Murray

Murray’s First Night Home!

Murray is our 7 year old Golden Retriever.  He is more of a redhead than the usual blonde.  It’s not just the contrast in hair colour that makes him unique from Genevieve.  They’re personalities (although both very sweet), could not be more different.

Puppyhood

Murray ended up being the most perfect puppy – a giant relief after everything we’d gone through with Genevieve.  The first few days I was actually worried about him because he seemed so much calmer than Genevieve!  He loved to play with us and with Genevieve but would curl up for a good nap too.  For the first few weeks he slept nestled in with me so I would wake up when he had to go outside and after a few weeks, he was sleeping through the night and we moved himto his crate with no problems.

At 12 weeks old Murray was following us around the dog park, unlike Genevieve he preferred to stay close by to us and would come when called.  People couldn’t believe this puppy would listen so well to his Mommy!  Frankly, after Genevieve, I couldn’t either!  All he could see were legs when he’d come running for me and he’d start going up to random people and looking way up to see if they were me.  Everyone kept saying, ‘No Murray we’re not you’re Mama’ so I’d call him again and he’d get to the next pair of legs he thought was me and look up.  He’d do this until finally he’d look up and see me!

Teenage Rebellion

Murray wasn’t 100% perfect.  He was pretty close, but we caught him destroying our basement couch once.  He had ripped apart all of the comfy back cushions and then proceeded to the foam ones you sit on.  He also loves to wreck shoelaces and shoes.

He also got really jumpy.  He’s almost 100lbs but when he was younger we thought it was cute that he loved to jump up on us, wrap his paws around your neck and kiss you on the face.  We realized our mistake as he continued to grow, and continued to do this, not to us but to guests and people at the dog park too.  Oops!  Now we’ve modified it so that Murray has to sit and put his paws up, then you sit down with him and he wraps his paws around you and kisses you.  Sometimes though, when he gets really excited, he still tries to jump up.

Entering Adulthood

Murray has always been a very mellow dog.  He loves to play but definitely has a limit to his energy.  He loves to snuggle in beside you on the couch but only licks when he’s really excited and doesn’t need constant affection from you.  He loves to just be with you, he doesn’t have to be on top of you!

Murray is the perfect cottage dog.  He enjoys a good swim, a good romp around the property and then a good nap on the deck.  His favourite thing to do is just swim in big circles out in the water, stirring up the sand at the bottom.  We think he’s trying to fish!

He’s getting better with playing fetch at the dog park.  He goes for about 6 or so good runs to catch the ball and then he’s done and he’s content to just walk around, meeting the other dogs.  And of course, he’s in the water any chance he gets!

You can follow Murray here: 
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