Friday, November 13, 2015

Friday Five (Top Things We Love about our Dogs)


I drop by several "doodle” groups on Facebook to check out the photos and confirm my dogs are the cutest.  Of course, I always come away reassured, but I can't deny there's some stiff competition.  

One beauty that caught my eye a few months ago belongs to Lucretia Schafroth.  Lucretia kindly agreed to share her Top 5 list of things she loves about Sophie Tallulah, a standard Goldendoodle:

1.  Sophie's incredible intelligence makes her so easily trainable and nearly human.  She knows all her commands in both English and French.  Sophie usually learns new commands after just three tries/demos--max.  Then, I switch to the other language and she gets it after no more than two repetitions.  She knows her right from her left, that a proper pooch shakes "hello/bonjour" with one's right paw, never the left one...and so many other commands I've taught her, such as dabbing her mouth/ lower jaw on a towel after a big drink, ringing bells to be let back inside, and walking onto a towel and standing still to be dried if it's wet outside. 
2.  Her huge, outgoing personality.   Sophie likes most other dogs but LOVES people.  While she considers herself to be a one-dog greeting committee when off-leash at the beach or woods, she is quite discerning.  Strangers get a friendly wag and gentle head nuzzle while most of our friends get enthusiastic greetings. However, there are a special few for whom she truly goes berserk!  I would never admit this to those not on Sophie’s “top 5” list, but she definitely has her own favorites!

3.   Her beauty and oh-so-adorable cuteness.  I know I'm slightly biased but she truly looks like a huge stuffed animal, which we've been told hundreds of times!  Many a stranger has commented, astonished, at her caramel-colored, three-inch-long eyelashes--they're major attention-grabbers!  All in all, she pulls off "regal Teddy Bear," which I know sounds like an oxymoron, 80 percent of the time.  The remaining 20 percent?  She's a goofy girl!

 4.   Her athleticism.  Sophie is a spot-on catcher of anything:  balls, frisbees, and toys.   It doesn't matter how far, high or awkwardly the object is thrown, if it still has air, she'll grab it.

5.   Her ability to respond to her many nicknames, the list of which continues to grow:  Soph, Lulu, Doodle or Doods, Dophie or Doph...  When Sophie was about six months old, one of our neighbors actually asked me if we had changed her name to Lulu because she heard me say it so often. (For some reason, I tend to use "Lulu" when I'm speaking French to her.)

This fur baby is truly our third child—my curly-haired daughter!
Thanks for sharing, Lucretia!  

Please follow the Animal Magnetism blog if you'd like to receive updates as they're posted. If interested in being interviewed or sharing your Top 5, contact rideoutsandy@gmail.com.  Sandy's latest book is Golden Boy: How to raise a dog all wrong and end up all right.