50 Shades of Golden. Episode 1

Hi everybody,

my name is Veronica and I’m a proud owner of two wonderful golden Retriver (said it right?).

Today I would like to introduce my family, but first of all I’d like to tell you how proud I am of myself.

I’ve never had dogs, cats, birds, hamsters or even ants before. I was definitely inexperienced when I decided to take with me not one, but two dogs.

I was surrounded by a million questions: how many times a day will I have to walk them? What do they eat? Where will they sleep? Then I found some typs in the Internet, and now I can firmly say I'm their landmark, their safe harbour. They respect me, understand me, obey me "democratically"... I mean, when they want to.

We all know how important is today a proper training of our four-legged companions.  To bring them up means having an absolute complicity that will lead them to do what we say anytime we want. I honestly can say I brought my dogs up perfectly.

If we are at the park, for example, and I call to them, I don't really want them to stop what they were doing to come to me. After all, when they do something is because they want to, and I'd have no interest in seeing them just run to me. They know this, as well as they know they can come to me after they're finished with their things, with no haste, even if I've been shouting for hours under the rain, the broken umbrella, the children to be taken from school, and so on... Man, this is real complicity!

Let's stop discussing my training methods now. As I said, I'd like to introduce my family.

Well, my name is Veronica, I'm a young and beautiful girl (you can do nothing but trust me, 'cause you're not going to see me), I've ever loved all animals and they've always loved me, showing me their love on their own way...

Then there is my husband Piero, a very patient man, which is very appreciated, and very, very tall.

Our children Francesco and Ilaria are our little angels. They love singing and dancing and don't even know the word "patience" or "no", "later", "please, I'm talking", "don't jump on the bed", "don't push your brother down the stairs", "pencils are not things to be stuck inside the nose", and so on... But they're just kids and will grow up...

Ladies and gentlemen! Last but not least, the key players of Brambilla's family: the great, big, stinky Aperol and Spirtz, the "duo" who does not have to try too hard.

Aperol is a wonderful teenage Golden who loves puddles, water (expecially on a dirty pool), my husband's slippers, my son's socks, ragu pasta and cutlets. He really loves physical exercise and makes us all do it. To mention but a few, he likes straining at the leash or running the 100 metres spring, expecially if he sees a cat, another dog, a lizard or just a shadow or something he thinks he saw. He runs for roast and jumping on the bed.

By contrast, Spritz is a real lady. She's a bit smaller than Aperol and has a snow white fur. She loves plenty of things like running on lawns and no matter if she rolls around on poops; she does it with style.

Spritz likes flowers and any kind of plant, goes gardening at least twice a week and digs holes so deep that last garderer who fell into one of these was found after a week from a squad of seeking dogs. Actually some of them still seem to be missing...

At home she moves so gracefully, I'd say almost on the sly. She usually borrows my childrens' toys for a while and gives them back with a different new shape, like only a real artist can do...

Oh, I forgot to introduce our Iatta, our lovely kitty. She's close to be the reincarnation of a Dalai Lama, presiding over the house and putting us all in line, gaining the respect also from our neighbours.

Well, this is us, a very normal family, and here we are to tell our wonderful, fabulous, idyllic life with the most loyal companion you could ever choose... the Golden Retriever.