The first member of what eventually became our current pack of tailwaggers was Boo! Little Boo came from Buckeye Kennels in Wauseon, Ohio. She was the runt of her litter and weighed a little less than 4 pounds when we got her at 7 weeks. Her breeder assured us that little Boo wasn’t overly submissive; Boo is the “perfect blend of naughty and nice! I really like her gentle disposition and a touch of sass!” How right she was.
When Boo was a puppy we called her Boo-Boo (and still do at times) – her head seemed huge compared to the rest of her body and her legs were rather short as well. She was a cuddly, snuggle pup that we could hold in one arm. That all changed in a very short amount of time and she turned out to be a 55 pound, lean and long-legged Golden. Now we call her Little Princess because she can be a bit of a diva – not wanting to get out of bed too early in the morning, turning her nose up at playing with the dogs at times and completely freaking out if a bug so much as dares to land on her fur coat. Sometimes we wonder if there is really a cat inside all of the golden fur.
Boo seems way too independent for a Golden Retriever. There are times when she wants to be close to her humans and Jasper and Schatz and then there are other times in which she just wants to be alone. We often find her alone in one of the other rooms or under the dog futon taking a nap or watching us from afar. Or maybe she is pondering the meaning of life – who knows?
We think Boo suffers from multiple personality disorder. She can be the sweetest, cuddly pup (Boo-Boo) and then 10 minutes later upset about something. If Boo does not get her way she starts to bark and bark and bark – like a little kid in a candy store throwing a tantrum and yelling, “I want, I want, I want…!” Or she starts to dig with her front paws incessantly at the carpet, her bed or the dog futon, taking her frustrations out on it.
We used to call Boo, Lady Boo, because she can be very particular about her appearance and how she acts. When it is dinnertime Boo, Jasper and Schatz are usually pretty patient while we are getting their dinners ready. But all three dogs cannot help but drool in anticipation of food. It is how they drool that is the difference between Boo and the other two. Jasper drools and drools, but his chest sticks out and catches most of it and anyway, Jasper does not care if he is covered in drool. Schatz has drool hanging and falling from her mouth and jowls everywhere and when she moves to get her food there is always a little drool puddle on the floor where she stood. Boo – however – licks her chops excessively so that she won’t drop spit on her fur coat or the floor. We have never had a dog that seemed averse to drooling – that is one of the reasons she had the nickname Lady Boo, because her impeccable manners should place her somewhere in the realm of canine royalty.
Another reason we called her Lady Boo is the special relationship she has with bugs. Boo gets extremely upset when an insect lands on her fur. She tries to catch it or if that fails she runs from it. There are times when she thinks there is a bug on her and she goes round and round in circles chasing her lower back looking and looking for the bug – but neither human ever saw one. The little girl can be a bit paranoid about bugs.
Boo also tends to run in a more lady-like manner – she skips. She can run like a normal dog, but she does not. She skips. She sort of hops and bounces her way across the grass, throwing her two front legs out at once, followed by her back legs kicking backward and up a little. She looks a little funny skipping, but if you know Boo’s personality it fits right in.
We stopped calling her Lady Boo the first time Boo proved to us that there was a real dog under all that prim and proper fur and that was the first time she thoroughly rubbed the side of her face, shoulder and side in a nice pile of wild animal diarrhea. Instantaneously Lady Boo became Stink Boo. Stink Boo loves to go for walks anywhere, but her favorite spot is Falling Waters Trail or MacCready Reserve. She loves pulling along her human on intense sniff walks and searching out and quite often finding piles of stinky stuff to roll in.
It is hard to believe it has almost been three years since we got Boo. We love our Little Princess, our Boo-Boo and our Stink Boo. Like all dogs she has her own distinct personality, quirks and habits – but those distinct characteristics are what make her so special to us. Happy 3rd Birthday Boo!!
