Adopted
Marsha,
Marsha, Marsha…. Now that that’s out of the way, get ready to hear about a sweet
18-month-old pup.
Marsha and her mom, Cindy, wound up at the shelter in December. Both girls –
only a year or two apart in age – had heartworms and needed a temporary home
while they had the treatment. We picked up Miss Marsha from the vet’s office as
soon as she had her spay surgery. She is so cute, we took to her instantly… in
fact, we quickly began a two-month-long debate on whether or not to adopt her.
Luckily for whoever ends up with her, we might be traveling soon and can’t take
on another pooch right now. Otherwise, I think she’d be ours for good!
Little Marsha settled in quickly and really came out of her shell. Like most
Goldens, this dog loves people. She takes every opportunity for a pet, scratch,
or cuddle. She’ll sit for hours with her head in your lap, eager for every ear
scratch she can get. She’ll follow us around the house whenever we move from
room to room, and she curls up at the foot of our bed when it’s time to sleep.
Admittedly, her overwhelming desire to be near people sometimes gets the best of
her and leads to a foray onto the couch. She tries to be sneaky, using a sort of
“commando crawl.” It starts with her head in my lap… then a head and a paw… then
a head and TWO paws…next thing I know, my lap has 55 pounds of elated pooch in
it!
Marsha gets along well with Zeke, her 5-year-old Golden foster brother.
Apparently, he’s a pushover for a pretty face. After Marsha came along, he found
himself picking up the pace at mealtime, because if she finished before he did,
he could kiss the rest of his meal goodbye! We solved this problem by feeding
her out of a large, flat pan. It takes her longer to track down every morsel of
food, so Zeke has time to finish his meal in peace. The two dogs enjoy a good
game of tug-of-war over their toys, especially over this realistic-looking
stuffed squirrel we bought for them. Zeke usually wins these contests (he
outweighs Marsha by a good 15 pounds), but she is always playful and never
aggressive. Zeke has given her a warning growl from time to time, but we never
hear anything out of her! (In his defense, Zeke REALLY loves that squirrel.)
Lots of Goldens like their crates and use them as a comfy “bedroom,” but not
Marsha! She can’t stand it. We did try hard to crate-train her initially. She
was willing enough to get in, but she would carry on like an opera star if left
alone. We pressed on through the howling and tried to get her to tolerate the
crate. Many a Snausage was expended in our efforts. Then one day I came home
from work to find that she’d escaped from the crate, even though it was securely
fastened! She had squeezed her little head under the bottom of the door and
slithered out between the door and the cage. Amazing! And this was no flimsy
crate—it was solidly built. She was very pleased with herself, but her escape
efforts gave her an impressive fat lip. (For a few days there, it looked like we
were running an illegal Puppy-Boxing-Association ring —PBA for short—out of our
home!) Happily, she soon healed up good as new... and that was the end of the
great crate experiment. We didn’t want to risk her injuring herself more
seriously in trying to get out. We now keep her in the laundry room with Zeke
when we’re away, and she seems very happy with that arrangement.
Marsha is easy to groom. She allows all nail clipping, brushing, and bathing
without any argument. In fact, she’s such a people-lover that any grooming
attention is welcomed unreservedly. She is not a barker; aside from the Great
Crate Fiasco, we rarely hear from her. She does have a little skin sensitivity,
but oil supplements and a special shampoo are helping with that. She is
completely housebroken. I can’t say for sure if she likes swimming, but she has
definitely tried to join each of us in the shower! We’ve had to restrict her
activity due to the heartworm treatment, but she’s very energetic and loves bath
time, so I’m guessing she will love the water.
Marsha also seems to be good with kids. We brought her along on a home visit for
a family with three young children. She was very friendly and loved the
children’s attention. They were playing “dress-up” with her by the time we
left—I wish I had a picture of her sporting the purple headband the girls put on
her! She is young still, so her puppy exuberance might overwhelm a small child
who is skittish around dogs, but outside of that, I’d say she’d be great for a
family with young children.
All in all, Marsha is a happy pup who loves people and has very few bad habits.
She’s the “textbook” Golden when it comes to temperament and playfulness—a
definite catch for the lucky family who adopts her!