Sadie, rescue Bernese Mountain Dog brought home Tuesday

I never associated puppy mills with the Amish, but they are a capitalistic group when you think about it. That being said, she's a beautiful dog.

My little Golden is now 3 months old. I said I wouldn't do this until he was half a year, but I began taking him out in the woods on different trails. We've done this for the last 3 days. I do my own daily hike in the morning, and later I take him out for a short hike, the longest being 3/4 of a mile so far. At first, he was just that underfoot nuisance that puppies are, but he was definitely into the experience. Yesterday, he cut loose, venturing 30 yards ahead of me on the trail at full speed, and then running back and past me to 30 yards behind. He wasn't doing those investigating smelling side trips. He was like he just discovered running up and down a trail was something he could do.

When we got to the creek crossing he discovered splashing in the water. He would leap and then chase his own splash, until he ended up just running up and down the creek chasing his own bow wake. On the trip back out, he realized he was now on a trail he had been on before, and up ahead he ran, turning to look at me every so often wondering what was taking me so long. And instead of following the trail proper, he turned off to go back down the shortcut we had used earlier.

I think he's going to be every bit of the hiking companion I was hoping for. When we got home he jumped out of the pickup and wanted to frolic, but a half hour later he was sound asleep and almost impossible to rouse, and he was looking tuckered out when I got him to open his eyes.
 
We got in around 8:30 last night; we were at my wife's retirement party. Interestingly, when my wife & I opened the door to enter all three dogs were there to meet us. Prior to last night, the only time Sadie came out of her corner was when we pushed her out from behind. We don't grab her by the collar to get her to move, instead we get behind her or if she is in her crate, I lift her paws over the bottom of the crate door ledge and pull shoulders and body out of the crate. She knows she is a heavy dog and once she plants herself down, moving her is nearly impossible if it's against her will. She is super smart.
 
Mr. Ed said:
We got in around 8:30 last night; we were at my wife's retirement party. Interestingly, when my wife & I opened the door to enter all three dogs were there to meet us. Prior to last night, the only time Sadie came out of her corner was when we pushed her out from behind. We don't grab her by the collar to get her to move, instead we get behind her or if she is in her crate, I lift her paws over the bottom of the crate door ledge and pull shoulders and body out of the crate. She knows she is a heavy dog and once she plants herself down, moving her is nearly impossible if it's against her will. She is super smart.
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Watching a dog blossom, is one of the most satisfying parts of having one. Sometimes they are frustrating to an extreme, but I try to think of the best way to approach a problem, which works sometimes and others not so much. But eventually they start to get it and things begin to smooth out. I have a feeling Sadie will realize there's more to being a dog than just breeding, but it's probably a bigger challenge to bring her out of her conditioned state than it is with a puppy and his/her "blank slate" and it's overwhelming curiosity to experience life.
 
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