Dotty is one year old today!

Unfortunately, my celebration with her will be delayed …

She’s spending some quality time with her trainer. A great deal of quality time, which started during a recent trip I took. Dotty went to board with her trainer, and he promised to work on some of the issues I’d raised with him and … well … found that Dotty needs a lot of work.

To be fair, she’s very typical of golden retriever puppies; she’s just more than most puppies I’ve worked with: More energetic; more aware of every little sound or movement in her environment; more excited to see people she knows, people she doesn’t know, dogs, cats, squirrels, deer…

Orly had a Highly Energetic phase in her adolescence, but it only lasted a few months. Dotty … hasn’t settled down yet. And Orly never achieved the heights — quite literal — of Dotty, who is given to leaping high into the air, with all four feet off the ground, several times in a row(!) when she’s excited.

So Dotty is learning to have better impulse control and to focus on the task at hand even when temptation tempts, whether in the form of a squirrel nearby, a plastic bag blowing in the wind, or a random stranger walking toward her on the sidewalk.

Dotty is also typical of golden pups, adolescents, and adults in that she adores everyone, loves to snuggle, and is sweet and goofy. We (her trainer and I) are still optimistic that she’ll be a fabulous service dog some day. But maybe not just yet.