Darwin's Evolution

Our Golden Retriever puppy Darwin is 3 months old. Life since Darwin has certainly changed, changed for the better.
He's grown tremendously, still has his downy soft puppy fur, still trips over his feet, still chases his tail (and the positions he'll get into in order to get that tail! )
The breeder really did pick a great pup out for us, and he fits in perfectly with our lives and lifestyle.
Today he had his third puppy training class, hunting training, and for the second time, the instructor mentioned that there wasn't much of a hunter in him. Apparently if we had wanted that we should've gotten a darker, more "golden" Golden Retriever. No such thing! Our platinum blonde doesn't have to be a professional, just have fun with it. I refuse to become a "soccer mom" with my dog! He does parade happily along, among the Cesky Fouseks, Weimaraners, Labradors (who after pulling his nose up after sniffing a dead crow - I felt relief that I wasn't the only one with a dog with no hunting ambitions) acting like the training class is a tea party, but when I finally get his attention, he does his sits, downs, comes, follows, stays, like a true professional! Humph! So there!

From the moment he came to us, Darwin has been attracting more attention than we bargained for. In the beginning it's flattering to hear from people on the street and in the park that your dog is beautiful, well built, has a nice disposition. He gets patted, cuddled, stroked, baby-talked to. Now it's getting old, no it's becoming annoying. Once the rose-colored glasses came off, I came to the realization that 9 times out of 10 people just dive upon your dog without asking if they can approach him, just start petting him. They look upset when you walk off with your pup with a look like "hey I was petting him!" I always think, well get your own then! No one thinks of petting your brand new coat without asking, do they?

Happily that's the only major thing to complain about.