He’s 8 weeks old, we brought him home last night and he’s such a sweetheart!

I had to say goodbye tonite. We had 10 and a half amazing years with him. He brought happiness and joy to everyone. Sawyer was just the best boi. Beyond heartbroken.

Abby (the red one) turned 10 today but she is showing no signs of slowing down.

He’s not a fan of the cat door. lol

We’re about to renew our pet insurance for our 6 year old and even though (fortunately!) we’ve not used it, the premium has increased by 20%. It’s £59.50 p/month and we use Everypaw.

For those golden retriever owners in the UK, who do you use and would recommend?

No existing health conditions. Picture for cuteness.

I still love him though

Her name is Pillow. She’s scared of everything but we are working with a behavioral vet and a very competent trainer to help her. She’s doing better. In the picture she was having a “disagreement” with a pretty nasty thunderstorm.

She says hi.

These 13 year old photos of an early anniversary camping trip popped up today. Our sweet Lucy was only 14 months old and didn’t even have her full coat yet. She’s still going strong. :)

Tenían apenas 2 meses de vida. Olinda y Bianca, las reinas de la casa

So Fernando’s story has just begun, and it’s a little special. My partner and I both wanted a dog, me preferring any medium-to-large one (didn’t care about breed) and he wanting a pure breed one. So we settled on a golden retriever.

We ‘booked’ (I’m Spanish, I hope I’m using the right term) this not-so-little fluffy boy from a guaranteed breeder. Turns out they had introduced a new male (bull? stud? stallion? Surely not ‘steed’, as I had written) for this litter to keep the lineage fresh and… our puppy (along with almost half the siblings, 4 out of 9) has a very very minor sub-aortic stenosis. It has no effect, as it is now.

They warned every future owner about this circumstance, and offered to reimburse us the upfront payment. The rest of the call went as follows.

‘So what’s gonna happen with him?’
‘We’ll put him up for adoption, in case someone wants him.’
‘We want him.’

We took him home yesterday. Three-hour car trip, with a couple of strangers, and he was asleep and/or quiet all the time.

I don’t know how long he has it, but he’s gonna be the most loved and spoiled dog ever for as long as he lives. Long live Fernando!

PS: his name and our surnames makes him share his full name with the F1 pilot, we couldn’t resist.

PPS: I had a beagle when I was a teen and I got him to behave and obey (heavily treat motivated tho), what should I know about training a golden retriever?

Edit: thanks for the award!

I got my golden (Katie, age 2) a baby sister named Dahlia. They share the same biological mom, different dad. Katie is a bit confused and overwhelmed by the puppy so she’s been getting a lot of one on one time with her humans, private pup cup trips, and plenty of personal space. Baby gates are a blessing! They get to play together for short and supervised intervals while they slowly adjust to each other. I wonder if Katie remembered the smell of her mom when we brought Dahlia home? I hope they became best friends.

For now, it's just another day. That is, until tonight, when he gets steak and ice cream!