Testing My Patience!

So I had this marvelous idea today that I was going to treat my dog to a nice long walk, swimming, and a bath. My dad takes my dog on 3-6 mile walks every morning and this morning he had to work early so he didn't get his usual morning walk. I have the day off and had some free time so I thought, "I'm going to one up my dad and let him swim and be wild and free." You see, sometimes we have conversations in my house about who the dog likes better......me, my mom, or dad. My parents think when I move out he will be miserable without them. I must admit he gets more attention and love than most dogs I know so he will definitely be sad when two of his favorites are no longer there. Of course, I'm his most favorite :)

Back to the story.....I let him off the leash and he took off towards the pond. I threw sticks for him to fetch and he swam and swam and swam. He was loving every minute of it. Then, I decided I'd go ahead and keep him off the leash since no one else was in sight and he could roam around freely and hopefully dry off. He ran around like crazy through the woods and had a blast. At the time, I didn't think anything of it, but when we got home I noticed he was covered from head to toe in teeny tiny little burrs. That's when I almost had an anxiety attack. I had no idea how I was going to get the little boogers off. Let me remind you that my dog is a huge golden retriever with mass amounts of long hair. They were burried under his fur everywhere. I'm not exaggerating either....if I had a dollar for every burr I picked out, I'd be a millionaire. I set him down on the garage floor and I started picking and every time I would pull too hard, he would let me know by nipping at my hand. I sat there for two whole hours picking them off. I made progress, but there were still a bunch left. I decided to go ahead and take him to the dog wash and see if they would come out better while I washed him. A few more came off while washing, but when we got home I brushed him really good and picked the remaining burrs off for another hour. So there you have it, that's how I spent three hours of my day today. God was testing my patience and I'd say I remained pretty calm. There were a few times I contemplated shaving his entire body with my clippers. The good news is, Samson got tons of quality time with me today and he probably thought I was just petting him the entire three hours. I learned my lesson the hard way and he will no longer be running free in the tall grass anymore. BURRS=NO FUN.

A tired, clean, wet, burr free pup