Goofus GH-897

Goofus was one of 10 pups born to Cuddles on April 12, 2012. The then owners kept him and Cuddles and sold the rest. We adopted Goofus (GH897), age 2 years 4 months and Cuddles (GH896), who was probably 4 plus. After being with us only a few days, we noticed behaviors not familiar of Goldens…timid, scared, no trust in humans, fear of things in our hands, etc. After having an animal behavior specialist observe them here at home, she suggested that they had probably been abused. She worked with us on ways to win their trust and help them adjust. After a period of time, they became more comfortable and at ease in our home and started to trust our family.

Goofus grew into a sweet lovable family member. Once a guest came in to visit, and he checked you out, he would love to be petted, have a tummy rub and gladly accept all the treats you were willing to give him. Sitting and staying for treats was the greatest trick he knew! He would be so obedient if you had a treat in your hand-nothing would distract him! He loved to be brushed and petted. He was easy to train (with delicious treats, of course) and soon learned simple commands (that neither of them knew when they came here). Goofus quickly learned to sit, stay-unless there was a squirrel, deer or other dog in view-in which case his chasing instinct got the best of him! He learned to give paw , lie down, fetch (mostly, but sometimes got distracted and forgot to bring). He would love to chase whatever toy we threw in the yard for him, sometimes dropping one toy to chase another if we were throwing one for Cuddles. He would, most of the time, bring his toy back proudly trotting to us. When he decided the game was over, he would simple lie down in the yard with his toy.

He and Cuddles learned “door†when it was time to go back inside, and would go to our back door and wait. They both knew treat, outside, walk, tuggie as a name for a toy, and car so we had to spell sometimes if we were not quite ready for them. Goofus’ favorite activity was keeping our yard free of squirrels. He would stalk a squirrel, and chase the squirrel up a tree. Satisfied that he had treed the squirrel, he would sit and watch the tree branches. Unfortunately, most times the squirrel would have moved on to another tree-usually seen by Cuddles who would move to the other trees. Goofus would steadfastly sit and watch the tree branches of the first tree the squirrel went up!! Hence, he earned the name Goofus! He loved to catch snowballs, and was mystified when they disappeared in his mouth. He would look around on the snow-covered ground for them! He loved being out in the snow and running his nose through the snow on the ground.

Goofus was our guard dog! He would bark at and try to chase anything moving in our yard, our neighbor’s yards, in the woods behind us and/on the road in front of our house. If he saw a biker, runner, dog and walker or truck on one side of the yard, he would run to the fence and along it. Then, when it got out of sight, he would quickly run around the back of the house and garage and bark near the fence on the other side of the yard. He would be so fast and was so strong that you had to be certain to get out of his way or be run over!

He and the new puppy next door would see each other out, and run to the side fence and play the game of running back and forth along the fence barking at each other, until one or the other would tire, then they would both sit and rest. Then one would start the game over again! She was a great exerciser for him, and he would always come inside exhausted from the chase, get a drink and sleep for quite a while.

Neither Cuddles nor Goofus wanted to go anywhere near the garage or get in the car for the longest time. But recently after we had to go to the vets’ offices frequently, he would walk with us into the garage and get in the car, then sit and look out as we drove. We could say car, and he would head to the door.

Even after he was not running and playing as much, Goofus was always up for at least one toss of a tuggie and still loved to go outside. We have had a wonderful 6 years with Goofus, and he became a different dog then when he first came to us. He earned his name with his silly antics and we loved watching him become a terrific member of our family. His death came quicker than we anticipated, although he probably was aware that his body was changing. He played and ate well until that last afternoon when his body just gave up. He died around 7 PM on the evening of 8/28/2020. He is missed by Cuddles and all of us, even all our neighbors and friends who knew him. He made quite an impression on the staffs of the vets that we had to see. A few of the techs who worked with him a lot were very impressed with his loving sweet nature and happy smile and tail wagging when he saw them.

RIP Goofus – You are in our Hearts forever.

The Sturges Family