DAKOTA UPDATE

Dakota continues to amaze me. He's feeling more and more at home. Running – well, loping around the yard with Bear hanging out of his mouth by one leg while chasing a rabbit is his greatest challenge, he is finding other outlets for his pastime pleasures.

While he keeps an eye on his #1 chipmunk, he has great interest in a
number of new babies that are romping around in the garden. But he is
content to watch them play from the deck. I have no idea how he can tell
one from the other, but should an outsider appear, it is not tolerated.
Dakota seems to feel that the deck is privileged territory for his
number one companion.

I am delighted to see, as summer advances and storms pass through, that
Dakota rides them out without his storm fear with which he arrived. He
sleeps through rain, hail, wind, and thunder. Lightening is his worst
fear – especially in the night. He ignores it during the day if it isn't
directly in our area, but at night he is up with the first indication it
is arriving. The good part is that he jumps off the bed and goes into
his little house we set up in the corner near the bed and away from the
windows. There he sleeps, through the storms, until morning where he
greets me when I get up. He doesn't seem upset – just his normal self,
ready to go down for breakfast. I am so happy to see this happen. My
goal when he arrived was to lessen his fear of storms and the extended
anxiety and stress he carried. For the most part, I think I've done
that. Although not perfect, he's so much better.

He pretty much has his own routine of his own design. I'm learning to
live with things I don't understand but accept as part of Dakota. At the
beginning I made the decision not to change anything unless it was a
safety or threatening issue. Through all of these months I've let him
make his own way and to be comfortable with whatever "makes Dakota, Dakota."

He considers my husband as part of his life now. That has taken a while
but now I see him make conscious decisions as to whether he wants to
follow me or stay with my husband. To be honest, I haven't wanted to let
him go or share him, but I suppose that's like mom seeing her child go
off to school for the first time. Mine is based on the fact that my
husband does not have good judgment and I don't trust his decisions
because I've seen some of them in my presence. But I have stepped away a
bit and try to gently inform him on what is right and what is not good
and why. Still, I hope that he will not become Dakota's single guiding
light.

I've been far more lenient with Dakota than any dog I've lived with.
Also, I'm far more patient and accepting. I'm sure there are some
canines at the Rainbow Bridge looking down wishing they had been so
lucky. But it has been good for me – something I should have learned
many years ago. Dakota is teaching me so much. I wish he had come into
my life much earlier but everything has a reason.

Our mornings are still the same – sit on the deck with coffee and watch
the sun come up and the birds feeding their young while enjoying the
quiet start to the day. We're going to try a 'kiddie pool' again this
summer but I don't think it will make much of an impression on Dakota then it did last year.
While not opposed to a good, soft rain to stand out in, he's not your
typical Golden who loves to plunge into a plastic pool of water in a
city yard. It seem to be below him. While chasing rabbits, watching
chipmunks, and proudly catching a shrew now and then, he's content to
continue his laid back approach to life – savoring each day as it goes
by and enjoying whatever happens to come his way.