2/24/07: Poncho arrived very late Friday night. He was in a crate all day in various cars traveling to the Twin Cities from Sturgis, SD. We washed him up, fed and scratched him a bit, and put him in the kennel for the night at about 1 a.m. He was silent until 8 a.m. First thing Saturday morning we took him to the groomers for the works. The groomer said he was just great, but she could tell he was still young. He wiggled a bit, I guess. Poncho is about 1.5 years old, light golden-blonde color, and medium sized. He has nice thick legs and a blocky head, but probably only weighs about 65 pounds. He was neutered last week.

Last night we went to a house where there was an older male dog. The boys got along great for most of the night. They spent a lot of friendly time establishing who was the alpha. I think they decided it was not Poncho, because he spent the last half hour by the door wanting to leave. When we were at the door leaving, the dogs had an altercation that wasn't quite as friendly. I didn't see it, but it sounded pretty rough. I'm told that the resident dog growled in an unfriendly way and Poncho defended himself. This afternoon he played nicely in the yard with the more submissive female Golden next door. He has never showed any aggression or irritation with any humans since he's been here.

Poncho is very friendly with all of us including our 10 and 16 year old children. He seems to really like men. He's not mouthy, and has not counter surfed. He hops into the car easily, and rides nicely without a crate. He is mostly housetrained, but had one accident because I didn't get him out quickly enough after dinner. (He may also have wanted to leave a reminder for the other male dog that he was there.) He managed to be at the groomers without an accident for 5 hours straight without a break. Poncho acts like he was somebody's pet. He just needs an active family that is willing to work with him.