Piper Cruises the Learning Curve

Today was Piper's first day of training in how to sweep the patio. As you can see, she is really interested in learning this wonderful trick. She lacks thumbs, unfortunately, so perhaps we will have to re-design the broom to fit her teeth. Or perhaps she will find a way to put it in her mouth herself, since she has done that with nearly everything else, including parts of us!

We have had several overnight visitors the past two weeks and were wondering how she would react, since she is so jumpy and energetic. But everybody loved her, and she really did try very hard not to jump (sometimes she actually didn't!). All of us would clap and say "Good girl!", and then, of course, she would start jumping like crazy.

Two weeks ago Piper graduated from Puppy Kindergarten, and the final requirement for the students was to do a trick. We actually taught her two — shaking hands, and fetching & dropping. Now that PK is over, we're spending more time on a couple of really good forums for Golden Retriever owners (links at right). The more we read on them, the more we understand how normal her behavior is, and that she actually is doing quite well for her age in most respects.

Piper's favorite toy right now is an old flower pot, with which she is very creative. She also enjoys cardboard boxes, and the giant box from our old desktop iMac is especially exciting for her, probably because it's so big and will take years to destroy, or maybe not. And she loves our shoes and slippers, which magically disappear whenever we forget to put them out of reach. She doesn't chew them, but really loves the chase!

Our formerly little puppy is now 4-1/2 months old, weighs about 40 lbs., and is starting to change out her little razor-like teeth for more owner-friendly adult ones. She's turning into a very sweet dog, though she still has her moments of jumping, mouthing, and going deaf when we call. Also, she really loves girls — goes absolutely nuts around them. One little girl in the neighborhood saw her from across the street the other day and said, "There goes Piper. She's hyper." We agree!