Slice of Life Day Seven: Dave the Retreiver

 A big Slice of Life for me is my golden retriever, Dave.  Since I am retired, I spend a lot of time with him. We play, take naps and walk...a lot!  Four years ago when he was a puppy, I knew I wanted to train him to bring the mail in for us. I had seen a neighbor do that with his dog and thought it was so cool. So, as soon as Dave was able to walk across the street to our mail box, I had him carry an advertisement back to the house with me. He loved it. (He is a retriever!)

It wasn't long before he was not only bringing the mail, but also the morning paper. Then the problem started. He loves to carry things in his mouth...anything! 

Every Monday our local paper delivers a Smart Shopper to any resident who does not get the local paper. That way everyone has access to the sales and other ads. Since these people have no paper box, the paper is thrown on the driveway for them to pick up. Do you see where this is going?

Every Monday when Dave and I walk he sees those papers in the driveways.  It is just too much for him.  If the people haven't picked up their papers by noon, Dave takes care of it. He grabs one on the first part of our walk. We take it from him and put it on our driveway and finish our walk. On the second part of the walk, he picks up another one and carries it home.

By the end of the day, he usually has about four papers gathered from the neighborhood. The thing is, he does this for about three days until ALL of that week's Shoppers are not littering the road side.

What a retriever!  What a neighbor!   What a dog!!