|
My Rescued Golden
 Come meet Goldie . . .
. .
“More than anything, Goldie loves to be petted. I have no doubt
she would stand for hours with her head at the end of a moving hand, eyes closed with
pleasure. In fact, sometimes I get distracted reading the newspaper during a petting
session and my hand stops moving, at which point she begins to move her head back and
forth, in essence ‘petting herself!’ Goldie is a wonderful companion to our
aging Golden Leo, always leaving a bit of food behind in her bowl for him to finish off
and never rushing him through the doorways. She seems to understand his slowness and
respect his seniority, for which Leo [pictured above] is very
appreciative.”
“Goldie is a wonderful dog, carefree and happy, gentle and loving, mischievous and
playful; this despite the neglect and suffering she has endured. In the dead of winter,
Goldie’s owner moved away and abandoned her to fend for herself. For the next two
years, she waited for his return, living under the porches of houses and surviving on
scraps tossed her way. Finally, when a leg injury temporarily crippled her, Goldie was
taken to the animal shelter by a neighbor who recounted her story on the release form. The
rescue group saved her from the shelter and successfully treated her leg injury, in the
process discovering an old leg fracture, the small bullet still imbedded in the
bone.”
As Mike McHann's story continues, we find out that this beautiful goofy girl with the
painful past now has a happy new life with he and Margo, the lovely lady pictured above
with Golden Leo. This story and 45 more are now part of a fabulous new book entitled,
My Rescued Golden: True Stories of Rescued Golden Retrievers
& the People Who Love Them. The book is edited by Margo
McHann, a
Tennessee Valley Golden Retriever Rescue
foster parent, RN Case Manager, and publisher of educational programs for nurses. A loving
celebration of the emotional bond between rescued Goldens and their humans, this
publication's heartwarming collection of photographs and true stories conveys every aspect
of the humor, devotion, fun and inevitable sorrow that exist within this special
relationship. And honored are the volunteers of the rescue organizations that dedicate
their time, energy, money, and hearts to this noble endeavor.
 Here, in the words of adopters writing about
their rescued Goldens, you'll meet Dakota who was saved from the streets and now brings
joy as a therapy dog; Promise who got a second chance at life after surviving years in a
breeding kennel; Sproul who became a bomb detection Police K-9 dog after being surrendered
by her owners for being “too energetic;” Ozzie who was rescued from the kill
shelter and transformed his first-time dog owner into a “real dog person;”
Nutmeg who saves lives as a search and rescue dog after being labeled as “overly
aggressive” by her former owner; Hope who was saved from death in a backyard breeding
nightmare to inspire her adopting family to leave Manhattan following another nightmare
September 11, 2001; – and dozens more. These eloquent pictures and wonderful stories
will touch anyone whose heart has ever belonged to a Golden.
We learned about this wonderful book when Margo contacted us about writing the book's
Foreword. In doing so, we were able to honor some champions in the Golden Rescue movement
and even paid tribute to our special hero, Dr. Allen Schoen, who graciously allowed us to
include a special rescue related message from his
Kindred Spirits book.
The total
profits from the sale of this book are donated to the Rescue groups whose
Goldens are featured in the book. The following groups are
represented—their responding to Margo's invitation to participate:
Golden Retriever Rescue of
Wisconsin;
Golden Re-triever Rescue;
Gold Ribbon Rescue;
Golden Recovery-Retrieving Retrievers Rescue Midwest;
Golden Retriever Rescue of Michigan;
Peppertree Rescue;
Retrieve
A Golden Of Minnesota;
Old Gold Senior Dog Rescue
of Louisiana;
Triad Golden Retriever Rescue;
Inland Empire Golden Retriever Rescue;
Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever
Rescue of Texas;
Tennessee Valley Golden Retriever
Rescue;
Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue;
Golden Retriever Rescue of Central New York;
Golden Rescue Operated With Love Statewide;
Love A Golden Rescue;
Gold Haven Golden Retriever Rescue; and,
NorCal Golden Retriever Rescue.
Just click
here to
order. Please let us know what you think about our Foreword, which can be viewed
here.
|
Photo by John Bishop, a Rescue Story Contributor |
Attention Rescue
Groups: The iUniverse Publishing Corporation will sell the books at a 20%
discount to nonprofit organizations. Then, you could give them as incentives for
donations. For more information, call Toll Free (877) 823-9235 between 8am and 6pm Central
Time, Monday through Friday or email:
custservice@iUniverse.com.
Please enjoy meeting some of those
Goldens honored in this incredible book—brief snippets provided below. Then, go and
order your own copy so that you can treasure all 46 stories for always!
up
 Charlie
Golden Retriever Rescue of
Wisconsin |
Nick is seven years old, and Charlie is one. Nick is a boy
and Charlie is a dog, which makes Charlie roughly the same age as Nick in human years. And
in a lot of ways, they are similar. Nick runs in the house, and so does Charlie. Nick
doesn’t always listen to his mother, and neither does Charlie. Nick
“accidentally” gets in trouble, and so does Charlie. Nick loves to play outside,
and so does Charlie —although neither of them will go out alone.
Nick has a four-year-old brother, Jacob. But there’s
only one Charlie, and so the battle over the dog rages on. When the three of them play
together, it doesn’t take long until at least one of them is complaining—and
it’s rarely Charlie.
I suppose it’s natural for an only dog to think he’s
human. I suppose it’s also natural for him to think that he’s not the smallest
member of the pack because he outweighs the boys by more than a few pounds. But I’m
pretty sure that it’s not natural for a dog who weighs 85 pounds to jump in the lap
of a 60-pound boy to be held. At least that doesn’t feel natural to Nick. As Nick
says, “I like it when he is the pillow, not me!”
— Lois Maurer
|
TOP |
Buddy
Retrieve A
Golden Of Minnesota |
Buddy is the most gentle, loving animal I have ever known.
He is kind and polite to the two cats that were already residing in the house. He
tolerates his tail being pulled, his eyes poked, and even having his favorite toy bei ng yanked from his mouth! If one of his toys is accidentally put away with
the baby’s toys, Buddy will gently and carefully sniff it out and take only his toy
to play with, leaving the baby’s alone!
Buddy is everybody’s buddy. I work at home and love
having Buddy constantly at my feet during the day. We are best buddies, although I think
every member of the family feels the same about him.
Cameron loves it when Buddy climbs
into bed with him in the morning, and Caleigh walks with him and teaches him tricks.
Jacob’s first two words were Mama and Dadda, but he recently said his third word:
Uddy! He just discovered he can feed Buddy food from his highchair, and Buddy sits so
patiently waiting for that little hand to reach over with a piece of turkey!
—Teresa
Kimberly |
TOP |
Ozzie
Retrieve A Golden Of Minnesota |
Since we adopted Ozzie, I discovered what I’ve been
missing! Ozzie has totally made our family complete and I can’t imagine what we ever
did without him. He’s everything we hoped for and more. He follows us around
everywhere we go, is totally trained, hardly ever barks and just is so darn cute you
can’t help but just want to hug him to pieces!
Ozzie has become such a real member of our family that
when we have to leave him for any length of time, it really breaks our hearts! He’s
an awesome dog and we all love him to death. The goofiest thing that Ozzie does is
“Melt” when someone pets him. If he’s standing, he’ll immediately sit
and then lay and then roll over to get a belly rub!
Ozzie was one day away from being euthanized at the
shelter when the rescue group saved him. I cannot even imagine putting a dog like this to
sleep. He’s like a gift and we are so grateful for him.
— Pam
Sutherland
|
TOP |
Promise
Golden Retriever Rescue of
Wisconsin
|
|
 Promise was one of five Golden
Retrievers that were saved by the rescue group from a notorious Missouri puppymill.
Promise arrived at my home late on a warm spring night, almost catatonic with fear and
acting like no dog I’d ever known. Mindful of my promise to foster her, I brushed
aside my doubts and accepted the responsibility of caring for her
until she was adopted.
Having spent the last four years in a small cage producing puppies, Promise was fearful of
open spaces and tried to hide herself in the farthest dark corners of my home. She’d
never been touched, hugged, or cuddled, and when I reached out to her with love,
she’d startle, expecting to be hurt. But the saddest testament to her life of pain
was the empty, emotionless, vacant expression in her eyes.
Two months passed and Promise slowly adjusted to the mechanics of life in my household,
but she still hadn’t shown any emotion or love toward me. Her life of solitary
confinement had rendered her clueless about living with humans, and she preferred the
company of my other two Goldens, Mandy and Murphy. Then one sunny afternoon, I sat
cross-legged in the flowerbed pulling weeds while the three Goldens amused themselves
behind me in another part of the yard. After a few minutes, I became aware of a presence
and turned to see Promise standing nearby, watching me. Slowly I extended my hand and she
crept close enough to touch my fingers with her nose. At that moment, we connected
emotionally for the first time, and I decided then and there to adopt her and keep her
safe forever.
— Kim Hecker
|
TOP |
Hope
Golden
Rescue Operated With Love Statewide |
My husband and I adopted our 8-week-old
female Golden from an incredible rescue group in upstate New York. She came to us with the
name Hope, as she was the product of a backyard breeding nightmare and, when rescued, was
not expected to live through the night. He r tail had been nibbled terribly by her
starving brothers and was saved from amputation only by the heroics of her determined
foster Mom.
I talked about Hope non-stop and began bringing her baby pictures to work. I sensed
something extraordinary about her from the moment I got her home; people who I told this
to looked at me askance and said, oh really, in what way is she extraordinary? My answer
was that she was so completely multidimensional that it was almost impossible to explain.
Analytical problem solver, bossy, brassy and bratty, and yet demure and feminine all
wrapped into one fuzzy little package.
Hope was 14-months-old on September 11, 2001. Our 17th floor apartment was one block from
The World Trade Center and faced north into the towers. We left all the windows open on
that glorious fall-like day, and both went off to work. What happened in the next
twenty-four hours is a book in itself and, when I look back on it, I still can’t
believe it happened. We tried in vain to get to the dogs the night of the 11th, but to no
avail. National Guardsmen turned us away three blocks from our home. The images and sights
of that night will be indelibly etched in my mind forever. The thought that Hope and
Darwin were in grave peril was the most gut wrenching, sickening feeling I have ever known
and, when coupled with the human loss at the towers, was incomprehensible.
We were finally allowed to enter our apartment in “ground zero” early the
morning of the 12th. Hope and Darwin had been alone in the smoke and dust for 24 hours,
and our reunion was the stuff dreams are made of. They were just as we had left them, full
of spunk and joy, and we could detect no ill effects from their perilous 24 hours in
“hell.”
— Nan Schramm
|
TOP |
Kodiak
Golden Retriever Rescue of
Wisconsin |
 Kodiak’s owner was a truck driver who took him
traveling all over the country. Life was good for this young Golden until one spring day
when he developed a noticeable limp in his right hind leg. Before long, Kodiak
couldn’t place any weight on this leg and was no longer able to get into the truck
and travel. Initial tests done by the vet were inconclusive, and, unable to afford further
vet expenses, Kodiak’s owner left him at the clinic to be euthanized. But
instead of euthanizing him, the vet placed
a call to
GRROW, and so it was that
Kodiak came into rescue and into my life. Kodiak was one of the most beautiful Goldens I
had ever seen, not just in appearance, but also in something far greater that I was yet to
discover.
Immediately, I took Kodiak to our vet to determine what was wrong, and my worst fear was
confirmed: Kodiak had bone cancer. But he also had a robust love of life and, best of all,
a winning attitude. I knew that, if any dog had a chance of beating this, it was Kodi. So
without delay, we proceeded with surgery to amputate his hind right leg and start
chemotherapy treatments. Through it all, Kodi never lost his happy smile and sense of fun.
Despite the poking and prodding and lying on a table for hours with a needle in his vein,
Kodi never once growled or lost his loving temperament. I knew then that I had discovered
the other beautiful part of this Golden.
Sadly, though, the cancer spread to Kodi’s lungs, and all that remained was to keep
him comfortable as long as possible. Unbelievably, despite all he had gone through, Kodi
was always his happy, playful self and one of the most loving and gentle dogs I have ever
known. You couldn’t look at Kodi and not feel happy. He was a clown, a companion, and
a constant reminder that life is about loving. Perhaps the most poignant message is the
one Kodiak offered to everyone he met: Face each day with joy, rejoice in the moment, and
always have a smile.
— Dana Bourassa |
TOP |
|
|
