I cannot believe he is almost a year old! It really does seem like yesterday we were pulling up to the farm and saw "Mr. Blue" run right up to us as if to say "HI MOM AND DAD"!! 

Louie is such a dream. He is so well behaved and loves, loves, loves to learn. He lives to swim, per his breed, and absolutely loves to play fetch. He has mastered his "retrieve" command and makes us so proud knowing he thoroughly enjoys working for us! Louie comes to work with me everyday and has been promoted to "Social Director" of the kennel. :) He is so friendly with all dogs, big or small, and has such a gentle touch with people and children. He definitely is a Momma's boy and is literally referred to as my shadow. He follows close behind and waits for me outside the bathroom or shower. He settles down at my feet wherever I am and makes me feel like the center of his universe. ( What more could I ask for?)

​It amazes me everyday what a wonderful dog he has become and I get complimented on his temperament and handsomeness daily. He tested out of his basic obedience course and our next step is to enroll him in the Canine Good Citizen program. He makes us so happy every day, it's hard to imagine our life without him now! 

Hope all is well on the Snitker Golden front! Many well wishes to you and yours and all those new Snitker pups!

Best,

Katy, Nik and Louie 

Just a quick update on Luka. He is 9 ½ months old now and just weighted in at 61 pounds. Luka recently passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test and also his AKC Novice Trick Dog test. He has been a quick learner. As soon as he understands what we are requesting him to do, and with a little repetition he’ll have the trick learned. We are now perfecting what he has learned and working on new tricks and commands that he will need to know for his next round of tests. We will be continuing with classes at our local AKC club. He has definitely become a member of our family. The first thing our granddaughters did upon coming home from college this fall was to stop by and spend some time with Luka. He also gets frequent visits from the girls across the street from us.

​He likes to be close to us and is usually right by one of us all the time. Luka is a fun loving, happy , very alert puppy. He is fascinated by moving things he watches airplanes go across the sky at night and chases leaves and of course, always has something in his mouth to carry. He actually watches TV and especially likes the action shows. He never gets table food so he is a joy in the kitchen. He is learning to take naps with mom and actually nap. One thing he never learned was going down the basement stairs so we have to work on that as we both have hobbies in the basement and right now we take turns staying with Luka.

We have been told by so many people he is a beautiful dog. Many at the obedience club have commented on what a beauty he is and even the vet said he is a lean athletic sport dog. Many have asked where we got him. It is hard to find goldens like a Snitker golden. We will keep updating as he continues to grow and continues his training with dad.

- Luka's Family

​Hello, Rhonda and Stephanie.
 
It's so hard to believe that it has been one month since we adopted Vivian.  At times it feels she has been a part of our family forever, she is doing so well.
​
The day after we brought her home, she spent most of the day in the bedroom and would come out every so often to check things out.  Now she is wherever we are.  She now sleeps in her bed in our room.  At the beginning she would only sleep on the floor next to the bed by me.  I still will occasionally find her there, but she is quite content with her bed.  Twice now, she has awoken us up with the deepest bark.  She would be staring out the bedroom window in the dark barking.  The only thing we can think of is that she heard the deer come out of the woods into the backyard.  It amazes us that petite little Vivian could have such a deep bark! 

For some reason in the beginning she was afraid to go out through the laundry room and garage, only to go out through the front door.  Now when you say, "who wants to go out?" she's the first to the laundry room door.  She loves being outside and is very content to lay out in the grass and will follow the sun or shade depending on the temperature.  She loves to walk around the property and is very curious at the wood line.  She will do lapses around the house all day but she hates to be on the sidewalk.  Then it dawned on me, I don't remember seeing sidewalks near the farm in Iowa.  It must feel foreign on her paws!

We had a dinner two weeks ago for my sister's Godmother, who turned ninety four.  Evelyn is by no means a 94 year old who would require a therapy dog in a nursing home.  The woman still lives alone, cleans our her own gutters and cuts her own grass.  She and Vivian were joined at the hip the entire day.  I was  beginning to wonder if Evelyn was going to try and sneak her home.  That reinforced my belief that she will make a wonderful Therapy Dog.  We begin obedience training the first Saturday in November.  I'm sure she will be at the head of her class.

Once you get her somewhere and they ask if she wants to go home she will jump right into the car.  We think she likes her new home! I remember you telling me, Rhonda, how Vivian would go in circles when you would go out to her each morning.  It melts my heart when she sees me and will go around in circles and then come for a hug.   One day she was at the front door with Rick, when I came in through the garage.  When I asked where my Vivi was, she turned and jumped over both the little dogs to get to me.  It was the funniest thing and we wished we had it on video. We are totally in love with Vivian.

She is everything we expected and much, much more.  There are no words to explain how we feel about her.  She has won over every person she has met with her quiet demeanor and gorgeous looks.  There has not been one second that we regret adopting her.

Thank you Rhonda and Stephanie, for the imprinting you made on Vivian making her the dog she is today. 
We will continue to be in touch and share our stories of Vivi with you.  Good luck with the two new litters of pups coming soon.  Cannot wait to see them.  We are so happy to be part of the Snitker Family!

JoAnn & Rick

Hello Rhonda and Stephanie,

​I wanted to give you guys an update on Mr. Blue (Louie) after a month of being home! He has grown leaps and bounds these last 4 weeks not just physically but mentally. He absolutely loves learning new things and has such a great work ethic I find I need to challenge myself to challenge him! At 13 weeks old he can walk with a loose leash and sit at ever curb and wait for my command, I am so impressed with him every day! He knows; sit, stay, come, roll over, play dead. lay down and now we are working on "clean up" to pick up all his toys :) We have been working on his impulse control and I can now fit three treats on his paw while he waits patiently for me to give him the "OK". He is the star of his puppy class and the trainers always comment on what a confident and happy puppy he is, no doubt from the practices you've implemented those first 8 weeks.

This past Saturday Nik and I took him to the farmers market and he did unbelievably well. He soaked up all the attention with so many hands in his face and children with sticky fingers oohing and awhing over him. With all those distractions he still would follow every command I gave him! He is so quiet and calm when meeting new people or going new places. He has come to work with me and loves, loves loves other dogs big and small. He shares toys and sticks with all the dogs and loves to wrestle. We also took him to the lake the other day and he jumped right in the water (SO PROUD)!! 

He is fully potty trained and has a lovely appetite, which we are so thankful for! I simply could not be any happier with him. Thank you so much for such an amazing puppy, he is everything we wanted and more :)

 I have had a hard time deciding what to name him. I came up with a lot of options, but, none of them quite fit him. I finally decided on “Obie”, as in Obi-Wan Kenobi. I like to think of him as a force of good...Everything is going well. He is a special little guy and he is acknowledged as such by everyone he meets.
 
Thank you again for all the work you did to provide him a good start in life! I hope you enjoyed your week off. I imagine you are busy now (or about to be!) with Oakley’s puppies. I hope she is doing well.

I also received all my registration materials. It is fun to see them, but, for me, the most important part of acquiring Obie from your kennel was the care and effort you took in preparing him for life. I really notice the difference in him when I meet puppies his age. He is more confident and comfortable in all surroundings. He has been respectful to my older dogs, but, still interested in making them his friends. He still comes to "pup-pup", though now that I have named him, I will have to teach him his own name.

His favorite thing to do is to tip over the water bowl, It is great fun for him. One of the photos I am attaching shows him in his water bowl.

Thanks again for everything. I will keep you updated with his progress.