I have a golden retriever called Edi. He’s almost two years old (his birthday is on 20th). He’s the simultaneously the sweetest and most annoying dog I’ve ever met, and I love him greatly.

Edi is very cuddly. He likes to me next to his humans, get pets and even climb on our laps when we sit on the couch. He particularly likes when we scratch him from his chest and between his front legs. Recently he has started to lie on his back so we can scratch his tummy. As a puppy he used to sleep on his back all the time. Now he does it when he wants scratches or when he’s being annoying.

He’s also obedient most of the time. He knows a decent variety of tricks, the newest being “play dead”. He performs it very well, usually even when we don’t ask him to. Sometimes he gets lazy and just lies down instead of “dying”. He also knows how to do a high five and I’m trying to teach him how to crawl. It’s going pretty well but he doesn’t keep his bum down. But he learns fast and with the power of food I’m sure I could teach him pretty much anything.

But like I said, he’s obedient most of the time. “Come here” is one of the things he fails mostly (probably on purpose). Inside he does it flawlessly and comes every time. Outside on the other hand… Let’s just say the success rate isn’t as high. It’s very unfortunate that he doesn’t behave as nicely outside because he loves being outside. Running around is his favourite thing to do. He loves running in the forest and he’d happily spend hours in there just frolicking around. Swimming is another one of his favourite activities. He is a retriever after all and being in water seems to come naturally to him.

And speaking of natural retriever things, he really likes to carry things. Sticks are on of his favourites and he seems to have a weird obsession towards trees where he just needs to bite tree branches he sees. During our walks in the winter, he bit of at least five tree branches from a small tree on our route. Helped us to see how much snow we actually had during the winter.

Another of his top favourite is socks. He loves socks. He seems to be able to find them from anywhere. If we leave socks on the laundry rack, he goes to collect them one by one. He even knows how to hide them inside his mouth, so no one sees he has the socks. But (un)fortunately he’s also an idiot who needs to show all the things he’s found so sooner or later he comes to show us that he stole a sock. This also applies to other things such as pinecones, rocks, tissues among other things. Like I said, he likes to carry (steal) anything.

Edi has his annoying side too. He is extremely needy sometimes and becomes very vocal if he doesn’t seem to get enough attention. He whines, moans and sometimes even barks to get attention. It’s cute at first but when he comes to your room at 6am to complain, it’s definitely not fun. He’s also good at throwing fits of sorts during walks. He likes to roll around on the ground, the dirtier the spot the better. And if I tell him no, he starts jumping and running around and nibbling on my hands. He’s definitely learning out of this habit and I’m pretty sure it’s mostly because he’s still a young boy but it’s definitely the most annoying part of him. But it’s also very satisfying to see how he’s grown. About a year and a half ago when he was in his worst teenage rebellion phase, we barely could have a single walk when he didn’t start misbehaving. But now it happens very rarely. It’s nice to see. Makes me feel like I’ve actually done something right.

In the end, even with his annoying noisiness, sock stealing and craziness, he’s such an adorable dog. His smiles genuinely brighten my days and spending time with him makes me happy. It’s so great to play with him outside and see how much he enjoys chasing a ball or soap bubbles or catching leaves in the autumn or snowballs in the winter (he loves snow too).

I’m very excited to see what becomes of my sweet golden boy when he grows older.