You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog...um Golden Retriever that is...

A few years back, our wonderful Golden Retriever, Roxie, passed away.  This was a huge loss for our family because she was pretty much the perfect dog...friendly, loving, playful, smart, obedient...and the list goes on and on.  Not long after losing her, a guy that Allan works with offered us another Golden, Sandy.  He said she was a great dog with most of the same qualities that we saw in Roxie.  So we took her.

Now, Sandy was a beautiful dog, but it didn't take long for us to realize that she had some 'issues'. Was she playful...not really.  Was she friendly...not really. She will hardly make eye contact with anyone.  Was she obedient...not so much.  She only does what she wants to do when she wants to do it.

One thing she does love is our cats. Hershey is much friendlier with her than Oreo, but he does like her too.

Sandy and Hershey snuggle alot of the time.  They really are good friends!

A while after Sandy came to live with us, we noticed that she seemed to be really fearful when it stormed.  She would not get in her dog house, but instead would just stand out in the weather shaking like a leaf.  No matter how many times we trudged out during a storm to put her in the dog house, she would come right out and beat us back to the house. 
Finally, it got so bad that she began to dig out under our fence and leave during a storm.  We came up with all kinds of contraptions trying to keep her in the yard.  She then began to go over the fence and  leave.  We were really afraid something was going to happen to her while she was out trying to outrun the stormy weather, so we put up an electric fence and armed her with a collar that would shock her when she approached it.  That seemed to work for a
w hile...until...one REALLY bad storm came.  She risked it all and made the jump over even though I'm sure the fence gave her a good shocking!  She was gone for 3 days!  I was just sick as I could be over losing her.  Finally, the dog catcher in town called me and he had her!  I was so happy to get her back.  She is now an inside dog!  She still has a terrible time with the storms and now even when it just rains!  We have to confine her in a crate or just sit and hold her on a leash to keep control of her during a storm.  She has evidently paid attention to the local weathermen, because she always tries to take proper precautions during these storms.

 She really does head for the bathtub during a storm!  She doesn't stay long but she gets in nearly every time.
Back in the spring, we had a real possibility of a tornado so I had padded up a place in my hallway with couch cushions and such.  Sandy immediately thought this was all for her.

Last week, we had a bit of a storm...if you can really call a little thunder and a few sprinkles a storm.  Sandy went nuts!  I tried and tried to put her in her crate but she was not going in!!!  So, I put the leash on her and sat on the couch restraining her with all my might.  Hershey thought, since he was a good friend of Sandy's that he might be able to reason with her and he tried to help me out.

Here he is, grabbing onto the leash.  "Sandy, calm yourself down girlfriend!" 

Notice that Sandy is panting like crazy.  Hershey is hanging on with every ounce of strength in his overweight body, trying to keep a hold on her.  "Sandy, it's only a few sprinkles and a little thunder.  The neighbor kid up the street's car music is louder than this."

After Hershey called it quits, Oreo decided to lend a helping hand...or paw.  "You need to take a chill pill, Sandy!"
After the so called 'storm' ended, I took her out for a potty break but Hershey thought she needed to stay inside a while longer.

Here he is trying his best to reel her back inside.

We really do love Sandy, even with all of her strange issues.  We have learned a lesson though:  If a co-worker is trying to get rid of this so-called GREAT DOG, you gotta wonder...just why is he trying to get rid of it.

We DO love you, Sandy Girl!