A Little Update

I apologize for not updating the blog more regularly – I have been extremely busy these last few weeks. I thought I would fill you in with what has been happening in my life lately.

This past weekend (Thursday through Tuesday) I dog sat for my friends Dave and Rachel… they have a lovely chocolate lab mix named Hershey. Hershey is about 10 months old, and while what she is mixed with is unknown, she looks like a miniature Chocolate Lab (think full lab look in Springer Spaniel size). It was a delight having her in the house, but having an active young dog did keep me on my toes most of the long weekend she was with me.

On Friday, I was able to leave work early, and a friend and I took Milly and Hershey on a wonderful hike. If you live in the Washington, DC metro area and have never been to the Potomac Overlook Trail I highly recommend it! It is in the woods and the trail winds back and forth across a creek leading all the way down to the Potomac River. It is not at all a crowded trail, and though there is a sign at the entrance stating dogs must remain on a leash and under control at all times there seems to be an unwritten rule amongst dog owners that well behaved dogs are welcome off leash. In my almost two or three years of enjoying this trail I have seen more dogs off leash than I have on leashes.

Hershey came to my house with a set of instructions, one of which was she absolutely loves water and swimming. At one point on the hike there is a large tidal pool (maybe 20 feet in diameter at its largest spot) and probably 5-6 feet deep at least. Here I let Hershey and Milly off of their leashes, and allowed Hershey to swim for a good 45 minutes. She loved it. Milly also enjoyed the hike, but Milly is not a fan of swimming. Instead, my darling Golden Retriever simply waded in the water up to her belly, and flirted with some environmental scientists who walked by. In case you were wondering, Milly is an excellent flirt, and in this case her flirtations certainly paid off as the researchers stopped and rubbed her belly for quite some time. Milly also was able to enjoy off leash time during the hike, and bounded through the woods shaking her head and wagging her tail. It was wonderful to see her darting around, leaping off of ledges and over logs with a look of total bliss on her face! Though Milly is 9 or 10 years old she was acting like a young puppy, and I do think having Hershey around for the weekend really helped Milly reconnect with her own youthful side.

On another note, you might remember me blogging about having found the right breeder for my next puppy, and my excitement as I anticipated this breeding to take place. Well, that was many months ago, and since then the breeding has occurred (it took), and the puppies were whelped about a week ago – seven healthy pups – 2 males and 5 females. A few weeks before the April breeding took place, I realized I really am not at the place in my life to fly all the way across the country (the breeder is in San Diego) to pick up a puppy, and with this horrible economy I simply did not feel this was the right time to invest in a puppy. I’m not going to lie, asking the breeder to remove my name from the waiting list was devastating, and I shed many tears. I had such high hopes for this litter, and for getting a puppy from it, but I have since realized that there is a puppy out there for me, and when the time is right I will get my next Golden Retriever. It still pains me to see the photos of this litter, and know one of those puppies was supposed to be mine. I have saved up enough money to purchase a puppy on the East Coast, and hopefully one of these days this will happen. Right now, I need to focus on my career, Milly, and possibly moving to a new rental property (with a larger yard!), though.

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