Please welcome beautiful Princess Leia (we just call her Princess) into RAGOM. Princess is a Golden mix, but she must be about 90% Golden Retriever. She has the Golden color, Golden ears, Golden tail, Golden feathers, as well as the Golden lean, the Golden paw, and that Golden smiley personality. Her coloring is accented by white on each paw, in her tail, and on her underside. 

We’re learning more about her every day. She is very intelligent. On day two we tested her as to whether she would “kennel up” on command. We first led her to her kennel by holding out a treat in front of her and then tossing it into the kennel to entice her to go in. It took her a while, but she did it.

By the third time we practiced this, she ran full speed into the kennel from across the room, spun around 180 degrees, sat down, and was ready to collect her reward.

Since we were told of the nipping incident in her original home when she had been cornered by young children, we have been carefully trying to test out what human interactions might trigger a fear reaction. To this point we haven’t found any triggers. Meanwhile we will err on the side of caution and will limit potential adopters to adults or families with older (age 12+) dog-savvy children.

Princess has blended well into our pack of two older neutered male Goldens, two adults, and two cats. She completely ignores the cats, and more importantly, they show no fear of her. She would like to engage in play with our two boys, but so far they haven’t taken up her invitation.

Our girl is a bit overweight. She weighs in at 72 pounds and probably should weigh 60 pounds. She has started on the green bean diet (and, it turns out, she loves green beans). We also go on two moderate walks a day, which she absolutely loves.

We have offered her a dog bed in our bedroom with our resident dogs, but she seems more comfortable sleeping in her kennel in the living room. We leave the door open. Early mornings, when our two boys start stirring, she comes in to join them for good morning pets and scritches.

Princess Leia is heartworm negative and is up to date on all of her shots. She tested positive for Lyme’s disease on this visit, but her previous vet records show a positive test several years ago for which she was treated with a round of doxycycline.

As she shows no symptoms of the disease, our vet recommended no further treatment but continued observation for symptoms. We will have her back into the clinic after Labor Day for a full initial examination to double check eyes, ears, hips, skin, etc.

We know that every day we’ll be learning more about this beautiful, affectionate girl, and we’ll let you know what we find out. Meanwhile, we think that she will be ready to find her furever home very soon, so we are placing her in “Adopt Me” status. If you think you might be the right home for this Princess, please follow the instructions below this update.