December 2002
Dear Golden Bond~
Frank has been a lot of fun and definitely has much puppy left
in him
still at 1 years old. It seems like he has been a member of our
family for much more than seven months.
He absolutely adores his stuffed animals. More times than not
he has
one of his "babies" that he is gently carrying around
the house. We
laugh at him a lot because he keeps them in a pile. For months,
my
husband and I thought the other was gathering them up and keeping
them
together. Frankie is a funny little man.
We assume that this was his first "indoor" Christmas.
My children are
14 and 17 years old. It has been a while since we went around
the house
child-proofing a house decorated for the holidays, and waiting
until
Christmas Eve to put out all the presents. There was only a bit
of
destruction. What puzzles us most is he has never shown any destructive
behavior while we have been at home. We assume his mischief is
out of
boredom or separation anxiety. It happens rarely enough that we
have
never gotten a crate. This will be our next purchase ,however,
since we
do want to protect him from himself if we are gone for too long.
Franks coat and pads have changed greatly for the better. Since
he was
kept out doors with his first family, we assumed that this was
why his
coat was quite course and his pads could be described as nothing
short
of "prickly". You have never felt such a silky coat
now, and his pads
feel firm but smooth. He is growing very pretty feathers and a
nice
little bit of undercoat that he never had before. Baths are not
his
favorite activity, but he does well.
We went through two six week sessions of reward based training
with 4
Paws Problem Solving. I highly recommend them along with a good
reward
based book. He learned his commands very quickly and easily. We
still
have a ways to go with our leash manners, but he does quite well
with a
Halty.
Frank and our Flat Coated Retriever, Brian, are very close. They
are
rarely more than a few feet from each other. They both give each
other
much exercise and companionship. One of their frequented napping
positions is Brian curled up snoozing with Frank lying behind
him with
his head draped over Brian's torso, eyes closed. They are too
sweet:-).
Call me if you have any questions or concerns. I am so thankful
to have
had Golden Bond there for us.
Sincerely,
Maryann
Life is great here in my new home! I like
my brother Brian a lot. In case you were wondering, I'm the red
head and he's the brunette. 
Although I'm an inside dog, outside is
very fun! Can I go out now?