No sooner had Nova entered her adoptive home than this shy and quiet golden claimed the living room couch as her bed. Next she claimed her family’s hearts by tearing around the hot tub in their backyard and leaping in, forgetting how much she hates water.
Astonishingly athletic and agile, Nova loves playing chase in the house with her parents, and as soon as she gets the zoomies, the game is on. Not only does she chase them from room to room, she hops from couch to couch to bed, and can spring over a couch and end table in one giant leap to reach them. She also loves running around the property to ensure that other animals, from armadillos, lizards and squirrels to stray cats, other dogs and pigs, understand that their proper place is outside the fence and away from “her” yard.
Basking in her parents’ attention, she’s not bashful about barking to get it, barking, as well, to greet the many neighbors who walk by the front door, and barking to impress upon everyone else that this is her home, not theirs! Surprisingly serious even when playing, her silliest moment are those involving the different ways she makes herself comfortable on the couch by rearranging the blankets and pillows in order to contort herself around them. She even expresses her affection for her family in a novel Nova way. Case in point: she lies on her side and raises only her hind leg to expose her belly for them to rub. If they don’t immediately comply, that same leg goes down without another muscle moving in her body.
Of all her toys, her favorite is a stuffed baby elephant, and while she delicately nibbles treats out of her mother’s hand, she chews heartily on bones and enthusiastically woofs golden greetings to all of the people and pets they pass during family car rides.
