Abby joined our family in February 2009, at age six weeks. We drove all the way to Oklahoma to pick her up, but we made a mini-vacation out of it and took our 12-year-old granddaughter with us. Abby was a great rider from the very beginning, sleeping most of the way home.
She is SO intelligent! She actually makes up games,either to play alone or with us. We can hide a toy in our hand and she will choose with her wet nose which hand she thinks it's in. She gets so excited when she's right! She teases us with toys, bringing one to us, touching our hands with it, then pulling it away at the last second. She repeats this over and over until she finally lets us have the toy - only so we can toss it for her to retrieve and start the game all over again.
When she was a little, my husband had to lower the foot rest on his recliner so she could walk up his leg and lie in his lap. Now she's pushing 90 pounds and still likes to lie in his lap - she just doesn't need help to get up there anymore. A bounding leap will do nicely! Uumph!
In Abby's mind, everybody is a friend - she loves everyone! She has a friend, Josh, a yellow lab. His Person, Mike, walks him a couple of times a day and if Abby is in the front yard, she just goes nuts! Tail wagging fiercely, big smile on her face, hopping and leaping around the yard until Josh makes it to our house. She first greets Mike - he always has a treat, after all - then plays happily with Josh until he and Mike go on their way. Her day is now made.
I often awaken after my husband has left for work to find Abby stretched out on his side of the bed, her head on his pillow. Taking what she believes to be her rightful place, I'm sure!
To say she's affectionate is an understatement. She always prefers to be where her People are, and if she can be up against us, all the better. When we go to bed, she comes with us and sleeps right where my feet are supposed to be, until my husband leaves for work and she can take her "rightful place" in his spot.
Quite often, Abby comes to me when I'm sitting down and gives me a kiss (a big wet lick!) on my cheek. "I love you, too", I say, and she seems satisfied.
Life since Abby has changed dramatically for all of us - my husband and me, Simon and Dennis, our kitties, Buddy, our 'keet and Kramer, our 14-year-old cockatiel. Kramer and Buddy stay safely in their cages unless Abby goes outside, and Simon, who is 19, has become very brave, although Abby wants to play with Simon, who is an old man and wants no part of it!
We are blessed to have Abby in our lives. She is funny, affectionate and smart - and always finds new ways to surprise us.
We now know why people say that once you have a Golden Retriever, you'll never want any other kind of dog. We are believers!
