A day in the life of Lea the golden retriever

Hi I'm Lea
I'm 9 years old and I live in Ireland
I live with Ruby, her mum and Honey
Honey is like my sister
Even though I am bigger than her, I am in fact younger than her

I usually wake up at about 7
I look over at Honey and she is still fast asleep
She loves her bed
She spends most of her time there
I wait patiently for Ruby to come and let me out
I know she'll be here soon
I don't bark
I am very patient

Eventually I hear Ruby coming up the hall
She opens the door and I run out to greet her
She spends a few minutes rubbing me and Honey
Then I head out to the garden
I stretch and yawn and walk around checking that everything is as it should be
Honey goes over to the wall and barks at the dog next door
They do this every day
Bark and growl at each other
They are so silly
I go around to the front garden and have a nice long pee
Then I head around to see if Ruby is ready to go for a walk

She's not ready yet
I dance around her feet to remind her that I really want to go
She lets me in to the car to wait
I love going in the car
When Ruby first got me I hated the car
It made me feel so sick
But now I love it
I love heading of with Honey and Ruby
We have great fun

Finally Ruby is ready
I hear the jingle of the car keys and I know it's time to go
As we drive Ruby talks to us
I don't know what she is saying most of the time but it sounds nice
I only know a few words
I know my name
I know car
Dinner
Walk
Chewy
All the important words

We arrive at the beach and I am so excited
Ruby opens the car door and I bound out
The beach is one of my favourite places to go for a walk
We walk down the long path and over to the sand
I run around and roll on my back
Pure joy
I also go for a swim
I go for a swim every day
Sometimes Ruby throws a stick for me
I really enjoy that game

After a nice long walk we head back to the car
Honey and I sit in the back seat
Although Honey always manages to take up most of the room
I don't mind though
It's easier to let her have her way
Honey thinks she is the boss
But she forgets that I am much bigger and stronger than her
I let her think she's the boss
But she's not really

When we arrive home Ruby gives Honey and I a big juicy bone

I bring mine around to the front garden and sit and gnaw it for ages

I just love bones

Honey always burys hers in her bed

She's so silly

Soon it's dinner time

One of my favourite times of the day

I sit at the back step and watch Ruby prepare the food

Yummy nuts

Dog food

Tuna and ham

 I gobble mine down quickly

Honey always comes over to my dish when I am finished

She is so greedy

I love living here

Ruby brought me her when I was 5 months old

I was living with my mother and my brothers

We were kept in a big cage

I was the runt of the litter

I remember the day Ruby came to pick me up

I was so scared

I didn't want to leave my family and I didn't know where I was going

When I got to Ruby's house I hid under the bushes for a full day

I didn't know where I was and I missed my family so much

But Ruby and her family were so nice to me

Even Honey was nice to me

It took me a while but eventually I settled in

I'm quite a nervous dog by nature but as time has gone on I've become more and more confident

I'm glad that I live here now

I have a lovely big garden

I go for walks every day

And Honey and Ruby and her Mum are my new family now

I spend the rest of the day mooching around the garden or sleeping on the back step

It's summer now so Honey and I can lie out until late

Sometimes Ruby's nephew comes down

I love playing with him

Soon it is night time and it's time for bed

I lie on the mat in the kitchen until Ruby puts me in to bed

It's been a long day and I am tired

I better get a good nights sleep because tomorrow we do it all again

Lots of love

Lea x