What a heartbreaker this boy is. He is such a handsome young lad with puppy energy to burn. He has a typical golden personality. He aims to please. Brady was given up by a young family becasue they didn't have time to interact with him as much as Brady needed.

We have spent our evenings taking long walks around the lake or hiking in Camden Park. Our walks are approximately 3 miles or more and he still has energy to burn. He walks pretty well on a leash without the leader. He pulls just a little but is easily redirected when I call his name. When we hiked the trails in Camden, I took his leash off and he stayed on the path within 20 feet of us at all times. When he would go around a curve and lose sight of us, he would high tail it back to us. He doesn't like to lose sight of me.

Brady sticks to me like glue. If I get up to go to another room, he does too. When I shower in the morning, he lays by the tub until I am done. The first morning we were together, he wasn't so sure about leaving me alone in there. I kept having to push his head away from the curtain. What a goof? He must have watched too many magic shows or something. When he goes outside to do his thing, he requires me to go out with him. He is definitely one that will not run out the door if it is open. I have to be completely outside before he comes out onto the front step. We'll have to work on that because I will not be putting my boots on to take him to the potty. Uh-uh. I have limits.

He gets along with everyone. He likes to run with my dog(who is much smaller than him). My dog of course has to tell him who is boss in this house and he respectfully obeys. Not only does he obey the dog, but he is very respectful of the cat. Elvis will let him know when he has gotten too close by hissing and Brady immediately backs away. While on our walks we occassionally meet other dogs and he is very polite. He will sniff them. If they are far away, he will just plain ignore them even if they are barking at us.

Brady likes to be close. He sleeps at the bottom of the bed. It occassionally gets a little tight when I have one dog on one side of me and one on the other. I feel like the meat in a sandwich. It is nice however when your feet are cold. Mmmm, he's got such nice soft fur to bury my feet in. He does very well all night. He doesn't need to get up for a bathroom break nor have we had any accidents. He hasn't even done any chewing of inappropriate objects while I am sleeping.

Brady spends his day in the kennel as he is not quite trusted alone for that long. He is still a puppy so if he were to get bored he may go looking for shoes or something to chew. He does like to help clean up. His biggest pet peeve is when someone leaves a kleenex lying around. He will try to eat it just to get rid of it. What a little neat freak! I simply told him that if he felt that way about it, I would be more careful to throw my kleenex's away after I was done.

Brady has already made great progress in meeting my expectations. Brady had a tendancy to jump up on people upon meeting them or just to say hi. We had a talk and I explained that he would make more friends if he were to just sit beside them and wait for a pet. He said he would try and he really has. When he runs toward me I bend down so he understands that I will pet him at his level. We will continue working on this as he has not quite carried over this lesson to others.

Another item we are working on is getting in and out of the car like a gentleman. At first, Brady would jump right over me to get in or out of the car. I guess he really likes going for rides. Whew. One day I thought he was even going to try to drive. I had to lay my foot down on that one. We practiced getting in and out of the car once each and he had it down. Hopefully the next time we go for a ride he will remember or we will have to practice again.

Still yet another lesson was how to take treats. He was very excited and couldn't wait to eat that treat. So, we practiced sitting nicely and patiently for the treat and he gladly did that and now he does it every time. What a fast learner. He is also really good at going into his kennel. I just throw a few treats in and say kennel and he goes right in.

Brady really, really likes McDonalds drive thru. He makes sure they can see him so he doesn't get forgotten. They of course give him a few treats. He immediately gets excited. As a matter of fact, he jumped right into my friends lap as she pulled the car to the first window. Definitely something to work on. I think I will try sitting int he back with him next time we go through the drive thru. Anyway, it was hilarious after the initial shock. It's not like he got a fry even just a regular dog treat. Maybe I should try a treat.

Brady is a little fearful of noises around him such as rustling leaves or when he is checking out things He is very cautious to not get to close when he does his investigating. He also jumps a little if you touch his back without him seeing you coming. It's more like being caught off guard. He just looks at you and then wants to be petted more.

Overall, Brady is a very smart boy who just needs some training to be the best he can be. He will need a family with alot of energy and preferably those who like to be outdoors. He would love to play, play, play all day long if he could. He definitely loves interaction with adults and kids.

I will update you next week.