# The Elway Thread



## Wendy427 (Apr 4, 2009)

What a cutie-pie! Looking forward to seeing him grow up!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer and Elway are right on par with each other! Kaizer lost his first tooth on Monday! It's so exciting seeing them grow up, isn't it


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

aesthetic said:


> Kaizer and Elway are right on par with each other! Kaizer lost his first tooth on Monday! It's so exciting seeing them grow up, isn't it


It really is. Back-tracking like this blows my mind; they were so little when we brought them home and they are maturing into some really wonderful dogs :heartbeat

Some of Elway's current (and I predict enduring) quirks were showing right from the start, like his favored frog-legged position. It was hard to start him on a proper "down" because he always wants to spread out like that :doh: I hear it means good hips though, and it's pretty darn cute, so I can't complain! 

His love of the outdoors was instantaneous, too. The one of him soaking wet is from playing in the sprinkler outside. And that gorgeous spider is from one of our walks. I love how he motivates me to spend so much time in nature.


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Elway has a vet appointment this afternoon, so I thought it'd be a good time to clip his nails and brush his coat. Also a good time to do a little more catch-up on The Elway Thread! (Side note: He LOVES the vet. And they love him. Who can resist a golden puppy?!) 

I'll also share how I do his nails when I'm alone in case anyone is struggling with that. When my fiancé is here, he holds him while I clip. But with those puppy nails growing so quickly, we aren't always both available when he needs a trim. When it's just me, there has to be a little strategizing. My last dog _hated_ having her paws handled, but this little guy is so good with it. His breeder was careful to handle their paws frequently and with lots of praise, and we do the same. We touch his paws every day so it's not just a nail clipping thing. He doesn't mind the actual nail clipping, but I did make the mistake of putting all of his grooming stuff in the same box, including his "poultry cool mint" toothpaste. 1) Ew. 2) Now he wants to eat all his poultry cool mint scented grooming tools. 

In order to keep him from eating the clippers and get his body in a position conducive to clipping, I use a Kong. I fill it with peanut butter, pop it in the freezer for a while, and then let him at it. I hold it still with my foot (I'm sure I look ridiculous) and sit on the floor with him. Because I'm keeping it still, he lies down to get a better angle on the peanut butter. From there, I can manipulate him pretty easily and do one paw at a time. The puppy Kong lasts me even longer than I need it if it's frozen! So hopefully that will be helpful to someone. I would have a tough time clipping this energetic pup's nails without it. 

And of course, some photos to round out the post. For the one of him in the mud, he plopped down with his butt and tail right in the water. What a goof. : He was covered in mud for the whole rest of the hike! It was too cute watching that little muddy puppy butt trot down the trail.


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## KiwiD (Jan 14, 2008)

What a good looking pup Elway is. I look forward to seeing more pictures of his adventures.


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## goldy1 (Aug 5, 2012)

His pictures are precious. I love the froggy legs position. My Chance still hangs out in that position at 10 years old!


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## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

Elway has to be one of the cutest puppies ever! I look forward to following him as he grows!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Thank you all for the compliments! :thanks: 

Next up in Elway's story is this strange development: He likes walking on the windowsill! He gets all four paws on the sill and walks back and forth like a little gymnast on a balance beam. I swear, this dog thinks he's a cat sometimes!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Great pictures, Elway is such a doll. 
Got a good laugh about him walking back and forth on the window sill, how cute.......


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## goldy1 (Aug 5, 2012)

Peeking from behind the curtain is a great shot. Elway is so cute!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Here are some more shots of our little man. You can kind of see it in the pic of him on the fence, but he is turning into one buff little animal. The other day we went hiking and he was pulling himself up a high ledge and there was a moment where his whole body weight was on his front legs, and he was able to hold himself up like that! I thought I'd be helping him with things like that but he's so capable already. Crazy. 

His strength is one of many reasons why we're working so hard on training. He's already at the point where, if he were allowed, I'm sure he could really yank us around. However I am happy to report that he is still training up well and is especially lovely with people. Goldens have such a good sense of when to play rough and when to tone it down. He gives the sweetest puppy kisses to young kids :kiss: It's like he has this innate sense of when to be extra-gentle. 

The pic of Elway on the shore is from a very exciting time: His first swim! Unfortunately no video yet, we were too caught up in watching it live, but maybe sometime soon I can get some footage up here. He took to it best of any dog of mine, hesitating only for a moment. As soon as we encouraged him, he was off! No biting the water, slapping it, etc., just nice strong strokes right from the start. He was swimming circles around us within minutes! I can hardly believe how wonderful this pup is. We are so blessed to have him


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## Daisy123 (Jan 26, 2009)

He's such a cutie pie!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Hey guys! I'm back with another update on Elway. I'm at least caught up to the right season, although these pics are still a few weeks old. We tried to get the cute "puppy in a pumpkin patch" shot but to no avail. We sure got a laugh trying though! 

We took him to the riverside today for a fall festival and he was a total hit. It took us about 30 minutes to move a half mile with all of his adoring fans gathering 'round : 

He was also on a college campus recently, with similar results. Funny thing, all the girls came right over saying, "Oh my God, he's so cute! I love him! Can I pet him?!" and all of the guys hung back and watched quietly or snapped a picture. The boldest of the guys said simply, "Hey. I like your dog." Lol. 

I love that he makes our outings so social, but I must admit that the unsolicited advice he draws drives me crazy. We can go from one person saying, "Wow, he's so well behaved! You guys are doing a great job training and socializing him," to another saying, "You should really put him in a harness. And you need to start obedience soon! Do you know how much work a dog is??" in just a couple of minutes. Yes, I know how much work a dog is. Duh! I own one. And he wouldn't sit every time I stop walking, respond to hand signals, or be so good on "leave it" if we weren't training him  But the good comments far outweigh the bad, and at the end of the day I know we're doing our best with our guy.


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## mddolson (Jul 10, 2012)

Let's hope he doesn't keep up the sill walking when he's full grown.
Although that would be quite a site from the outside. LOL

Mike D


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## Capt Jack (Dec 29, 2011)

Elway is a great looking boy! Thanks for all the pics keep 'em coming. Don't worry too much about the negative comments on training it sounds to me like your doing fine. The next time someone says something like that to you I'd ask if they have ever trained a Golden. Their a different breed and a lot of folks don't understand the phases.


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## alphadude (Jan 15, 2010)

Elway is adorable. Cool name also...Broncos fan?

In one of the first batch of pics he looks identical to my younger guy (3.5 years old) when he was an 8 week old pup. I was going to post the pic but didn't want to hijack the Elway's thread.

Looking forward to watching him grow to adulthood.


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

I agree, Capt Jack, a lot of the people sharing "advice" probably don't understand as much as they think they do. Honestly, I am beyond proud of how Elway did at the fall festival. There was a petting zoo full of all kinds of animals, there were tons of people everywhere, loud noises, burgers, funnel cake, etc. all right in his face, and yet he stayed calm and focused on us. Yes, he pulled occasionally, but for goodness sake he's a four month old puppy at a fair! If our biggest issue all day was a little pulling I am a happy camper. And he doesn't do it on our regular walks. 

Glad you like the name, alphadude! Broncos fans indeed  (especially the fiancé). I would love to see a pic of your guy. 

Here are some sweet sleepy shots of my guy after he got his rabies shot a couple weeks ago (please ignore the dirty carpet). He's such a bundle of energy sometimes I wonder if he sleeps at all, but that shot wiped him out! He was even calm enough that I took him to work with me.


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Ok, guys. This dog is too smart. He knows how to work a doorknob! And he can jump on the bed and counter-surf (none of which is allowed, so that's great). Yesterday I had him in the room with me and I shut the door to keep him contained. Well my entitled little guy decided he wanted to roam free. He must have paid attention whenever we opened the door, because he knew exactly how to do it. He jumped up, rested his paws on either side of the doorknob, and put the whole thing in his mouth! Then he proceeded to turn his head, thereby turning the doorknob! Unbelievable.

Here are some shots of the little smarty-pants outdoors at a nearby marsh, muddy paws and all  He kept upgrading his stick as we walked around and he found the bigger, better ones. The rule is that if he can grab the stick and hold onto it without making me slow down or change direction he can have it. If he's clumsy and he drops it, we do not slow down or go back for it. And no sticks during formal "heel," they're only permitted on the casual "let's go." 

If anyone knows what the plant in that last photo is, please let me know! I thought it was so neat looking but I have no clue what it is.


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## alphadude (Jan 15, 2010)

elway said:


> Glad you like the name, alphadude! Broncos fans indeed  (especially the fiancé). I would love to see a pic of your guy.


Elway was one heck of a QB. I was very happy he got his 2 rings before he hung it up. Too bad Marino never did.

I contemplated going with a sports naming theme with my guys but the obvious choice (as a Yankee fan 'Jeter') was already taken by a friend so I opted for the rock star theme instead.

This is Angus AKA "Puffy" the day after I brought him home @ 8 weeks, sacked out on the patio. This was the shot I was thinking of when I saw the last pic of the first series of Elway. Very fuzzy with stubby little legs.


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

alphadude said:


> the obvious choice (as a Yankee fan 'Jeter') was already taken by a friend


Bummer! I take it Angus/Puffy is an AC/DC reference then? 

I showed your post to my fiancé without any context and the first thing he said was, "Is that Elway??" Followed immediately by, "Man, they're fat when they're little." : 

We do have some lookalikes on our hands! I'll be interested to see as Elway grows if the resemblance continues. I must admit I was inspired to make a photo thread by Discoverer and his boy Oscar. Talk about a handsome dog! Hopefully Elway will follow in the footsteps of the many wonderful goldens on this forum, both in looks and obedience/temperament.


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## alphadude (Jan 15, 2010)

elway said:


> Bummer! I take it Angus/Puffy is an AC/DC reference then?
> 
> I showed your post to my fiancé without any context and the first thing he said was, "Is that Elway??" Followed immediately by, "Man, they're fat when they're little." :
> 
> We do have some lookalikes on our hands! I'll be interested to see as Elway grows if the resemblance continues. I must admit I was inspired to make a photo thread by Discoverer and his boy Oscar. Talk about a handsome dog! Hopefully Elway will follow in the footsteps of the many wonderful goldens on this forum, both in looks and obedience/temperament.


Yep, Angus is named after the great Angus Young, and Axl after Axl Rose of G-n-R fame.

They definitely did look alike at a similar age and are pudgy in the beginning. lol

Look forward to watching Elway grow into another great golden like all the others on this forum!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Here are some more shots of Elway playing at the marsh. He loves exploring, and if we stay long enough sometimes it even tuckers him out! Good fun for pup and owner. My photography is shoddy but I have to include the pic of him with the Big Stick 

Unfortunately, as we have fun and make friends on our adventures we are also racking up some enemies. I have had it up to here with people who 1) don't train their dogs, 2) let these untrained dogs off leash on public land, and 3) are on their cell phones paying absolutely no attention to those dogs! It makes me sad enough to see people walking their unruly dogs while on the phone, but to then let the dogs off leash and not even watch them is unacceptable. 

Now don't get me wrong, even though the marsh is technically an on-leash area, I don't mind off leash dogs--as long as they are under voice control with attentive owners. If you can call your dog off of wildlife, other dogs, cars, people, etc., more power to you. Hopefully Elway will reach that point one day. But if your dog isn't there, don't let him off leash! Especially not unsupervised. 

Elway and I got ambushed by one particularly awful dog whose owner was a total cell phone bimbo. I was walking with Elway when I heard a rustling in the tall grass and thought, "Ok, there is a large animal running toward us. Do they have bears here? I don't think it's a bear. But it's _big_! And it's coming over here." So I started heading us back toward the parking lot figuring inside my car was our goal location. Before we got very far, a _huge_ dog comes barreling out of the tall grass straight at Elway. E's back hair stood on end and he was terrified. I felt horrible for him. This dog was off leash, huge, and in a total position of advantage. The owner wasn't even in sight of the dog, and didn't hear me when I _yelled_ for someone to come handle their dog. Elway scurried behind me and I maneuvered the three of us (me, Elway, and Other Dog) toward the parking lot, thinking the whole time, "I really don't want to try that whole wheelbarrow thing today." I did all the stuff they say to do, move at an angle to Other Dog, don't stare him down, etc. I got to the parking lot and the owner is on her cell completely oblivious to the fact that her dog is snapping at us and being very aggressive. I yelled at her to get her dog and she struggled to control him but eventually got him in her car, never once putting the cell phone down! 

Once Other Dog was restrained, the owner just kept chatting away on the phone, ignoring us. I was *fuming*. I walked right straight over to her and pretty much yelled, "ExCUSE me, Ma'am!" and proceeded to tell her how disrespectful she was to us and our right to enjoy the marsh, how her dog was aggressive and dangerous, it's an on leash park and he clearly needs to be on his leash, etc. etc. etc. At the end of my rant she just looked at me and said, "Ok," and walked off. :redhot: I could've slapped that woman I was so mad. Fingers crossed we don't run into her again :crossfing 

Sorry for the diatribe but I get so mad when irresponsible dog owners interfere with our ability to have a nice walk together. My sweet little guy and I just wanna go outside in peace!


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## mddolson (Jul 10, 2012)

I understand completely. Very frustrating.

Mike d


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

We recently took a wonderful hiking vacation to Starved Rock State Park and the pup loved it! We stayed at Kishauwau cabins which I highly recommend. It was our first time there and it was perfect for two humans and a dog. We brought his crate (it's collapsible) and set up shop! Here are some shots of Elway in the cabin. A highlight of the trip was watching _Homeward Bound_ and _Stripes_ at night. Elway loved Shadow and Chance, and we all love Bill Murray  

Next up will be pictures of him hiking. We, of course, kept his hikes light, although he really does have tremendous strength and endurance. We asked the breeder for a high-endurance pup for outings like these and she did a great job matching him to us! Stay tuned for those pics.


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

Just found this thread. Lovely pup and great photos. Long may it continue!


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## KiwiD (Jan 14, 2008)

Great pics of Elway enjoying the cabin. He is such a handsome pup!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Thank you both! We are over the moon about our guy  He makes life so much better. 

Elway and I just got back from a nice Sunday stroll. It'll be a while before he masters "heel" but we're working on it. He automatically sits when I stop walking which I love. And he did a great job hiking at the state park on our trip. I didn't know it ahead of time but it turned out the park was about 90% stairs. He handled it beautifully. Nothing like seeing his little ears flop with every step! 

On to the pictures...


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Here are some more shots of our little monster enjoying his vacation, plus one of him in his toybox. I think it's so interesting how he knows exactly which toy he wants and he'll dig around until he finds it. They have such fascinating little minds! When we first brought him home he was shorter than the toybox walls. Now he hops right inside of it with ease! Soon he won't even fit in it.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Just now catching up with your thread. Elway sure is a handsome boy, but they sure do grow big fast. Here is a photo of Max at 11 weeks and 30 pounds. He now 5 years old and 134 pounds.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Elway is such a good looking boy and a smart one 
Enjoying all the great pictures of your adventures together.


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Max's Dad said:


> Here is a photo of Max at 11 weeks and 30 pounds. He now 5 years old and 134 pounds.


Max is adorable in that photo! His eyes give him the sweetest expression. 

I think Max is the biggest golden I've ever heard of! I scoped out some of the more recent photos you've posted on the forum and I have to congratulate you on getting his weight down. That's quite an accomplishment!


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Looks like I am way overdue for an Elway update! At 5 months old he has all of his adult teeth, his coat looks much more mature, and his arsenal of tricks is growing exponentially! 

We recently started some very casual nosework on "go find" with tiny little chicken liver treats hidden throughout the house. He LOVES it. If anyone has ideas for fun nosework exercises please let me know. I know very little about it besides that I should encourage him to find things by sniffing around. 

We also developed our own little sanity-saver which we call Peanut Butter Towel. We take an old washcloth and smear some peanut butter into the fabric, then let him go at it. It's gross but it works! It keeps him occupied even longer than a frozen kong. Because let's face it, as much as we love him, everybody needs a break sometimes.

He was a very brave little guy going through the car wash with us, he's learned that the vacuum cleaner won't actually kill him, and whenever he wanders off and we go find him he's casually lounging on our living room furniture! :lol: He's also a much-loved customer at Lowe's and is getting better at taking baths (he prefers showers  ). 

As far as training, he knows the following commands: sit (we train it as a sit-stay), down (a down-stay), crawl, come ("c'mere"), get close, heel, let's go, off, go find, leave it, stand (helpful for grooming), open, balance (on hind legs), jump up, in the car, out of the car, and he can do the trick where he sits with a treat on his nose and he stays still until I let him eat it (total crowd-pleaser). He obeys hand signals for all except heel, go find, and leave it, but that's just because we haven't taught him hand signals for those yet. He's brilliant on some commands (sit, balance, get close, etc.) and others he does only begrudgingly (he hates "down"), but they're all coming along. 

He's going to Thanksgiving dinner with us and about thirty other guests, so hopefully that goes smoothly! One of the other family dogs ran away with the turkey as a puppy, so as long as that doesn't happen we're in the clear


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## elway (Jan 23, 2015)

Hey guys! I'm back with more photos. Gotta get caught up to present day because something very exciting has happened... Puppy's first snow storm! But first, the pics leading up to today. 

Elway definitely still acts like a cat a lot of the time, but it's now taking on a kind of mountain climber vibe too (see 1st pic). 

The dog biscuits in the last shot were a huge hit! He was a very good boy keeping us company while we baked them


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

He is such a cutie, what a good boy. 
I know he enjoyed the dog biscuits.


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