Sammy’s training update. Just wanted to give everyone a training update on Sammy. He is now 1 year and almost 2 months old. I have learned that even though he can heel perfectly on our normal walk, that does not mean that he can heel going anywhere else. When he is in a new place, everything changes....

Sammy goes out. Sammy recently had another training session. Sammy is a good boy, but he still does not come when he is called all the time, he jumps on guests, and pulls on his leash if we take him out to new places. The trainer recommended that we take him out to a food court area that has alot of...

Sammy loves salmon. Sammy sometimes really reminds me of a baby polar bear. He is English Cream, and he is also large for a golden retriever. Also, his favorite food is fish, especially salmon. This was surprising to me. I thought a dog’s favorite food would always be beef. Every morning, I put...

Sammy’s Family Day We decided to have a separate family birthday party for Sammy, so that more people could come over the weekend. He seemed to enjoy his first party, so why not have two, right? On his birthday, he saw a video of his favorite family member singing happy birthday to him, and he...

Sammy’s Birthday. Sam’s first birthday is on Thursday. I have been trying to plan a little birthday party for him, but since this will be my first dog birthday, I could use some advice on what to do. I was thinking it would be nice if he had some other dog guests. However, I am not sure if...

Sammy loves an escort. Sam loves to have his parents escort him outside at night. He goes right to the outside slider, turns his head around, and then stares with his big brown eyes. He seems to be saying, “Who is coming with me?” If you don’t get up, he might lay down for a couple...

Sammy’s first words. I would really like to know if anyone else has a dog that tries to speak real words, if that is even possible.  I’m not sure if this is all in my imagination, but I feel like Sammy tries to speak. And, I don’t mean growl or bark, he wants to speak like a human. ...

Sammy’s first Christmas. So, I wrapped up about 20 different toys for Sammy’s first Christmas. I wanted to make it really special for him. I had seen other dogs who enjoyed unwrapping gifts themselves. I felt that it was possible I was overdoing it a bit, but you can get alot of dog toys...

Sammy does yoga. I was told once that you could not exercise at home and have a dog. When I heard that, I thought it was just an excuse to not exercise. Yesterday, I was feeling quite stiff, so I put on one of my old P90X yoga videos. Sam was watching as I got down into a few poses. He then decided to...

Sammy and the vibrating collar. One of the training tools Sammy’s trainer advised was a vibrating collar set at the very lowest vibrate setting. I have tried using it with varying degrees of success. A couple days ago, I took Sam on his normal walk to the park. Once we got there, I put on the e...