Sonny 11-379

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In memory of our golden girl Bella. Hope you're feeling better Sonny In memory of our golden girl Bella. Hope you're feeling better Sonny

 

Sonny is a 6 month old purebred and is beautiful. He is soft and sweet. He arrived to us a few days ago. I'm already in love.  Sonny was quite shy and spent the first 12 hours panting and running around trying to find someone familiar. He has since taken a liking to me and my 9 year old daughter. He loves us all, but especially likes the two of us.

We have 2 resident dogs and Sonny found his place in the pack (the underdog) as soon as introduced. He accepted his place with comfort and respect. He's already learning new tricks from the older dogs!

Sonny is a loving, kind boy who needs attention and affection. This morning after his brisk walk in the back yard he LEPT into my lap from three feet away! Affection at its finest! He seems to get bored easily and enjoys chewing. It's Puppyhood.

While he is sweet, he's not exactly gentle...he's a bit clumsy. It seems his head still thinks his body is still a bit smaller.  Hardwood floors are a challenge. He's found himself skidding out several times and we all have a good laugh at his expense. He loves the attention.

Sonny seems to be "mostly" trained. He is potty trained, crate trained and rides incredibly well in the car. He does a bit of counter surfing and is mouthy- so he'll need a bit of manner finessing. We have not experienced anything other than puppy 'mouthing' but his SO reported he had some resource guarding issues. He's has not yet shown this guarding to us. It may be because the resident dogs have placed him at the bottom of the pecking order and he is quite respectful of that.

Sonny makes a "grurpuling" noice...sort of a gurgle, burp, snore, sigh combination. At first I thought he was growling but it is not.  I imagine when he is an old salty dog, he'll be quite a snorer. For now, he's just SO HAPPY to be quietly at your feet!

Sonny will be available as soon as he has his vet check. He's a sweetheart. And a keeper.

At a Glance #11-379

Golden Retriever Born: April 2011
Male 60 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

In memory of our golden girl Bella. Hope you're feeling better Sonny In memory of our golden girl Bella. Hope you're feeling better Sonny

 

Sonny is a 6 month old purebred and is beautiful. He is soft and sweet. He arrived to us a few days ago. I'm already in love.  Sonny was quite shy and spent the first 12 hours panting and running around trying to find someone familiar. He has since taken a liking to me and my 9 year old daughter. He loves us all, but especially likes the two of us.

We have 2 resident dogs and Sonny found his place in the pack (the underdog) as soon as introduced. He accepted his place with comfort and respect. He's already learning new tricks from the older dogs!

Sonny is a loving, kind boy who needs attention and affection. This morning after his brisk walk in the back yard he LEPT into my lap from three feet away! Affection at its finest! He seems to get bored easily and enjoys chewing. It's Puppyhood.

While he is sweet, he's not exactly gentle...he's a bit clumsy. It seems his head still thinks his body is still a bit smaller.  Hardwood floors are a challenge. He's found himself skidding out several times and we all have a good laugh at his expense. He loves the attention.

Sonny seems to be "mostly" trained. He is potty trained, crate trained and rides incredibly well in the car. He does a bit of counter surfing and is mouthy- so he'll need a bit of manner finessing. We have not experienced anything other than puppy 'mouthing' but his SO reported he had some resource guarding issues. He's has not yet shown this guarding to us. It may be because the resident dogs have placed him at the bottom of the pecking order and he is quite respectful of that.

Sonny makes a "grurpuling" noice...sort of a gurgle, burp, snore, sigh combination. At first I thought he was growling but it is not.  I imagine when he is an old salty dog, he'll be quite a snorer. For now, he's just SO HAPPY to be quietly at your feet!

Sonny will be available as soon as he has his vet check. He's a sweetheart. And a keeper.

Updates

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Mr. Sonny met the vet last week and it seems this little guy just can't catch a break.  Not only does he have some mild hip displayisa, but he also has bilateral luxating patellas as well as probable Lyme's Disease.  He is on doxy now for 3 weeks to help with the Lyme's Disease and he is going to meet with Dr. R on Monday.  Please keep your paws crossed for him. 

Sonny was given the green light for as much exercise as he can handle so we started going on some walks.  There is a lake across the street from my house that is almost 3 miles.  We have walked that a couple times and while he obviously gets tired, there is no way he is going to let the residents show him up so he sticks in there like a trooper!  He LOVES walking as a pack and my pups are really good at accomodating new dogs.  They have their pack order on our walks but Sonny found his spot.  He didn't pull while walking with them, so no gentle leader was needed!  We've gone on a couple walks since then and he's done really well!

I haven't figured out if his counter surfing tendencies are a blessing or a curse at this point.  Since he's arrived, I've found I cannot have anything on them because no matter how vigilant I am he still finds a way to get what he wants up there, so now there is nothing on my counters.  Food gets put right away, dishes get put in the dishwasher, paperwork gets filed... Curse or blessing, I haven't decided :-)

Sonny also has a bad habit of some mild resource guarding from the resident dogs.  He has not raised his lip at this point, just a low grumbling.   I had heard that he resource guarded rawhides so obviously we won't be doing rawhides, but he got a beef trachea today because they are high value but quickly disposed of.  I wanted to see what he was like and also I had a personal shopper at Chuck and Don's who made sure my pups got them (thanks Auntie Jen).  He grumbled when the resident's walked by and is learning "trade" with me.

Sonny isn't perfect and in fact has a few quirks that we're working on.  I am not making a big deal out of them because he's had so much change in his short little life that I'm confident with consistency and love he will be one phenomenal dog.

Once again, please think good thoughts for him on Monday!  enjoy the pics... yes, they both show him sleeping however have you ever tried to photograph an acitve puppy?!?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Because I love Mr. Sonny, I let him indulge his puppy destruction in a positive manner :)  After FM went shopping on black Friday, Sonny got to play with the boxes!  This is the way my living room looked after Sonny had had his fun... When FM thought he'd had enough, a simple "leave it" command was all he needed to stop chewing up the box! 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Here is a picture of Sonny waiting in the front seat for the kids to be picked up from school. He is a greeter...full of licks and wags.

Sonny loves car rides. I learned today that he also loves the taste of car leather . HAH!

Puppyhood can be a lot of work for smart adorable gingerbread-faced sweeties that get bored easily. And Sonny gets bored easily. At six months old, he's full of life (or as they would say back east...p & v).

He's adorable and very affectionate. He's a Velcro fella. He's sitting at my feet (on my feet, actually) as I write this. He had a nice active day and is resting. He's been very good in his crate at night - once settled he doesn't make a peep until the morning.

This guy had his first walk with a gentle leader and he did really well. Hard to believe it was his first time but I guess that is just how smart he is.

Sonny had his vet check today and passed with flying colors.

Mr. Gingerbread-Puppyhood-face is ready to meet someone who will show him the golden life!