Melanie Allen and her husband Ken got their dog Bowline (also known as Bobo), a Golden Retriever four years ago in Cincinatti, Ohio, where they are from. He's named after a sailing knot. "All of our dogs are always named after some sort of sailing, either a location or something to do with sailing," said Allen.

Her daughter Jordan who was four at the time was devastated when their former dog died so it was important to get a new one right away. He came from a breeder and, "He was the last one. He was the runt."

Jordan actually picked Bowline out. "We had a couple of places we looked at and when we got back in the car after seeing this dog, we started pulling out and she started balling and said, 'How can we leave that puppy?' so we turned around and that was our dog."

Bowline howls a lot according to Allen. "He kind of sounds like a whale. If you're not around, he howls."

True to his sailing identity he loves to be in the water. "If we're at the dog park and he's in the water and we leave, he won't leave. We have to literally be almost outside the dog park before he will follow us. He also likes to just stand in the water or dig up rocks."

Bowline has a couple of canine friends, Buddy and Lilly that are "wiener dogs" said Allen.

Like most dogs, Bowline enjoys balls for chasing and bringing back but he has a favorite. It's little red ball that lights up with an LED. "He's obsessed with it," said Allen,"he's a little OCD on it," she said chuckling.
If it rolls underneath furniture ,"he will just stare at the furniture and can't get off it. He won't stop just looking at it and crying until you get it."

He's an IAM's dog for food but he doesn't get many treats other than milk bones.

At Jordan's birthday party all the girls got together and dressed him up, "in tiaras and bows in his hair and necklaces. It was quite girly. He loves kids and they can hop on him, put blankets on him, they did everything to him. He's a very patient dog. He loves to be by people more than dogs."

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