Did you ever have one of those days....

....where all your training efforts suddenly seem worth the effort?

This past Sunday, being the holiday weekend, saw mobs of people around my neighborhood. The weather was positively stunning with temps in the upper '70s, sunny, and not humid. Almost unheard of for July. We live down by the beach, so there were lots and lots of people walking past my house. There were a lot of yard parties , so there were 3X the usual number of kids out and about.

I was finishing up some yard work and had Rusty outside with me much of the day. He was off leash and was just being golden--if you'll pardon the pun. He wasn't doing anything spectacular or heroic; he was just being obedient and well mannered. He is "the mayor", so everyone who came by was offered a greeting, but he was being totally respectful and not bothering people who didn't want to have a large dog slobbering on them. He ignored other people's ill mannered mutts, and attended to me very closely. It's as if he were a trained dog or something.

Of course, about half the people who spent time luvving him up thought that, because he's a Golden, he was born that way. They have no conception of the hundreds of hours that went into civilizing my psycho puppy.