Lacey - Bounded Into Our Hearts!

A Perfect Portrait	Perfectly Comfy

by Kim Brewer

When I completed the adoption application, I asked for an older mellow, female golden who liked cats. Well, "Twister" came bounding into our life and created quite a stir. She was anything but mellow, being almost frantic for attention and she had never seen a cat, but she was female and she was GOLD! We had been told she was named "Twister" because she twirled around and around when walked on a leash--hum.

The first few weeks were hard, we had to focus on two things, potty training and our safety, as Twister would jump full force on anything that moved. Her exuberance was overwhelming because she weighed 70 pounds, was only 14 months old and had been left alone outside for at least the previous 6 months before her owner surrendered her. In two weeks, we had Twister potty trained (she just wanted to be accompanied outside because she was afraid of being left alone) and she was 90% cured of jumping--she would jump up and then look at you as if to say, "Oh, not suppose to do that, sorry!"

Then the real training started. We enrolled in a dog training course and the trainer worked with us to introduce Twister to our cat. Twister exhibited strong hunting tendencies, but we were determined to teach her that our cat was someone we loved too and that we all needed to get along.

At first, Twister was the WORST student in the class, she pulled me around the park (prompting the instructor to tell me that next time I might want to get a dog that weighed LESS than I did), she barked and she never, ever, listened to commands. But we kept at it. We worked with her in 10 minute sessions to equal 20 to 30 minutes a day (who would have thought we had the time). My husband, son and I used each other's support to avoid being discouraged; because the truth was, we saw Twister as a diamond in the rough. It was clear that Twister was eager to please, smart and full of love. If you gave her a ball, she would look at you like "Oh that's my favorite." If you gave her an ice cube, "Oh that's my favorite!" If you rubbed her belly, "Oh THAT'S my favorite!" So we kept at it, often being made fools of by this wonderful dog.

By our fourth weekly dog training class, Twister could walk "eeeeeeasy" on a leash, could sit, had learned to lie down on command and was well on her way to learning the "stay" command.

By week seven, she was asked to be the demo dog, displaying her learned skills to the class newcomers (we were so proud). We still have a long way to go before we can go "off leash" but we also know how far we've come.

At one point my husband said "I just can't bear to call her Twister anymore, she is just too stately a dog." So we renamed her "Lacey" for her lacey white feather pantaloons. Today, less than two months since she came into our lives, two 11 year-old boys, one weighing less than 50 pounds, proudly took Lacey for a walk all by themselves. As they walked down the street I could hear my son say "Good eeeeeeasy Lacey, nicely done, you're SUCH a good dog." His friend, who had been terrified of her jumping, was saying, "Can I hold her leash, can I?" As for our cat, well, Lacey is definitely NOT her favorite, but we're working on that too.

A very special thank you to Shirlee Thomas and NorCal Golden Retriever Rescue. You do wonderful work and your efforts have touched our lives forever.

Dogs  Adopt  Volunteers  Store  Links  Contact Us
Surrender  Memorials  Successes  News & Events  Search  Media  FAQ
Donations  Newsletter& Info  What's New  Lost & Found Dogs  Home

Copyright NORCAL Golden Retriever Rescue
NGRR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation
Golden Retriever Logo artwork by Katie Ropar
Questions about this site: info@golden-rescue.org