Golden pup hangs on for the ride

She did whimper once, at about 4 a.m., and he was nervous enough to take her outside. She didn't even pee. Now, after breakfast, it is time for a real trip to the yard, a lot of "come on, come on," and a happy "good girl" when it is done.

Then she's free, and all she wants is to play. "She just wants to play 24/7," he says. It's a cold morning, cold enough for him to see his breath. Hunter goes straight to playing with her mother, Monty, and another big dog soon joins in.

Save

Next, a visitor arrives with presents. There's a toy for each dog and a new pink bed for Hunter, who's so happy she jumps. Monty seems to think the bed is for her. "Mother said, that is mine."

Mother and daughter end up fighting over a toy, and it turns into a tug of war. Hunter clamps on and won't let go, so Monty simply drags her across the grass. "She's just chilling," one of the people watching says, "like, okay, I'll go for the ride."

Save

All that play wears her out. She fills up on kibble and passes out on the new pink bed like a little princess. Then it is back outside for fetch, where she eats some dirt and rolls in the rest. "I'm gonna call you Dirt every time you get into dirt," he tells her.

Earlier, the older dogs were too sleepy to play with her. Now Moon is in play mode, and her dad calls her over to keep her safe "from the evil Moon," though he admits, "He's wild, but you love him." When she wanders into the flowers soon after, her nickname gets an upgrade to "Princess Dirt."

Later comes a lesson with treats. "You don't even know what that is yet," he tells her, while the other dogs crowd in. Asked to sit, Hunter just sits. He has been teaching her already, it turns out, "not for a treat, just for love."

The treat is the hard part. It's so big for her that she drops it, then chews and chews. "It's not really training treats," he says, "when it literally takes her a whole minute to eat one."

At bedtime she heads into her crate, which she loves. Monty walks around the bedroom with her stuffed "baby," the way she sometimes paces at night, claws going clickety-clackity. Most mornings, he says, he wakes up with Wolfie in one spot, Moon in another and Monty right beside him. He ends up surrounded by dogs, which is just how he likes it.