Introducing Takoda!

Meeting Takoda at the breeder's house
Thursday, October 19, 2017.

The night Zenzi died, I had a dream of her. She was romping on clouds above the Earth, happy and free, like she was on the secret trail we walked that day.  She stopped at a hole in the clouds, dancing excitedly with her front feet as though she'd found a ball.  When I followed the hole down to the Earth, I entered a home where a single golden retriever puppy remained in need of a home.  It then went backwards in time, showing me the ad on Craigslist from the small family/hobby breeder to find the puppy.

I couldn't get the dream out of my head in the morning.  Though I had no intention of replacing Zenzi and was determined to go back to being a 2 dog household again, I couldn't get the dream out of my mind.  Sure enough, I found the ad exactly where Zenzi said it would be.  The breeder bred primarily for military families of Camp Pendleton, but any extra puppies were available to the public.  The parents were health tested, rated excellent on their joints, and cleared of heart/eye defects.  I arranged to meet them that night, and was quickly in love.  The Mama met me first, and just laid at my feet, belly up, and grinned while I rubbed her belly.  The Daddy came out second, and while utterly friendly, was most interested in the treats one of the little boys was holding.  When I met the only remaining puppy from this Mama's last litter, I knew he was special, and I quickly fell in love, despite my broken heart.  He passed all my service prospect puppy tests with flying colors.

Dad:  Bumblebee, 10yo, left
Mom:  Rose, 8yo, right

I arranged to pick him up that Sunday (I met him on Thursday), and he had a big day:  first puppy class, meeting everyone in my life that is here in California, and coming home to meet my pack and begin house training.

Takoda has been home just over a month, and has settled in like a champ.  Dolce wrestles with him constantly.  I swear Takoda will keep Dolce young, his muscle tone is already improved!  Maya has been recovering from steroids/MRI/spinal tap and is starting to open up to the puppy.

Takoda is incredibly easy.  He was crate trained in a couple weeks, has since been house trained, and has started obedience training, public access training, and service dog task training.  He's excelling in all of them.  Videos of his training are available on the Hounds in Harmony Youtube Channel.  I intend to document that training here from now on.

Meeting Auntie Linden

Instagram:  @Takoda_golden_SDiT

Together at last, on the way home.