4 Years Old

Oh my dearest Dakota,
   I can't hardly believe that you are four years old! This year your world was ROCKED with the arrival of Lucy, who you love and adore. You still love to be right next to Lucy at every opportunity. You are SOOOOOOOOOO incredibly patient with Lucy as she gets right up next to you and gets right near you. You adore her too, you follow her around the house and lay right next to her when she is on the floor. You particularly love that she is beginning to eat food and in turn drop food on the floor which you quickly inhale.
 
The Morris Animal Foundation's Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is now full! You are one of the 3,000 dogs enrolled. I am thankful that you are playing your roll in the benefit of golden retrievers all around the world and for years to come. You LOVE going to the vet, I think because you like to see the other dogs and love your vet and vet techs. Thank you for giving of yourself for the sake of the golden retriever breed.
 
You continue to be a people lover. You love to be around people, to be pet by people and particularly LOVE kids. Your tail wags and wags and wags some more when we are around people. Your best friends are Duncan (another Lifetime study hero) and Echo (both golden retrievers), and Nala (your cousin if you could call it so).

  Your favorite humans are Marc, Lucy, me, KT, JT, and Vicki. You love to be with us and while you always start out the night sleeping on the floor - sometime early in the morning you always crawl up on Marc's side of the bed and snuggle in. Once we bring Lucy into bed before we get moving in the morning you crawl right up next to her and she rubs her hand all over your face and slightly tugs on your ears.

  You love to go on runs with Marc and I and you love to explore in the state park behind our house. In the summer months you love to swim in the lake and alongside our kayaks. If you can be outside that is definitely your favorite. You also do well when we go camping - you love the chance to just be outside as often as possible.
  You truly are a gift to our family and we wouldn't be the same without you. Love you!