Good morning, Rhonda,

I thought I would take a moment to give you a little update on our new little puppy! It is hard to believe we have had him for almost a week already! 

The trip home went well.  When we were leaving the yard, Hunter started crying and immediately, Noah started to get tears in his eyes also and just said, "I feel sorry for him!"  The boys basically didn't take their eyes off of him the whole way home.  He cried off and on for the first hour, but then did very well the rest of the trip. 

He is doing great with the nights.  Getting up once or twice to go potty, but then he immediately goes back to sleep.  He cries only at night when he wakes up needing to go outside. He is an early riser, but so are we and I think the sound of the shower wakes him up. 

House training is going well also! Yesterday, we had no accidents inside the house! We are teaching him to use a doggie doorbell and he has caught onto that very quickly.  He is such a good boy!

He has definitely become very comfortable with our family and home and every day proves more active. He has started to want to chew - chew - chew! :) Including our hands, arms, etc - which we are teaching him is not allowed. He loves the buffalo jerky that you sent home with us and we also found a "bully stick" that he LOVES to chew on. He loves being outside and running around with us in the backyard.  Every leaf, twig, and blade of grass proves exciting to him. :) It is so fun to watch him as he hears new sounds and sees new things.  While he definitely has his calm moments, he definitely has big playful, active moments as well. 

We are working hard each day with continued socialization and meeting new people and have had some dogs over for him to meet. (one at at time).  We have decided to not send him to puppy daycare until he is older with a strong immune system and have arranged for friends to come in while we are gone for the day to play with him and let him out. His crate training is going very well.  However, Randy has been able to be home with him for most of this week so a friend has only needed to come over twice thus far.  Next week we have no school for Easter so we will be home with him all week. 

He has learned "sit", "come", "outside", and "potty" commands very well in just this week. He still LOVES to be held and snuggle and we do so daily.  He lets me pet every single inch of him without resisting. He continues to just melt in my arms. I love it!! He did great at the vet - weighed in at 12.9 pounds. 

We just love him SO MUCH! He has brought us so much joy this week already. 

I will continue to keep you updated.  I wanted to attach some fun photos from this week. The one with him sleeping with the head on the floor is right after we ran around in the backyard.  He was SOUND asleep. :) 

Thanks again for everything that you did during his first 8 weeks getting him ready for us.  We just love you guys!

Rachel, Randy, Ethan, Noah, and Hunter 

Hi Rhonda, Stephanie, and the rest of the Snitker golden crew!
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Dash is doing great! He is a big boy, weighing 80 lbs already (he turns one on May 17th!). I love that in the last couple weeks his feathers have really grown in, he is a very handsome boy. His favorite tricks are "high five" and "bang" (play dead). He can also catch a tennis ball, but only if it is a good throw! Dash is a total lap dog, he would rather sleep on top of you than at your feet...and he does, quite frequently.

Our next goal is to start getting him ready for the therapy dog test, which he will take once is a year old. We have some things to work on, but every night I make sure to "rough him up" (touch his paws, teeth, inside ears, hugs, pulling on coat, etc) to make sure he can take it, and he definitely can! Dash has a huge heart and an even bigger vocal box. He doesn't bark, but he whines and groans whenever we come home. He is a retriever for sure, as he ALWAYS brings you something when asked (usually his favorite, socks). Thanks for everything you do at Snitker Goldens, we love you! 

Cody and Allison

Hi Stephanie!

I just got in from a busy day today of errands and appointments. My "personal service dog, Prince" went with me everywhere. I feel like he is doing so well now! When I am out, I like to spend some time  in "veteran mode"  as opposed to puppy raiser training mode. Prince is showing a new level of maturity and confidence. I can really feel his strength and presence when we work as a team. I've gotten comments from several people who have known him since puppyhood about how there is this new subtle change in him. 

As we were out today I also was able to see a change in how people were looking at him. He has always caught people's attention with his puppy cuteness and then his adult beauty as he has grown up. As he has matured these past few months I have found less people interrupt us as we are working. People are really able to see the "working dog" and respect the job he will be doing. While we were out today working as a team, I was able to take in more of what was really going on around me. We were at a mall so there were lots of people for me to notice. Of course, everyone sees him - this big beautiful white dog with his blaze red vest. I'm having a hard time coming up with the right adjective to describe the look many people had while watching Prince in "service dog mode." Honestly, many people just stopped to watch him - with a look of awe on their faces. I can't tell you how proud I am of him.

Little Vincent is with a very experienced raiser named Tangy. I have been staying after Prince's class so I can watch Tangy and Vincent in class. Of course, I get my hands on him as much as I can before and after class. I see Vincent doing just what he is supposed to do in class. He is on target with his skills. He is also focused and very attentive to Tangy. He is a fun, happy little guy that I can't wait to get! He is cute beyond words! The plan is for him to come to my house late in September. I know he has stolen Tangy's heart because she was talking to me after class about getting together once a week for an outing with the two boys. She wants to make sure his transition to my house goes smoothly because she says he is such a "momma's boy."  Vincent is Tangy's first golden.

My Mom is in the hospital so we have her two small dogs staying with us. Mom has a vey elderly, frail, toy poodle who is mostly blind. Prince is fabulous with her and she and Prince are buds. Here they are together. You don't get a good sense of how little she is but she is about the size of Prince's head. Lol

- Donna Dorula (Prince's puppy raiser for Veteran's Moving Forward)

Never a dull moment for Russell's family...

Hi Stephanie! 

Dash is doing great! He has got the funniest and cutest YAWN ever, he yawns a lot- which I've heard is a sign of nervousness, but he's so chill I honestly don't think it is. His little mouth opens so big, his looooong tongue sticks all the way out and he makes a high pitched squeak. Sometimes in the middle of the night I can hear it and just laugh! He's very adventurous and very food motivated, just like you said! He did growl the other day but I used what I had done with Callie and he hasn't done it since. Here are a few pictures (the little boy is Wyatt, Dash's "cousin").

...and a closing video, just  for fun! 

An update from the former Mr Blue of Ina/Silas' summer litter!  Only with his new family for 24 hours. . . . 


"He definitely is food motivated!!  He's already got Sit!!  He is a beautiful healthy boy weighing in at 12 pounds even today...this heat wave is horrible poor baby won't go outside but I'm working on that...  So far he does stairs and he does pee pee and poo poo but with the heat he really resists going outside I just pick him up with the collar and lead attached and set him on the grass.  He's such a sweet boy!!!"


*We love how this family encourages - this is an excellent example of using "tone" to praise good behavior/work!