Rollie with his new mom Sarah. 

Mischievous little Roland has gotten out of the backyard by crawling under the gate in my fence. So I put up this little garden fence to cover the space. Well, the smart little boy got himself into a bit of trouble as you can see by the picture! Funny thing is--it didn't seem to bother him. He is such a confident fellow! How can you resist the most adorable puppy ever?!

As for foster mom--no more leisurely reading the paper on the back patio. From now on it is all eyes on the puppy!

Ah well--soon enough he will be too big to scooch under the gate. He has gained 4 pounds in three weeks and seems to have grown several inches too. Dr. G thinks he will be a good sized Golden. Rollie had another round of puppy shots this past weekend and then an adventure to Petco to meet all the nice Golden's and RAGOM fosters there. He had a blast playing with little Madison 08 486 and his littermate Trooper 08 508 for about an hour. Then he was sacked out under the chair snoozing for the rest of the time. If you are ready for a cuddly as well as action packed boy, please let your placement advisor know. Until then, we will enjoy him while we have him!

Little Roland is such a hoot! It is so fun to see him so joyful! Rollie continues to learn that the world isn't a scary place. Vacuum cleaners, hammers, power saws, new people, little kids, new dogs--he is not fearful. He is curious. Yesterday on our walk, he came upon a fire hydrant. He must not have noticed it any of the other times we had walked past them because he slunk down and approached it cautiously. I brought him right up to it and then he realized those were put on every corner just for dogs!

Rollie likes to keep his crate clean but we are still working on getting outside to potty every time. I would say about half the time he tells me that he needs to go out. He goes to the back door and once he barked. The other half of the time I am just getting him out regularly enough for him to do it outside. And occasionally, he gives me no signal except to go off by himself quietly. I'm learning and so is he. It has helped to catch him in the act and get him out.

Rollie boy goes into his crate easily when it is time to go to bed. Some nights he wakes up and cries so we go outside. He does his business and then we all go back to bed. He is a little reluctant to go in his crate when I go to work in the morning. But he does fine and he gets a goody every time. My neighbors come over every few hours to let them all out and feed Rollie.

Of course, he is a typical puppy. Everything goes in his mouth including my pant legs, electrical cords, empty toilet paper rolls he gets out of the bathroom garbage. As with them all, he needs constant supervision at this age to be safe. My two resident RAGOM Goldens have been playing with him. My 7 yo Scout has multiple wrestling matches with him every day and so his lessons in how hard is too hard to bite are continuing. Those lessons will teach him that biting too hard will get him a nasty growl and a tumble. He listens. We're also working on not biting people and taking treats gently. He's at the right stages in puppy development to understand these lessons.

He has the 'sit' command down pat and is learning to walk on a leash. So far, he walks right along beside my two and occasionally stops to smell something interesting. Then runs to catch up. I haven't been holding on to his leash--just letting him run alongside. And he is still so small, he does have to run to keep pace. Good exercise! He's also coming when he's called.

What Rollie needs in a forever home:

• Continued socialization with people, kids and other dogs so he grows to be a happy, social adult and is not fearful when kids or dogs join the family later.
• Obedience, obedience, obedience! Basic commands like sit, down, stay, and a strong 'come' are so important! He is at his peak learning time and it is so much easier to teach a small puppy manners compared to a large adult dog. Unmannered large dogs are given up a lot more frequently.
• Daily exercise. He will be an energetic adolescent in a few months and will need to release his normal energy. Tossing the ball in the back yard is not enough for most normal young dogs. Walks, jogging, a dog park are perfect.
• Love, snuggles, love--that's the easiest part!

Let placementragom [dot] org know if you are interested in this perfect puppy.