Falling in love with Golden Retrievers (Sept. 2024)

This August brought me to the Netherlands, where I stayed with two amazing Golden Retrievers named Zazu and Summer in a nature reserve called Hoge Veluwe. It was a very rewarding experience. They were kind, obedient, playful, fun, cuddly, and the surrounding nature there was absolutely beautiful. What more to ask for? 

Golden Retrievers are in general gentle, affectionate, intelligent and relatively easy to train as good family dogs. They are the ideal pet for children to grow up with. They are full of joy, trustworthy and have so much love to give you, that their hugs feel almost human-like. What was especially great when walking Summer and Zazu, was that I didn’t have to leash them in the forest. This gives you a much more relaxing experience, compared to when walking most other dogs, and the dogs themselves get much more exercise from it. I always knew that they would stay with me no matter what. And this from the very first day, even though they didn’t know me yet. I think their owner has been extraordinarily good at training them. All Goldens love playing and will often give you a good laugh. You will never get bored with a Golden Retriever – I definitely didn’t during my two weeks with them! 

Playing in mud was their favorite activity. They could not walk past even the smallest mud pool without having to get in it. We always went to a nearby pond where they went crazy in the water in the summer heat. You can’t help laughing when looking at them, so when dogsitting Golden Retrievers you are actually just in a good mood all the time. You mustn’t be too much of a cleaning freak though; obviously all the mud gets dragged back home afterwards :)

The Dutch nature reserve Hoge Veluwe is highly recommendable for all nature - and wildlife lovers: https://www.hogeveluwe.nl/en The relaxing forest paths are endless, the land covered by purple heather, and you will have the possibility to see deer, wild boar, wolves, lots of different species of birds, and many other wild animals. All in all, the perfect spot for de-stressing and connecting with nature. I was lucky enough to combine all of this with dogsitting! 

I always have a feeling of sadness when a dogsitting job comes to an end, but this time I was feeling particularly down when leaving. We became such close friends so quickly, formed a bond and were hugging each other every evening in front of the TV. Zazu and Summer showed me their unique way of bringing joy and comfort. If all Golden Retrievers are like this, I am going to create a dogsitting agency only for them :)