Trucker, We Love You

Trucker is officially part of our family, if there was ever any doubt.  He is calming down and it really hasn't taken that long.  He came into our family five weeks ago, tomorrow. 

Someone told me the other day that everything takes time and everything is new to him.  I believe we were talking about the Invisible Fence.  We still don't have him trained on it.  I was lamenting this fact, when she said "everything is new, his food, his bed, his routine, everything."  And she is spot on.  How would I adjust if you picked me up and plucked me down into a new family, new town, new routine, new food, new place to sleep?  I can tell you this I would do a lot more crying than this little dog has done.

As far as behavior goes, he is doing really well.  When he gets bored or if he hasn't had a super long walk in a couple of days he will start retrieving things for me.  But he has actually been very good of late.  He is such a gentlemen when meeting new people.  He sits immediately.  Except for my neighbor who he jumps up on.  I think it is because he smells her Newfoundland whom he is dying to meet.

So everything is going good and the other day I stopped by Pet Smart and bought some more food, some treats, and a Nylabone.  All perfectly reasonable purchases for a dog owner.  Trucker has a stuffed pig that after five weeks, finally started have his stuffing pulled out.  So I decided that surely Trucker could have a chew treat.  With Trooper we never would have bought him an edible bone, he would have devoured it in five minutes and for one that is expensive, but also a bit dangerous on his tummy, at the very least stinky (doggy gas is yucky).  But Trooper also tore up everything immediately.  He really didn't have a ton of toys because he shredded them in literally five minutes.  The only toys we could give him were food puzzles (like a Kong or a food ball) and he also had a Galileo Nylabone that I believe may have been made out of concrete. 

So I bring this seven inch bone home, it is supposed to be chicken flavor.  I avoid duck flavored things and rawhide because they are known to make Golden's gassy.  Around 3:00 PM when Trucker is perking up from his midday nap, right around the time he starts barking at passersby.  Perfect timing.  Except for the fact that Jac has just asked to finish his Valentines.  So I hand the bone to Trucker, he promptly carries it into the living room where there is carpet and better leverage; then head back to get Jac set up.

Five minutes (okay to be honest this could have been longer, but really no more than ten minutes) pass and I say something like "ooh, I need to go check on Trucker with that bone."  So I hustle in there and there he is smiling, no bone.  I scan the room quickly, no bone.  I look out in the foyer, no bone.  I recruit Jac's help to find it.  Jac of course knows where to look, under the furninture.  We are on our hands and knees, then I start moving furniture just in case it has sunk down into the floor and I can't actually see it when I am level with the floor.  NO BONE!

Then we widen our perimeter.  We look in his crate, we look under every piece of furniture in the house, we look upstairs, we look everywhere we can think of, NO BONE.

I go and retrieve the package out of the trash.  It says that you should supervise, well good to know.  I call the vet in a panic.  Surely a seven inch bone couldn't be ingested in five (maybe ten) minutes, even if it was chicken flavor.  After a few minutes of waiting I find out, no harm, no foul.  He will be fine.  Maybe some gas, yuk and potentially an upset tummy, vomit and diarreah.  I am prepared for that now, because of course this is  my fault.  My punishment will be to clean up what ever comes my way.  But, he must have a stomach of steel because he is no worse for wear, you would have never known that he ate the biggest bone on the planet in five (ten) minutes.