housebroken young boy. There have been no pee accidents in the house since his first few days. And he seems to look to us for praise when he pees in the backyard; of course, we let him know what a good boy he is as much as possible. He also proved to us that he doesn't like cats. He was on a late night walk and found a cat under a bush. By the time we could reel him in he had chomped a little fur from one of our neighbor's kittys. No damage to the cat, but it taught us to watch out for cats on our walks. He still is the exuberant boy we saw in his first week, and would be a little too exuberant for families with small children. We still like him a lot and think he'll be a great family dog for older children, and/or with another dog he can play with.

View Pictures Here