Hurry!

Below, two photos from last years Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Reunion Picnic.

This scene stretched for a long distance along the banks of the lake, this is what chaos looks like when mixed with water and tennis balls.

Hurry, It is only a little over one week until the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) has their annual Rescue Reunion Picnic. You have to be a member to attend the picnic, eat food, chase tennis balls and watch 200+ Golden Retrievers play in the lake. . If you are not a member of the Rescue, you can join on the web site. Go to http://www.goldenrescue.com/ to join. Then you too can attend all of our parties, receive our newsletter with stories about our rescue efforts, and be a part of a wonderful rescue organization. Help a homeless dog, and have fun at the same time. How can you beat that? All for only $25 per year. What a deal! Just click on the membership button on the left of our home page.

Mogley G. Retriever

P.S. You may want to make a colored scarf for your Golden to wear if you want to bring home the same one you brought to the picnic. People ask how the humans tell them apart, the humans don't have to, the dogs find their owners and check in every so often just to be sure they are there. To us, all humans look alike, but all Golden's look distinct enough that each owner can find his even with 200 to 300 wet dogs all running at once. How can you deny your golden such a party? Remember to sign up to bring a food item to share. Bring one towel for each human, two towels for each golden.

Kiwi takes a car ride

Below, I am on the left, then Kiwi with Bella on the right.

Photo proof that Kiwi is riding in a car. Without shaking or trying to run away. Kiwi has been a major problem to get into a car. She has fought so hard that the humans finally gave up and just left her home. They started working to get Kiwi excited about rides. Slowly they have worked her into the car using us as bait. With us in the car, Kiwi was concerned about being left behind. They gave us treats in the car with the door open. Then they left Kiwi behind while we drove off with us hanging out the window. Kiwi finally decided her fear of cars was less than her fear of being left behind and she began climbing in on her own. So now we get rides around the block just for practice.

Below, a three way tug-o-war between myself on the left, Bella in the center and Kiwi on the right.

Kiwi is joining in and playing with us in our wrestling and romping. Kiwi is a very good mouth wrestler, she can put up a good fight. Kiwi also is playing fetch. She is good at fetching, she is a little hesitant about dropping, she is afraid we will take it away before the human can throw it for her. She is right, we will steal it if we get the chance.

Rusty Muffin was in the car, her head was hanging out until the camera appeared. She has a very bad case of camera fear. When the camera comes out, Muffin hides. Rusty is recovering fine from her surgery. She is leaving the stitches alone so she will heal very fast. We think she is a neat lady to have in our home with us.

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Both Muffin and Kiwi are still looking for their forever homes. They are ready now, Muffin is over her surgery and Kiwi is learning her basic commands. If you have anyone that needs a lot of love, or a lot of energy, we can meet either demand.

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Mogley G. Retriever

Kiwi and Muffin

With Sarah happily in a new forever home, we are focusing on finding forever homes for Kiwi and Rusty Muffin.

Muffin had her surgery on Wednesday. She had two fatty tumors removed and had a growth on her eye lid removed. The eye is doing well and she is leaving her stitches alone so they are healing well. Muffin is ready to go to a new home now, she is in good health and good spirits. Muffin is such a wonderful lady, she is a lover and a gentle companion. She went for a walk with us yesterday and did very well. She is ready to bring Golden Love to a needy family. If your home is short of love, we can offer you 70 pounds of it in one easy to care for package.

Kiwi had a home visit yesterday. Because she is so frightened of car rides, we thought it would be better for family's to visit her here. She got along well with them and their other Golden, Sam. They still have to visit another homeless Golden, then they can make a decision. Kiwi needs a home where someone cares enough to train and work with her. She is very well housebroken, but she does not come well yet. She is sitting great because of the regular treats she has to sit for. She has car fear from being dropped off by her owner. We worked with her on just playing around a car with open doors, that did relax her a little. Soon it will be behind her and she will be riding with her head out the window and ears flapping in the breeze.

Cross your paws and hope we find homes soon for Muffin and Kiwi.

Meanwhile, we need to remind all of our readers about the big swim party coming up on September 13th. The annual Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Reunion Ruckus (GRRRRR) on the lake is coming up fast. If you have never seen over 200 wet Golden Retrievers playing fetch with 300 tennis balls in a lake, you have missed something special. Our picnic with all of the wet and swimming dogs is a wonderful time. Lots of food, lots of old friends, and a lake full of tennis balls. Last year we had alumni that traveled in from four states just to play with old friends and fetch tennis balls. Some of the tennis balls have numbers on them and represent prizes to make it more interesting. What more could anyone ask? If your grin muscles are not hurting by the days end, you need professional help.

Mogley G. Retriever

Sarah's new home!

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Hi Mogley, your swimming buddy Evie here.

Mission Accomplished!

I wanted to tell you that Sarah has a new forever home. What a lucky girl she is. Her new people fell in love with her picture and just had to have her. She will have 2 homes. One down here and a mountain cabin with a stream to swim in. I personally don't like to get more than my paws in the water but Sarah sure does as we found out at our last swim fest at your place. She is even going to have another golden for company. That one is a baby but she promises to help raise the little one and be a good big sister. She is very excited and is busy packing her things. She gets picked up in the morning and off she goes to the mountain cabin. What a life! Little Sarah deserves it though after her rough start in life. Good luck Sarah you will be missed.

Your pal Evie

Comment from Mogley:
Evie, Sarge and Sorsha (with a little help from their resident cats) do such a good job of helping homeless dogs find their home. They take young dogs under their paws and teach them to be good companions. Thanks for all you do.

Mogley G. Retriever

The life of Sarah

Hi Mogley, your friend Evie here again.

We have a new foster dog at our house I want to tell you about. Her name is Sarah. She is about 1 year old and she told me no one cared enough to get her spayed and she already has had a litter of puppies. She is still just a puppy herself, what were her people thinking? Well, she is with GRRR now and all will be well. She has been to see Dr. C and is now formerly retired from having litters. She can concentrate on just being a wonderful golden now.

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Of course no one taught her anything. It isn't her fault. She is very smart and a quick learner if someone just takes the time. She has been here only a few days and she already knows how to come in the dog doors. Our mom helped her once, gave her limited assistance a second time and that was it. She has the coming in down pat now. We are helping her with the going out part now. She wants to be inside so bad that going out by herself isn't on her list yet. I think she got left out alone too much and she is just enjoying being with people. She really likes being around us permanent resident dogs. She follows us around and is learning the ways of a golden from all three of us. She has learned about toys from Sarg. She has appointed herself as the emptier of the toy basket. She wants all the toys out where she can see them to make her playing selection. She is learning about playing with tennis balls from Sorsha. She has started running back and forth with her while Sorsha is playing catch with dad. She is learning to go to mom for pets from me. I notice whenever anyone sits down and I run over to get an ear scratching, Sarah comes with me. I explained to her that people have two hands and can pet two dogs at one time. It is our responsibility to make sure the humans don't get bored and that their hands have something to do at all times.

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Unfortunately when no one took the time to train Sarah it also means they didn't bother to house break her either. She is learning. Mom and dad haven't had to potty train a dog in a very long time and had a discussion about the best way to go about it. They are using a modified version of what they did when Sarg and Sorsha were babies. I came house trained thank you very much! Sarah sleeps in her crate at night and mom takes everyone outside first thing in the morning. Sarah gets lots of praise when she potties appropriately. If she potties she gets to stay out of the crate as long as there is a human to supervise her. She gets taken out about every hour and a half to 2 hours to the potty area. We have been accident free for a week now.

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Cleo and Molly say she is kitty certified. Molly had to set her straight with a hiss and a slap to let her know that you can't play with a kitty until the kitty says so. Sarah didn't even try to play with Cleo. Cleo is the very old and regal kitty here and no one messes with her. Mon calls here an apartment model. That means she is very small. She is still a little on the thin side too.

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Anyone that is looking for a very sweet little girl needs to put their application in with GRRR and put Sarah's name on it. She is a very active, fast learning young Golden.

Thanks for the help Mogley,

your friend Evie

Swim Day!!!

Today our friends came over to go swimming. What fun we had. Below is a good picture of Kiwi, before everyone got wet. Kiwi is settling in and playing with us. What fun we have running and playing chase. We even have some good tug-o-war games.

The resident chauffeur does not let us swim very often. Just when he invites company over. He says it is too much work to dry several wet dogs at once. It was a hot day so he invited Evie, Sarg and Sorsha along with their foster Sarah. He even allowed the humans to come along, which is good since they brought along a huge sack of used tennis balls. Evie is not a big water dog, but she will swim a little. Sarg and Sorsha get in and want to stay in, forever. They collect all of the floating tennis balls, then start barking at the humans to throw more. Boy did we have fun swimming.

Kiwi and Sarah are both about 14 months old, and boy did they become friends. In moments they were running and playing in the grass. neither one of them had been swimming before, so it took time for them to come near the pool.

Below, Sarah's foster mom is helping Sarah into the pool for the first time. Sarah was not too sure about it at first, but she very quickly became a swimming champ.

It only took a few minutes for Sarah to decide she liked swimming. She found out that she was a water dog. First she was hesitant about using the stairs, but she worked up her nerve and she practiced until she was jumping into the pool from the side.

Below, Sarah makes a leap after her duck. She used the stairs until her stuffed duck was thrown in and it looked like someone else could get to it first, then she learned to jump in ahead of them.
After learning to make small jumps into the pool, Sarah works her way up the skill ladder.

Below, Sarah makes a giant leap into the pool.

Sarah is so small that when she is wet it does not look like there is really a dog under that hair. She shook so hard that rain was falling on everyone.

Below, Sarah checks out the duck decoy. A Golden Retriever can not be too careful, someday there may be a real duck and we have to be prepared. Kiwi is keeping her company from on shore. Kiwi is not as sold on the water as Sarah is.

Kiwi tried the water once, she was not too sure about it. She did not get courage to go in again although she wanted to. She just could not get up the nerve. We think that next time Kiwi gets the chance she will do better. Remember, Kiwi is very timid about everything, today was a day that pushed her limits. She met four new friends and she loved playing with them. Day by day we see Kiwi becoming more relaxed and willing to explore new things. Kiwi and Sarah became such great friends that the humans are planning on scheduling play dates for the two fosters to get together.

The star of today was Sarah. Sarah made a great step forward. She jumped into the water to fetch her favorite stuffed duck. Today Sarah learned that she loved the water and she loved swimming. She is a water dog, a real Golden Retriever. Tomorrows post will have Sarah's story in it, and you will understand why Sarah is such a miracle. Watching her have fun running and playing was so much fun. The humans just watched and laughed. They decided that today was a great success.

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Thanks for reading,

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Mogley G. Retriever

World, Meet Kiwi.

Below is your first look at Kiwi. Kiwi is staying with us as a foster sister until she can find her permanent, forever home. At 14 months, she is a healthy, energetic and active young lady.
Kiwi has been abandoned more times than she can count. Only 14 months old and her life has been a revolving door. Her first owner took her to the pound and surrendered her. Several days later she had second thoughts, went back and reclaimed her. Then she was surrendered again, same result, after a few days she was reclaimed again by the same owner. The third time the pound called Golden Retriever Rescue and gave her over before her owner could change her mind again.

Several days later, Golden Retriever Rescue received a call, her original owner wanted her back again. It took some talking and some counseling, but finally the Rescue relented and adopted her back to the owner. They were assured that the problems were behind them and that everything would work out this time. There was some pressure from the pound who felt that a dog should always be reunited with it's owner if possible. But then the owner returned to surrender Kiwi back to the rescue, for the fourth time. This time rescue spirited her away and is not returning phone calls from the owner. It is no wonder that poor Kiwi has more problems than a high school math test.

This time we are going to find her a stable and permanent forever home. Kiwi does have a few issues. For one she hates car rides, she thinks car rides all end in being abandoned somewhere. Getting her in the car is a major task. She has never been trained to do anything. She is well housebroken, but that is all the training she has had. She is very timid when meeting new people, and she still views a hand reaching towards her as a possible threat. She does not sit, come, lie, stay, walk, or anything else. So we are having to give her some basic education classes. The three cats are helping her, they are teaching "Respect for Cats, 101". She is ready to get her diploma in co-existing with cats, as soon as the scratch on her nose heals. Napping on furniture is a problem, she is learning to stay off of the couches.

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She is in her chewing stage of life. She is demolishing all the toys that Clyde dd not have time to rip up. Clyde, where ever you are, be assured that Kiwi is carrying on your tradition. She loves to chew on anything that fits in the mouth.

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Kiwi is very timid, she jumps at any loud noise. She barks at the dogs and humans in the park, but instead of running out to the fence to bark, she does her barking from the safety of the back steps. She is also timid when it is feeding time. She likes her food bowl out of sight of everyone else, she is afraid one of the bigger dogs will take it away from her. She does not even understand treats, she threw her first few around until someone else grabbed it away and ate it. We have never before had to teach a foster how to eat treats. She does like attention, she will cuddle as long as she can and once the petting starts, she can enjoy ear scratches and tummy rubs all day long.

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The good news is that we all get to join in the training, so we all get more treats as she works on sit and stay. She is a very fast learner and will master it all quickly. The bad news is that we don't get to go for car rides because she has car trauma. The human says that a few trips to the dog park will give her a new view of car rides. I suggested that a trip or two to the ice cream shop will help her get over her fear.

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Meanwhile Muffin is still here. She has met with three different families and not been adopted by any of them, for one reason or another. She has settled in and unpacked her bags. If a special family calls she will listen to their story, but she is not waiting for anyone, she is living her life right here, right now. The humans keep saying that having a third permanent dog is going to interfere with their fostering and there are dozens of dogs that need foster homes. But Muffin is older and not many people want a wonderful, sweet, well behaved, 10 year old lady. So she is enjoying laying in the sun, running in the grass, and sleeping on her new bed beside the human's bed in the bedroom. She says she just as well make the best of it while she can.

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Thanks for reading,

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Mogley G. Retriever

A Home for Clyde!!!

Below, Clyde shows us what he thinks of dinner. He can eat and protect his precious footballs at the same time.

Just because I am laying down, don't think you can get away with stealing one of my footballs.

Clyde is demonstrating how big of a football fan he is. He can't wait till football season begins.

Last night we drove Clyde and Muffin over to Golden, Colorado to the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) site. We met some very nice people that were looking for a companion for their golden. Clyde was a perfect fit not to mention an almost perfect clone of their current Golden Lady. His new home has squirrels in the trees and a nice yard to run in as well as two people that know how to spoil a Golden. Clyde took one of his blue footballs with him, it is his favorite toy and he will feel so much more at home with something he knows. He was also sent with a tennis ball so he would not suffer withdrawal. The nice people even agreed to take Clyde in to the vet for his knee operation and to nurse him back to health. We hope they keep us informed as he progresses. Muffin went along for the ride, but she almost got taken also, the adopters had a long discussion about whether two Goldens or three Goldens was the perfect number. We think they will compromise by becoming foster parents for other rescued Goldens. That way they can discover that the perfect number of Goldens in a home is always "more". A new forever home for a wonderful Golden. Now that is a story worth waiting for!

While we were there another couple adopted Sonny, he was sure happy to have a home of his own. He is younger and his new home has all kinds of wild life. Bunny rabbits, deer, foxes, raccoons and lots of squirrels. Boy what a perfect place for an active younger Golden. He will keep the house from being attacked by those dangerous wild animals. The occupants can sleep safe tonight, a Guard Golden is on duty.
Above, Muffin has the squirrel trapped in a tree, for a moment at least. Muffin is still with us. She is not trying too hard to find a new home. She pointed out to us that there is no hurry to find a home, this one has empty dog beds, empty feeding bowls and a surplus of toys now that Clyde has moved on with his life. GRRR assures us that we will be filling the empty beds and using the empty bowls soon, many more Goldens are coming in every day. Muffin still has to have a visit to the vet, she has a small growth on her eye that has to be taken off and she has a fatty tumor that has to go. If she does not get a new home soon, she will have to stay here while she recovers.

Thanks for reading.

Mogley G. Retriever