Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Gavin's humans are lost

A week ago we picked Gavin up at the vets office, he had received a check up and was given a clean bill of health, except for his weight. We gave him a ride across town to his new foster home. He was so skinny we could see his ribs. Below, Gavin going to his new foster home.

Gavin had found a hiker, high up in the Rocky Mountains. He followed her to her car, jumped in and got a ride to town. He was famished, he had been in the wilderness for a full week, perhaps more, trying to find his humans. He had been on a hike the prior week, just cruising down a trail when his humans wandered off. After a week of looking for them while being hungry and lonely, he found a hiker, followed her to her car and climbed on board. He said it was hard to give up on looking for his family, but it was a long time between meals up in the high country. He was worried that without being there to protect them his humans may have fallen prey to a mountain lion or a bear. Gavin arrived in town with no ID tags, no chip, no way to phone home. Below, Gavin and Riley get acquainted, Gavin has the new red leash.
Now he is staying with his foster brother, Riley. He came to the Golden Retriever Rescue Reunion Picnic on Saturday with Riley and his foster human. When I talked to Gavin, he was quite sensitive about the topic of losing his humans. Apparently humans keep falsely accusing Gavin of being the one that was lost. He pointed out that if he was the one that was lost, then we would not be playing with him right now, would we? He would not be here, right? It is his humans that wandered off, look around, do you see them anywhere? He says that the next time he goes hiking in the woods he is going to demand the car keys so that the humans don't get lost again.
In the meantime, the humans think there may be a foster failure in the making. Gavin is fitting in so well with his new family that they are not sure they want to find him another home. Gavin thinks so too, after spending a day at the GRRRR Picnic, he is not sure he wants to go anywhere else. He says that life with Riley has been a lot of fun so far and the food is good. It has been only a week, so stay tuned and we will let you know what direction Gavin's life goes.
Note: Chip your dog if you want him to come home. If you don't like chipping, then give him a cell phone, that way he can phone home.


Mogley G. Retriever

4 comments:

  1. Bless you, Mogley, for writing about Gavin in your blog today. What a sweet boy he is. I am so thankful that the hiker brought him safely to GRRR. Thank you for sharing his story with the world! You are one cool dog!

    --Gavin's foster mom

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  2. Hey Mogley,
    The important thing right up front is that Gavin is safe and, pardon the pun, living The Life of Riley. We currently have four rescue dogs in our pack and we have had others, some now at The Bridge, and others in furever homes. They all had unhappy circumstances that put them in perilous situations. Unfortunately, sometimes when humans get "lost" and their dog has no chip or ID tags the story can have an unpleasant explanation. Our Dad was in the Navy for 20 years and he says that there is a very unsavory term to cover the circumstances of a high number of "lost" dogs with no IDs around military bases; "a military dump." Gavin just might be a whole lot better off now than he was not just a week ago, but even two or three weeks ago. We probably shouldn't be so cynical so we'll apologize and believe that Gavin's people did get lost inadvertently. Either way - Thank DOG for GRRR; and also for dogs and people like you and your family. Drools cool.
    - TBH

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  3. It sounds like there may be some humans crying for him--he's one handsome dude! But without a chip or a collar or even a tatoo how can you find them? At least he is safe now. We have the same thing happen with beagles all the time but then we're really back about losing humans.

    love & wags,
    River

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  4. What!, there is no way any dog loving person would loose their retriever in the hills with no tags etc...I agree with Bumpass. We used to live on the first rural road out of town and people were always dumping there dogs there... I think beautiful Gavin may have wandered into the best hands he could....

    I know Im just assuming but please..If I lost Chels I would be crawling those hills on my hands and knees looking for her....

    Willl be good to hear how Gavin gets on...

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