Hawkeye (Bowen 12-047) [1]

February 26, 2012

Bowen is an energetic 10 month old puppy who is as cute as can be.  He’s 60+ pounds already with a beautiful deep red shiny coat, sparkling white teeth, and big puppy feet.  He’s been busy the last few weeks getting caught up on his shots, being neutered and learning how to be a civilized golden retriever.  He’s starting to grow his coat and I think he’s going to have a lovely tail with great feathering on his legs.  We think he’s going to grow up to be quite a handsome dog.  He’s a very enthusiastic tail-wagger and has already perfected the golden retriever nudge to let you know when you need to give him a bit more attention or toss a toy.

Bowen’s pictures don’t do him justice – they don’t show how excited he is when you come home, or how pleased he is to get a special treat, or how much he enjoys sneaking up and giving your ears a lick when you’re trying to sleep in on a Saturday.  He is very bright and learned the command ‘down’ in just one session today.  We’re fine-tuning Bowen’s housetraining and expect he’ll have that mastered shortly.  Bowen is very active – just as you’d expect from a young, healthy male golden.  He enjoys a good romp with our younger dog, plays hard and sleeps soundly.  He needs a lot of exercise so he can burn off some of his energy.  So that Bowen will be a good companion for his forever-family, we’re taking him through basic obedience classes shortly.  Bowen is eager to learn and the classes will also give us a chance to see how he does with strangers and how he handles himself around children. 

Bowen was surrendered by his owner because he was unruly and noisy.  While we haven’t noticed too much barking, Bowen gets very stressed when his people leave.  He paces, drools, and becomes very agitated in his crate.  We crate him when we leave the house now and are working to help him appreciate his crate as a safe place.  Bowen has a lot more to learn before he’s ready for adoption. We want to make sure he goes through the entire 6-week obedience classes and learns to manage being by himself when needed.  We’ll keep you posted!  He is such a happy boy with that very sweet golden personality – he’s smart and will be ready to find his forever family soon.