The human family of one of Orly’s siblings has been sharing the above graphic periodically, showing the stages of golden retriever puppy development, since we all got our pups.
When the litter turned 3 on Oct. 22, the group chat featured many celebratory posts about how we’d “made it!” … and a couple noting that not all of Orly’s brothers have exited the phase yet. During this phase, it is impossible to provide enough exercise and stimulation to actually tire the dog out unless a team of at least 3, maybe 5 or more, people is on the job around the clock. Velociraptor goldens might also counter surf, eat stuff they shouldn’t outdoors, destroy hundreds of dollars worth of toys, and frequently disguise themselves as mud puddles.
I am fortunate: Orly has been mostly a mellow, well-behaved girl since soon after she turned 2, but, even at the mature age of 3, she still shows some puppy traits. She’s silly and loves to make me laugh by doing “bagel dog,” where she chases her tail, catches it, then falls over and rolls around like a bagel. She cannot help instantly melding with any and every mud puddle she encounters and often tries to lead me INto the river on our walks… She loves her toys but is also pretty gentle with them.
We celebrated Orly’s birthday in the usual manner — with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the Big Dipper. She also got a new favorite toy from one of her aunties, and she has been carrying that toy around for days.
