MY GOLDENDOODLE WITH THE HEART OF GOLD

Here is my best friend, my partner in life, and my all around companion.  This is Cassidy,  a three and a half year old Goldendoodle.  We aquired her from Fox Creek Farms located in Berekley, WV.  I can never forget the day when Amy Lane, owner of Fox Creek Farms, spent an afternoon screening us as potential new parents.  It was then that we knew there would be no choice once the litter was born.  Cassidy was destined from the start to be a part of my family and to learn all she could.  Today, she helps me represent my skills as a trainer and helps me in socializing other dogs.

At the present time Cassidy does over sixty different behaviors or "tricks".  As a puppy she really took to learning.  For weeks on end, she learned a new trick a day.  Although she was not fully "polished", she would learn as fast as I could organize to teach her a new skill.  The day she came home with us at 8 weeks old she began to learn the basics.  She was retrieving a decoy at 9 weeks old. 

SHE LEARNS TO SKATE

At about two and a half years old, Cassidy had learned just about every behavior that I could think to teach her.  She puts money in her own piggy bank and then checks the bank to make sure the money went in.  She "threads the needle", will figure eight through my legs not only forward but also backwards.  She bows, prays, crawls, jumps up into my arms, kisses, waves, speaks in two voices, loud and soft and does this all on cue.  She does so many things it is difficult to remember everything she can do when I share her with other people around town. 

One day when I was watching MTV, a skateboarding dog came on the screen.  I thought, well, this is another new thing she and I could work on together.  It took her only three days to learn to skateboard down the street by herself.  Once she became even more comfortable, I later loosened the trucks on the board so she could steer a little better.  Most dogs you see specialize in one field or task.  Cassidy seems to have no limits.  She is still learning new behaviors and hopes to be able to one day show the world what she is capable of.