George enjoys tennis balls

At the Mortroski Midcentury, it’s hard to ever be in a bad mood. Especially when you return home from work and are greeted by three enthusiastically wagging tails. Even if you’ve just gone out for a minute or two to drop the recycling off in the bins at the end of the driveway, you’ll still get the same greeting.

If you look carefully while being bombarded by tails, snouts and head butts, you’ll see that one of these things is not like the others. Usually, George, the youngest and newest member of the 3G Network has at least one thing in his mouth. Apparently this is normal behavior for a young laborador retriever/golden retriever.

Since George is a rescue, we have no idea how old he is. When he came to us in late summer 2012, we were told he was about 18 months old. After living with him for a few weeks, we realized he was probably younger. He had many puppy behaviors including needing to go outside in the middle of the night. He grew a bit too and is now 85 pounds. Maybe he’s 18 months now.

Small children have their blankie or a favorite stuffed animal to take with them wherever they go; George isn’t particular, he just has to have something. Anything. In an effort to keep all of the indoor toys from populating the backyard, we’re trying to convince George to drop his toy before going outside. But he’ll immediately look for something to hold in his mouth.

George enjoys stuffed toys too

Security is what George likes. The day we met George, he was carrying a stuffed toy that his foster family gave him. If a toy isn’t in his mouth, it will be under his chin when he’s napping. But before you think he is obsessed with a specific object, he isn’t. He and Godiva often destroy the latest object of his affections through their enthusiastic games of tug of war (despite being smaller, Godiva usually wins). Seams rip. Fluff gets scattered. George will carry the “skin” of the toy around for a while, usually with another toy or ball in his mouth.

More so than the other two, George is happy-go-lucky. Nothing phases him. If Godiva or Guinness get to ride in the truck to pick up dry cleaning or pick up paint at Lowes, George doesn’t pine at the back door like Guinness or pace like Godiva. He holds a toy or two in his mouth and all is right in his world. If he gets caught doing something naughty like digging in the backyard, he stops what he’s doing and grabs a toy. Godiva sulks, tail between her legs.

Not George. He’s got what he needs to make everything ok.