For me it was never a case of if we got a dog but when! As soon as Chris and I moved in together I started to pester him daily for a dog to join our family. It didn't take much convincing and as soon as we started to look at puppies he was on board, beginning our search for a new family member back in December 2019.
When it came to what breed we didn't have a specific one in mind however after doing lots of research we whittled it down to a Golden Retriever due to their kind, playful nature and love for outdoor adventure! After researching for months we realised we wanted a Golden Retriever from a working line - we knew we needed a dog with lots of energy & drive to come on our hill walking and paddle boarding adventures and I loved the challenge of training a working line dog.
The search process was hard work - we desperately wanted a dog but also wanted to make sure we gave the right dog their forever home. I spoke to so many breeders & advice groups before joining 2 reputable gundog breeder waiting lists and eventually we got the call we had been waiting for! Cash and his litter mates were born on 23rd June - there were 8 of them in total and we got the final boy!
We collected Cash on 22nd August 2020 and had to travel 373 miles from Scotland to Bristol to get him. I'll never forget being handed this tiny golden fluff ball and realising he was ours. Cash was the perfect pup on the drive home (apart from the enormous amounts of puppy travel sickness which was to become my worst nightmare for the next 3 months of my life). He slept at our feet cuddling into his new broccoli toy the whole way home.
We had created a cosy bed set up under our stairs and we were strict from the first night with him sleeping downstairs...even though it was so tough not to bring him to our bed!! After a few tear jerking cries and an Oscar worthy performance he settled down quickly and after 3 nights slept soundly by himself! The first few weeks were without a doubt the hardest stage, particularly because we live in a top floor flat and had to run down 4 flights of stairs carrying a big chunky golden pup but we consider ourselves very luck that Cash was such a good puppy. The most difficult thing to cope with was the deadly golden retriever farts that no one warned us about!
Cash has completely changed our lives for the better. He came into our lives during a miserable lockdown while we were both on furlough and gave us a reason to get outdoors & a new lease on life! Myself and Cash have a particularly strong bond - Chris works late nights and Cash is there to greet me when I get home from work and keep me company through the night. We love to plan days out as a family - hill walking, beach visits (Cash's favourite place in the whole world) and paddle boarding! I also started my own dog bakery business through lockdown all because of Cash and it's now a huge part of my life! (muddypaws_dogbakery)
I have been lucky enough to meet some amazing people through having a dog - the dog world of instagram has been a total whirlwind for us and I've met some people I now consider to be some of my closest friends. Cash has even found love and met his beautiful girlfriend & fellow Stocky & Dee Ambassador Oakley through Instagram!