At times Asa may steal my thunder.  However together we make a formidable team that the ladies can’t resist.  On Saturday we were enjoying a quiet evening in the historic gardens at Hamilton House, when a group of human teenagers stumbled upon us.  Instantly the girls surrounded us, cooing with delight as they petted Asa and me.  Proving once again, the ladies can’t resist Asa and me as his wing-dog.  Judging by the looks on the boys’ faces, they knew instantly they were no match for the charm of two Golden Retrievers.

At first the boys politely watched while the girls lavished all their attention on me and my brother.  But after a few minutes their jealousy got the better of them, and they sought to regain their attention.  So the teenage boys began daring each other for money over who would go into the water.  Their plan worked, and the girls followed them over the embankment towards the shoreline.  Amateurs!  We would have jumped in that water without the money incentive.  Although we wanted to follow them and show off our swimming prowess, Mom and Dad held us back.  I suppose they were right to let the boys show off for the girls.  How could they possibly compete with us?  We are born water dogs!

While Mom and Dad smiled about what just happened, we listened attentively to the teenagers’ laughter and good natured taunting.  But soon it was replaced with sounds of displeasure as the girls were not impressed that the boys were now covered in mud.  It was, after all, low tide and the boys had to wade through the mudflats to get to the water.  Perhaps it was good we didn’t follow them after all!  Soon the girls retreated back over the embankment to where we were siting with Mom and Dad.  This time Mom offered to take their pictures as they started posing for selfies with us.  Asa and I, of course, were more than happy to do our biggest Golden smiles for their cherished photos of this romantic evening.  Meanwhile the boys were trying to figure out how to wipe off the mud.  Clearly they didn’t know that if they simply rolled in the grass they’d be all set.  Again, proving themselves to be amateurs!  However, eventually they did steal a page right out of our playbook.  Asa and I got bored with all the posing, and started to wrestle each other much to the delight of the girls.  The boys saw this, and they decided to do the same!  It worked too, because soon the girls were drifting away from us, and focused on their friends again.

We took this as our opportunity to quietly leave.  We figured we had interrupted their romantic evening long enough.  Then just as we got to our car, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour.  While Mom and Dad sat in the car laughing at the boys’ antics and comparing them to how Dad tried to woo Mom in high school, we watched through the raindrops as the young couples walked hand in hand back to their cars.  Guess we didn’t completely steal their thunder after all.