In addition to this week marking Asa’s arrival into our family, it is also the anniversary of Lemmy coming home.  On January 25, 2007 Mom and Dad welcomed their first puppy into our family, and boy were they unprepared for this little guy!  Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t get Lemmy on a whim.  In fact it was the exact opposite.  They over prepared  for his arrival!  You see for the previous year they read every book there was on training a puppy and Golden Retrievers.  But little did they realize the adventure they were embarking on when they welcomed Lemmy home.

I recently found their copy of The Art of Raising a Puppy, by the Monks of New Skete.  You should see all the notes they wrote in the margins of that book!  I’m laughing so hard it is difficult for me to even read it.  Would you believe Dad wrote when training “use tennis ball/toy to have him sit.  No treats!”  The underline is his emphasis not mine.  HA!  By the time I arrived Mom and Dad were handing out treats like a Pez dispenser.  Then there’s the humorous notes on being the pack leader.  “Pup must learn his place in the pack.”  Well I have to admit they did a pretty good job with that one, because since day one Lemmy was clearly the Alpha of our family.

But the best notes are the ones…ok this is too funny…on developing and practicing a “startle voice” for when the puppy is misbehaving.  I have no idea how Dad went about this, but I have an email sent by Mom the day after Lemmy’s arrival to his biological Mom asking how to remove pine sap from all over their puppy.  I bet they let out an unrehearsed “startle voice” during that misadventure!  Especially when the solution wasn’t in any of their books.  Luckily Lemmy’s Momma Butter is a very patient and wise dog when it comes to new parents, and suggested using peanut butter.  Apparently the oils in the peanut butter breaks down the sap, and makes it easy to comb out.  I remember how Lemmy would laugh when telling me the story of the “Peanut Butter War Paint.”  There’s no reference to this in their notes, but I’m pretty sure after bathing him in it this is what triggered Lemmy’s lifelong addiction to peanut butter!

Needless to say Mom and Dad had quite a learning curve when Lemmy first arrived home.  But thanks to his patience and persistence, Lemmy was able to train them to be the awesome parents that they are today.