In September 2008 my golden retriever Meggie was 11 years old and seemed to have lost much of her enthusiasm for life. Though healthy, she really seemed to be depressed, sleeping most of the time. She had been my buddy through thick and thin and I knew I would not want to be ‘dogless’ very long when she went over the ‘rainbow bridge’, which seemed not far off.

So when I heard about IEGRR and called Carol Tompson I explained I had an old decrepit dog and was calling in preparation for her inevitable, and apparently not too distant departure, when I would then like to get another Golden. Carol visited and vetted me and Meggie at my house and we discussed my wish to get another female, preferably a young one, when Meggie died. Carol mentioned that they almost never got really young dogs. I said I’d call when Meggie died. And that was that.

About 3 weeks later Carol called and said they had a 13 week old female for adoption - did I want it?  I wasn’t really ready for THAT decision but agreed to ‘go meet’ (yeah, sure…)  the puppy - who was described as a ‘pistol’. Little did I know how accurate that description was (is) and what I was getting into.

A few days later after hastily ’dog proofing’ (I thought) the house I brought ‘renamed Gloria’ home to meet Meggie.  Being such a good natured old thing Meggie decided to just ignore ‘it’ since ‘it’ surely would be returned to whoever we were dog-sitting for in a few days. Gloria, having spent a week or so gaining confidence at Carol Thompson’s ‘IEGRR home for temporarily wayward dogs’ was not at all intimidated by Meggie’s lack of interest or her size. Very fascinated by Meggie’s 11 year accumulation of soon-to-be eye-less, nose-less, tail-less stuffed animals. After a few days Meggie began to interact with the new pest and soon they were romping around together and wrestling in the 97 inches of snow we had.  Meggie lost weight and gained interest in life.

Soon Meggie was acting like a 7 year old dog rather than a 11 year old. It has been fascinating watching Maggie ‘teach’ Gloria, as well as incredibly helpful. Although Gloria thinks she’s the ‘alpha’ dog in their play she carefully watches Meggie to decide how to react to any type of decision situation.

Gloria is now approaching 2 years of age and she and Meggie and are best buddies. 

The point is - if you already have a mellow old aging Golden, adopting another Golden may be the best thing you can do for your old dog, the adopted dog, and yourself.

 I would like to thank Carol and all of the volunteers at IEGRR for placing Emily into our home.  I never knew just how much joy adding a dog could bring to our family.  We had wanted a Golden for a number of years, but due to some neighborhood covenants, we were only permitted to install vinyl fences (expensive) so we had put off getting our Golden until we could provide the proper home and care that these wonderful dogs need.  After several years of savings, we finally managed to get the yard fenced.  So it was off to the rescue to see which bundle of joy we could bring into our lives.  Though we were not first time dog owners, we hadn’t had a four legged friend in our lives for the better part of 10 years.  Jobs, careers, and the joy of two children, now 8 and 3, delayed the placement of our four legged friend.  We did have some considerations, as our youngest is petite for her age and respectfully cautious of something twice her size. Additionally, we are a dual career family (like most folks) and so we were wanting a dog that was beautifully seasoned, easy going to our busy lifestyle, and still youthful and a joy to be around.  It is incredible how much our expectations had been far exceeded. She is truly pure old gold.   

  On our first visit to Carol’s, amongst all the usual excitement of meeting a new four legged friend, the family had just walked Blooms Day, so our littlest one was a little tired.  That and the rain added wonderful extra elements to our visit to see what type of personalities existed just beyond Carols’ garage.  We met all types of wonderful Golden’s.  My son was set on a ‘boy dog’ for no other reason than ‘girls are yucky.’  My daughter started to have second thoughts and frankly was over-stimulated and just wanted to go home, but someone caught our eye, and her name was Emily, age 8.  Sweet, petite, and demure and with a look of uncertainty in her eye, she suddenly moved to the top of our list.  Yes, she was a girl and that meant compromise with our son, but with such the sweetest disposition and mellow temperament, she was certainly one for us to talk about on our way home.  My son was voting for a ‘boy dog.’  Over the next several days, we all had our say and talked about which dog would be the one for our family.  After some negotiation that would make a lawyer proud, my son managed to negotiate the purchase of all the new items for Emily, leashes, bowls, toys, etc.  There was still some cautious considerations, so we set up a follow up visit the next weekend, thus allowing our youngest a chance to interact with Emily when our youngest wasn’t so over whelmed and when we could all go for a nice walk in the neighborhood.  Emily came home with us after a pleasant walk at Carol’s for a ‘let’s see weekend.”  The trip home included a walk through Petsmart, where everybody complimented us on Emily’s good manners and beauty.  By Sunday night (yes, just 24 hours later) we knew right away that she was ‘ours’ and that there would be no way she could ever leave our home. That wonderful bundle of joy, adopted us just as much as we adopted her.  She was sweet, polite, well behaved, and knew all the commands of sit, stay, down, and shake.  All of the wonderful good citizen things that a family could have hoped for, our Emily already had. 

    Her personality has blossomed and flourished since being in our home which has allowed our youngest to say “look Daddy, I’m giving Emily a hug.”  Emily has been such a wonderful treat, has blended into our family and lifestyle so smoothly and effortlessly, that we are pinching ourselves to see if this is real.  She is gentle on the leash with no pulls or tugs, walks by your side, has greeted every dog in the neighborhood with a sniff and a bark and has been such a joy to have at our side.  She loves all the hugs, belly rubs, and attention.  She loves the water and bathes beautifully.  She has come out of her semi-timid shell, and now when she goes for a ‘walkie walk” her front paws are down her rear is high in the air and her tail is a wagging machine.  Oh by the way, she even potty’s when told.  She is just unbelievable.  Two of my neighbors (coincidentally) are also IEGRR adoptive parents and Emily gets along great with those dogs as well.  We could almost have our own little rescue reunion, from Carols capable and loving hands, to our loving and forever homes.  I understand the decision to surrender is often a difficult and troublesome one for many, as life is full of twists and turns, but we are so thankful that Emily is part of our lives now.  Though it has only been a short time since Emily has joined our family, she is just loving all the love, attention, and play that the whole family is providing.  I can not say enough how wonderful this dog is and how much love she has brought to our home.  She enjoys her morning and evening walks and is always there at the door to greet us with a wagging tail when we get home. A great big thank you goes out to Carol and all the volunteers at IEGRR for all of your hard work and tireless efforts.  Emily has found a wonderful home, full of children, happiness, and plenty of opportunities to play and get love and affection from everybody, even the neighborhood kids.  All the kids at the Elementary school when our 8 year old gets picked up, run over and give “Emily” a pat and a rub and say how beautiful she is.  And there’s Emily, all smiles and loving all the attention she so richly deserves.  

And even though I played the game of assuring Carol (myself really) that I was making the right decision and that this time I was for sure going to go through with my plans of giving them up for adoption, I was still having doubts.  Today I spent my day just with them since my wife's out of town visiting our immediate family.  I had been deliberating all day long whether or not I was going to go through with this or not. 

I began by taking them to the dog park out at State Line (which is free & is a great place for them to run with other dogs).  Then I took them for walks out in our field at our rental house that we're currently in.  I later took them to the grocery store, where I got them some chew bones and round steaks.  Went for more walks.  Brushed them each for about an hour.  Gave them each a bath.  Generally...just spent the day with them.

You see, my wife and I have been struggling with this decision because we love them so much, but with a new grandbaby & family 450 miles away and working full-time and starting a business that will hopefully put us nearer to our grandbaby, I've always felt guilty for just spending so little time with "the girls". 

Still deliberating up until this evening, I decided to check out the website.  And that's when I found all of "you".  "You" are all the other Golden retriever lovers that I never knew existed.  I wanna say "thanks" to you all.  It wasn't until I read all of your happy stories with tears streaming down my face that I knew I was making the right decision for our girls.  (I know call me a softy).  My wife and I were never able to have kids either so maybe that's my explanation for being so close to our dogs. 

I have to say that they are for sure happy tears though.  I guess you just can't take the kid out of a real grown man.  If a young boy grows up with a good ol' "fuzzhead" as his childhood companion, there's something special that lives on in us forever I guess.  I don't know whether or not the two of them will wind up in the same homes.  But it really wouldn't matter after reading all the stories of how well the dogs seem to adjust to all their new homes and how much all the new owners love, care for, & respect their new companions.  It seems like there's an exact match out there in the works of always happening.

We weren't going to be around hardly at all with our new schedules.  And I already knew they weren't getting the attention that goldens need.  So, to all of you who have given your dog (of all ages) new homes, thank you.  And thank you so much for posting your stories here.  For owners in my situation, that means everything.  It's been a mental up and down struggle for many months.  And now I know for sure that "our girls" are going to be given a special home. 

JTB - Spokane