A Dogs Life, the real story

An update

2012-01-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

We have had several e-mails asking us if we got home from our Christmas night flight after pulling the sleigh and delivering all of the presents.   The Reindogs did the delivery trip and all was well on Christmas Eve.   Bella and I both slept for a couple of days.   Santa took a whole week off, then he went back to the toy shop to start getting ready for next year.

Meanwhile, our Paw Challenged One took a full time job.    He was retired but boredom, a pay check and a friend that was running for re-election made him do it again.  . He accepted a position as a staff Aide to our friend at the Colorado State Capital.    He thought it was a part time thing, but it turned into a very full time thing in just a few days. He is currently at the Capital before 8, and seldom leaves before 6.   It is almost an hour commute each way, so he is not at home as much.   Then there are the meetings almost every night in the district.   When he is home, he has duties you know.   Dogs to play with, balls to throw, treats to hand out, heads to pat, tummy's to scratch.

When it is cold and snowy, instead of walks or runs for us, its tennis balls and the back yard. Too many tennis balls, and Bella came in with a limp.    The Vet said it was "Tennis Shoulder".   Too many tennis balls.   So now, we only get a little exercise.   But Bella's shoulder is much better.

Lets see, we had three cats, Murry, Buddy and Mini.   Murry died, soon after Murry passed away, Buddy passed away.  Mini was enjoying being an only cat. Then when our cousins moved, we took in Sarah so she would not have to endure the trip from Denver to Tampa in the car with three golden retrievers.    Then Sarah got lost.   She could not be found, they searched the pounds, posted lost cat adds, even flyer's in the neighborhood.   Then after 3 weeks of being gone, Sarah suddenly emerged from the basement.   She had been hiding out, eating Mini's food and keeping totally silent.

But while they were looking for Sarah, they found another stray, now named Tiger.    Tiger had been hit by a car, and was pretty skinned up.   The problem is that in spite of having a chip, and in spite of having a phone number, her owners did not want her back.   Apparently there is a rule that once you rescue a cat, you can't unrescue them. So once again we are a two golden house and a three cat house.

The Paw Challenged One is regretting that he set up as many aquariums in the basement as he did. He has tank after tank (over 20) of rare, endangered and even some "extinct" fish, extinct in the wild at least. Several of them are part of a bio-diversity program, they are taking excess rare fish out of the big research insitutions and farming them out to people so that a given gene line is not concentrated in one place where a misteak could cost an entire species. He set them up before he took a full time job, and now he can't get rid of them in a hurry as they are controlled, he has to report on some of them, even get a permit to take them across state lines. So that too takes time, there is water to change, tanks to clean, fish to count.

One of the more interesting ones just arrived are Marmorkrebs (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis).  They are not terribly rare, but very interesting. All Marmorkrebs are female, they reproduce by cloning.   All the offshpring are exactly alike, right down to the markings.   They are in demand for acientific research in cloning, how did they become self cloning to begin with?   How did nature decide to use cloning as a reproductive method?

The Paw Challenged One wanted to take in some more fosters, but his working hours have been such that he would not be home to take care of them.   The legislative session is short, so he will be unemployed again in April.    So we may be pretty quiet until then.    We hope to bring another foster in as soon as time allows.

Mogley G. Retriever

Reindogs, A Christmas Truth!

2011-12-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

Our regular readers know that we have been leading the charge to right a longstanding wrong. The true story of Christmas is that Reindogs pull Santa's sleigh, not reindeer.

Several years ago we first exposed how Reindeer have gotten all the credit for pulling Santa's sleigh, but Reindogs do all the work. This year we are again asking for your help to spread the word and expose this cover up of the truth. As proof that Santa uses Reindogs, we have listed below the facts and truths that prove Reindogs are the real hero's of Christmas. Just because the Reindeer could claim endangered status and could afford better lobbyists and public relations firms does not make it right that they should continue getting the credit and all the good parts in the movies while dogs do all of the work.

We put a lot of the blame on the error on National Geographic Magazine. Years ago a photographer was at the North Pole taking photos. All the reindeer were out in front of Santa's house, trying to beg carrots from the visitors. The hard working Reindogs were sound asleep on Santa's hearth, basking in the heat from the fire, resting up for their long night of pulling Santa's sleigh. So photos of reindeer ended up in the national press at Christmas time and the big lie began.

The reference in the poem “Twas the night before Christmas” to Santa and his eight tiny reindeer was an error; reindeer was easier for the writer to rhyme with than Reindogs. He knew that the eight members of Santa’s team were Reindogs, he just used poetic license. Talk about an inconvenient truth!

Who is it that pulls sleds and sleighs at Santa's home at the North Pole? It’s Dogs, not deer. Go look at the annual Iditarod race results and see how many teams of reindeer finished last year? There were over 50 teams with over 1,000 dogs and not a reindeer among them. If those reindeer are so good at pulling sleds, why don't they win the Iditarod race? How many Eskimos use reindeer to hunt walrus and seals? Just open your National Geographic magazine and see for yourself. They don't show pictures of Eskimos hunting polar bears with reindeer. They use dogs!

Still not convinced? Santa’s last name is “Claus”, not Hoofs or Horns. They just misspelled Claws. It’s that poetic license thing again. So who has Claws? Not reindeer, but Reindogs do! Reindeer with their sharp, hard hooves could never keep their footing on the steep and slippery roofs that they have to land the sleigh on, but a dog’s paws with claws and pads grip the ice and snow to keep their footing on the roof. At the end of the poem “He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,” finally the writer got it right. You don't whistle at deer, you whistle at dogs!

Seriously, do you think that reindeer can fly through the trees and around all the power lines with those big antlers? They would get tangled up at every turn. And we all know that dogs can fly, watch the Frisbee throwing competition, or the dock diving contests, the dogs have to keep their jumps under control to keep from giving our secret powers away.

One "Santa" pointed out that Santa's rounds might go faster if his Reindogs did not have to stop and smell each fire hydrant on their rounds, but we don't think he was a "real" Santa. That argument does not hold water, we have to stop with Santa on every street anyway. Those sniffs are how we update the long "Naughty and Nice List" that has to be kept up to date, even on Christmas Eve. Long before E-mail was invented, Reindogs used Scent-Mail (or P-mail as some would say) to find little boys and girls homes. Lets see a reindeer do that!

It is well known that “Dogs are man’s best friend”, but somehow you believe that reindeer bring your presents? That is the kind of logic that made Mr. Spock glad he was not human. Dogs are recognized as man’s best friend because we are responsible for bringing everyone their Christmas gifts, for protecting them and for bringing joy to children. Beginning at the manger, 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, when the very first Christmas presents were delivered, a dog guided the Wise Men to the stable, A dog stood watch over the gifts and the Christ child all night long. History suggests that the bright star that guided the Wise Men was Sirius, the Dog Star (check Wickipedia to verify this). Hence the origins of Christmas and Reindogs!

If you were Santa and it was your job to ‘Fetch” toys to children all over the world in one night, who would you turn to, reindeer or Reindogs? Not only are Reindogs the real heroes of Christmas, but Santa’s Reindogs are Golden Retrievers. Look at the pictures, are they golden colored? Are they long legged? Are they intelligent? Do they "fetch" toys to millions of boys and girls in one night? Go to any dog park and see how many reindeer are playing fetch and bring tennis balls to little boys and girls. Golden Retrievers make children’s faces light up by fetching them toys and balls, doing every day what they do for millions of children on Christmas Eve. Just try throwing a ball for a reindeer and see how good they are at "fetching". Proof the Reindogs are Golden Retrievers!

Dogs can be trained, they obey commands. Dogs can come, sit, and even go to little Billy's house on Santa's Command. Try telling your neighborhood Reindeer to "go to little Billy's house", and see what happens. Nothing!

How do you think Santa keeps his "Naughty and Nice List" up to date? There are millions of hard working dogs keeping track of the children on their block. All than barking at night is not just noise, it is the Elf Dogs relaying the updates for the Naughty and Nice list back to Santa. When you see children out playing in the park, it is always with their dog, not their reindeer! More proof that reindeer are just a myth.

You all have heard that according to long standing tradition, you are asked to leave milk and cookies out for Santa and his team. Who do you suppose drinks all of that milk and eats all those cookies? Reindogs, that's who. Reindeer eat hay dummy, if you don't believe me go search Wikipedia. This year we are trying to start a new tradition, instead of milk and cookies, could you leave a good scotch and some chew toys? That way Santa and his Reindogs will all be happy!

The story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindog has long been a family tradition in our family. According to our family history that has been handed down from mouth to ear for many generations, Rudolph is an ancestor of mine. It all started with Great,great,great, great, great grandpaw. He had an extraordinary nose and had long used his special talent to track lost explorers and packages at the North Pole. He had a red nose from following scent trails in deep snow, his nose used to get cold and red from the exposure to snow and cold. One foggy Christmas eve Santa needed help in finding the route to take for his scheduled Christmas Eve run. Rudolph G. Retriever stepped forward and offered to guide the team by scent, tracking good little boys and girls with his nose, thus saving Christmas that year and establishing a wonderful family tradition, that is until the reindeer lobby stepped in to take credit for it all. As further proof, when police need to track a missing child, do they call in the reindeer to do the tracking? No, they ask dogs to follow the trail and find the child. Don't you just hate it when you work hard and someone else takes credit for all of your hard work?

Most of the crowded dog shelters and homeless dogs are directly caused by this travesty. Millions of unemployed Reindogs have been thrown out of work by the upstart reindeer. The reindeer take all the good parts in the Christmas plays, manger scenes and movies, leaving Reindogs truly out in the cold. A travesty I tell you!

The Golden Retrievers of the world will be waiting for our apology from the press. We will expect the artists and movie producers to book Golden Retrievers for the publicity shots and movie roles so that at long last Reindogs will get the credit due them. We need you to help us spread the word and reverse this great lie. Help us keep this great dream alive and tell others about the great heritage that has been stolen from us. Fear not, children, Santa and his team of Reindogs will be there for you on Christmas Eve!

But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Mogley and all the Reindogs!

Daisy is visiting for Christmas

2011-12-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Daisy came to stay with us over Christmas. Daisy is about 8 months, and still a ball of energy. I may lose weight before she leaves. She is from Boulder, so she loves the deep snow and running in the back yard. As you can see, she is not very civilised, she even attacked me when I was laying down.

She is learning to mouth wrestle, I give lessons several times a day.

I have been teaching her the finer points of Tug-o-war. She has stolen my bed, but I guess since it is the Christmas season, I will let her have it.

Meanwhile, The Paw Challenged One (TPCO), has been out "Being the Santa". He spent several weeks as the official Santa in Littleton. Now he is running around the neighborhood having his photo taken with all the good looking young ladies. We worry about him.

Daisy will be joining us as one of Santa's Reindogs, pulling the sleigh, as we deliver the presents on Christmas Eve. Tomorrow's post will be detailing our duties as Reindogs. Remember to leave dog treats under the Christmas tree for Santa's Reindogs.

Mogley G. Retriever

A special link to a special blog

2011-12-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

We have been following "Raising Ruby" for a long time. Today is a special blog for Ruby, Ruby became a full fledged service dog, complete with her new life companion. We would like to give you a link to the site, so that you can go back and read her history and share her growth and training. Raising Ruby is about raising a service dog from a puppy to a full fledged service dog. Reading the blog is a great journey.
Raising Ruby

Congratulation, Ruby.

Mogley G Retriever

Christmas is the time for miracles.

2011-12-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

The day before Thanksgiving we discovered that Sarah was missing. We went into full search mode, checking with animal shelters, walking the neighborhood, talking to vets, etc. No Sarah, but the search did bring Stray Cat to the house. Sarah was our attempt to help out the Paw Challenged One's daughter and son in law, so they would not have to drive to Florida with three golden retrievers and a cat as well. Thinking to save everyone a lot of trouble, we took Sarah, the dog hating cat. She lived with three dogs, but she hated them, she never did stop hissing at them and swatting them.

Then Friday night they were in the basement.   They were cleaning the litter boxes and water bowls for Mini Cat, she likes to eat in the basement where it is quiet.   They hear a cat meowing up in a dark corner and there was Sarah.    She had been living in the basement for three weeks without anyone finding her.   They had taken flashlights and searched the nooks and crannies, but no Sarah.   Then suddenly there is Sarah.

She still hates dogs, but she is back with us.   She had spent enough time in the basement and she was ready to move upstairs and get attention.    Now she is demanding attention and hissing at Mini Cat and Stray Cat, as well as attaching Bella and I.   The Paw Challenged One's say they would have figured out Sarah was here sooner if she did not look so much like Stray Cat.    They would see a streak down a hall or across the floor and they could not be sure if it was Stray Cat or Sarah.   Then they finally had all cats in sight at one time, and they could count them.   There was an extra cat in the house, Sarah. Sarah is more orange than Stray Cat, but they do look a lot alike.

This story gets even more complicated and strange after they took Stray Cat to the vet and found out she was chipped.    Home Again called the registered owners and left a message that their cat had been found, no answer.   The vet called the owners and left a message, no answer.    Then we called the owners and left a message, no answer.    Either they are on extended vacation, or they don't want Stray Cat returned.    So Stray Cat is still with us, enjoying the good life, settling in more and more each day.

Too much about cats, we will return to our regular dog blogging shortly.

Mogley G. Retrieve

Don't name the cat!

2011-12-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Whatever you do, Don't Name the Cat! Bella warned them, I warned them, but no! They named the cat! We all know what happens when they name a stray cat, once the cat has a name, it stays. We tried to tell them they needed to keep calling it "That Stray Cat". But Noooo. Do they listen to us? They named the cat. Don't ask what they named it, Bella and I are still too upset. We still call it "That Stray Cat". It is a defective cat to boot, it has large scars on its side where it was hit by a car or by a dog or coyote, and the last two inches of its tail is bent over double. Just in case anyone knows where its real home is, we have included photos of That Stray Cat. If you can help us find its real home, please do. Otherwise, we are going to be stuck with a cat.

The Paw Challenged Ones volunteered to drive to Hays Kansas to pick up a friend's car that had broken down. They returned after a long day, over 680 miles traveled, tired and ready for bed. They said that visiting Hays Kansas was not as exciting as it sounds. They said it was not at all like the travel brochure described. They said there was not a single white sand beach, no gently waving palm trees, and no one welcomed them at the city limits sign with leis and drinks with little umbrellas in them. But they did return with the car, now repaired. They will put it on the "good deeds done list", and hope to get a good dinner or a great bottle of wine out of the deal.

Above, the look of pure evil!

Our cousins and family are in Florida, so we will have a very calm Christmas this year. Bella and I got a duck and a parrot early, in hopes it would keep us busy. I hope Santa has another one to deliver on Christmas eve, we have almost worn them out already.

Before they went on their errand to Kansas, Lanai was dropped off at Rescue Central, she had several people scheduled to meet her. We have not heard back yet, but we hope she is enjoying a new home. The Paw Challenged One is planning on making the trip over to take in another homeless Golden Retriever for Christmas.

Mogley G. Retriever

Two stories with very happy endings!

2011-12-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

We bring great news! Only three days and Lion has a new Forever Home. His profile was posted on the Internet, and immediately there were people wanting to meet him. When Colleen picked him up from us to take him to see a possible new home, we were very worried. For our new readers, a foster failure is what happens when a person takes in a rescue dog to foster them, then refuses to give them up when someone wants to adopt them. Colleen is a rescue volunteer, but she is also a very well known Serial Foster Failure. She failed when she fostered River, the Golden that was found in the White River Wilderness area, at 10,000 feet, on a trail, starved and tired. She failed with Riley, all she had to do was let him go to a new home. She failed with Sara, Sara never had a chance at finding a different home, Sara was doomed from the moment that Colleen volunteered, "I will foster her". Some of you will remember River and Riley from the summer swim parties. Now Colleen has Lion. We were worried. It turned out to be a good day, some friends of Colleen's were looking for the worlds most perfect dog. When word got out that Lion was available there was a rush to adopt, there was even a second home on a waiting list for him.

Colleen reported back that Lion proved himself to be cat friendly. When he went into the new home to meet the family, one of the cats came out to sniff him and then rub against his legs. Lion did not even move an eye. He was focused on the family and all the other good things in store for him. They are an active family, they jog and run, they will enroll him in obedience, they have a big yard, and someone is home most of the day. He agreed that being an only dog might be fun, he was going to have a great dog to hand ratio. Thanks to Colleen for linking them up, also thanks to Colleen for not adopting him before they could get to meet him. Lion is going to have a life we will all envy. Way to go Colleen.

Above, Beth and Roxie get acquainted. The Christmas season would not be complete without a report on Winky. Loyal readers will remember Winky, she was called Beth when she lived with us. When she was rescued she was called "Handsome", she was in such bad condition that they thought she was a male. Beth was so tiny, so scared, and so abused, she did not even look like a golden. Go to the blog on August 9th and read about a rescue that will break your heart. Winky makes us all remember why we rescue. Where is she today? She is living the life of a spoiled golden. We gave you a photo of Winky at the Reunion Picnic, then another photo from the Halloween party., Now we have exclusive photo's of Winky in her Christmas outfit.

We are so happy that Winky has such a wonderful home. They take special care of her and she is learning what it is to be a well loved golden with a real home. We keep returning to Winky because she reminds us what rescue is all about. Thanks to the family that took her in and takes such good care of her.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Winky!

Several people have been asking about Lanai, but the roads are bad, snow is falling, so we will have to wait to introduce her to her fan club.

Mogley G. Retriever

Lion, profile of a wonderful golden boy

2011-12-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

We thought we would share the profile of Lion that we are putting up on the adoption web site. We did send the profile to some friends, we think he is such a special boy that we are willing to call our family and friends to see if they need a great golden. We may have delayed putting him up on the web for just a little bit to see if any one we knew wanted him. That is not cheating, is it?

Lion is an 18-19 month old neutered bouncing baby golden boy. Lion has been staying with us at our foster home since we picked him up from his former home. We think he is a wonderful dog, waiting for a wonderful new forever home. His family went through a divorce and a downsizing of their home. They were truly heartbroken to surrender him. Lion lived with children and cats in his former home. He was a beautiful bouncing baby Golden boy, loved by all.

Lion lives with three cats and three other Goldens in his foster home and he gets along with everyone. He has a great energy level, he would love a family that is active. He needs to shed a few pounds that he picked up while trying to live in a crate during his families transition. He is very focused on people. He wants to be a snuggle dog, he wants to be under your hand if you are sitting, and under your feet if you are moving. He is the ultimate Velcro dog, staying beside you where ever you are.

He knows sit, come, and No! He is very smart and very focused on commands, tell him No and he stops in his tracks. He needs formal training, but we think he will be very fast to learn and he will be a delight to train. He started learning about the dog door within hours of arriving. He wants to please you and will work hard at learning.

He is housetrained, he will bark at the back door if you ignore him standing at the door. He was left alone for long periods of time, so he is fine if you go shopping or to work for the day. He is used to spending time in the crate while his family was at work.

We think he will be a wonderful addition to your life. He is a wonderful Golden, put a bow on him and call him an early Christmas present. Ask to meet Lion when you fill out your adoption application.

Welcome Lion...So much to tell.

2011-11-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Lion arrived this evening, now we have two wonderful dogs living with us as fosters, seeking new forever homes. The Paw Challenged One left in a hurry shortly after dark and arrived back with Lion. Lion is an 18 month old male golden who is suffering from attention deficit disorder. He has been deficit in getting attention for some time. He is the product of a divorce, his family moved into two different apartments, and left him alone in the house. He spent up to 20 hours a day in a crate, with only a short time out morning and evening.

When Lion arrived, he came in the front door, out the back door, and ran straight into the water on top of the pool cover. He came out soaked. He sure did enjoy getting dried off. He is busy being under foot and under hand, he will make someone fall over him but he does not care. More attention, please. We tried giving him treats, he either did not know what they were, or he was too excited to stand still long enough to eat one. After he was dried off, he ran and ran and ran in the back yard. He just had fun being a dog in the big yard. Bella, Lanai and I ran with him, he wore all three of us out. Now we will start calming him down for the evening. He has met the cats and he is fine with them. He is ready for a new home, he would love to have a family and a home that can give him love, exercise and attention. Attention, please.

Since our last post we have been so busy that we are still spinning.     First, just before Thanksgiving, our cousins mom (the paw challenged ones daughter) received a job offer in Tampa Florida.    Now we don't know what a Tampa Florida is, but apparently you don't need snow shovels there.   Since he is a pilot, he can fly from anywhere, so they decided to "run to the warm".
The days before and after Thanksgiving were filled with helping them pack and filling up a rental trailer so they could take basic living needs with them.   Then Saturday after Thanksgiving, they packed up and left.   Their house is on the market, and they have rented a new house down there.    All very confusing to our golden minds.     He is still flying in and out of Denver so he gets to come pack up and get ready for the real move.

Since they were traveling with my three Golden Cousins, The Paw Challenged One thought it would be a good idea to keep Sara the cat here.   Traveling across country, pulling a trailer with Molly, Piper and Emma on board was going to be excitement enough.    So Sara came to stay with us.   But that night she disappeared.   Lost cat signs went up around the neighborhood and nasty remarks were made about leaving the dog doors open at night. Then a call came that a similar cat had been spotted.    They ran out and rescued it, but it turned out to be a different cat.   So now they have lost Sara, but they have a totally unknown cat in the back bedroom.  New Cat is somewhat battered, he either had a run in with a car, dog or coyote.    He is missing some fur and has some bad scabs where something took off a lot of hair.  Talk about confusing.
Lanai is still here, she is looking for her forever home.   She says that she is happy with our back yard and the squirrels keep her entertained.   Lanai does enjoy having her own cat to pester, Mini Cat does not mind and they run together.   Lanai has not met New Cat yet.    Besides, New Cat is hopefully, in transit.   In transit to where we don't know.   With Lion here to play with, she will have a better time while she waits for the right home.

Mogley G. Retriever

Napping made easy, lessons from a golden retriever

2011-11-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

Warning, this blog demonstrates advanced napping techniques by trained and experienced golden retrievers. Do not try this at home!

The Paw Challenged One is always talking about how hard it is to sleep.   Lanai is giving napping lessons, right here in our home, for no additional charge.   She is shown in the photos demonstrating some advanced relaxation methods.

TPCO was running around the house last night painting everything in the house with orange and blue paint.   Something about Thursday night football and the Denver Broncos apparently won something, for a change.   He has been practicing making Tim Tebo moves all over the place.   He is talking about organizing a group of people to campaign for "Tim for President".     He figures that if prayer can do that much for a football team, think of what it could do for our country!

I watched part of the game.   I was not impressed with their ball handling skills.    All I saw was a big green field, a bunch of tall one's in funny outfits playing fetch without a single dog to help them.   It must have been amateur football, if it had been professional football, golden retrievers would have been fetching the ball, we could have done a much better job.

Mogley G. Retriever

Update on Lenai

2011-11-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend. On Sunday we had an appointment for a family that wanted to meet Lenai. We took Lenai over to meet with them, early in the morning. She did us proud, she showed off and loved up to the family, she even ran and fetched a little just to let them know that she had talents. She was not just another pretty face and coat. They were impressed. There were two young boys to give her attention and play with her, two adults to spoil her rotten. She put on her best show. One other golden and a golden-doodle were competing with her for the one home available.

It was for naught. The family had not had breakfast yet and they decided to wait until after breakfast. They left, but did not come back for her. Obviously they had no taste in best friends. Lenai was left at rescue because two more families had called and were coming in, Lenai fit their profile as well. At the end of the day, Lenai was still at rescue, she had lost out on three potential homes. She had been passed over for younger and more cuter dogs. Experience, obedience and great looks will win in the end, just not today. at 6 years old, she is no longer a spring chicken, so she has to make her choice of family carefully. It is forever, you know.

Lenai was left with Mary for the night, the last appointment was running late. Lenai came back home this noon. The family had called to see if she was still available, but they could not get free till the weekend. Lenai was depressed, two days at rescue and she was still not adopted. She just wanted to relax and gather her thoughts.

Lenai has a habit that makes everyone love her. When she is ready to lie down, she grabs a big mouthful of her bed, then lies down with her paws holding the bed down. Then she goes to sleep in that position. When she first grabbed the bed, everyone thought she was going to tear it up, instead she just dropped down, closed her eyes and went to sleep. The tears in the bed are not her fault, they were there long before she arrived. She takes good care of her bed and toys. Well, all toys except for stuffies, she can unstuff a stuffie in seconds.

We will put her write up on the web, then we will begin booking appointments for this coming weekend. She won't last long once people learn what a wonderful lady she is. We just have to help her get back to her normal cheerful, happy and loving self.

Mogley G. Retriever

Climb back on the horse! Or dog, as the case may be. Lenai

2011-11-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

After losing Boo Boo, The Paw Challenged Ones (TPCO) were going to take a vacation from the stream of fosters that had been coming through the house and just have Bella and I. But then new arrivals at Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) made them rethink their plans. Maybe the best thing they could do in memory of Boo Boo and Nala would be to help another dog in rescue.

They had gotten word that another worthy rescue lady had been named Nala in honour of Nala who had recently passed away. Nala had already found a foster home, and has already been adopt. Great news. Now Lenai was in need of a home. Lenai arrived home last night, she was ready to find a place to settle in for a short time while she waits for her new forever home to open up. Lenai is the victim of the economy, as are so many dogs that arrive in rescue these days. Downsizing a home is human speak for "lets send the dog to rescue". Lenai was in a home with children, cats and a loving family. Then came the downsizing. Now she is moving around from place to place, trying to figure out what is happening to the world and people she loved. Below, Lenai demonstrates the finer points of begging.

Join us in welcoming Lenai to The Dog House. She will be staying here while we are looking for her new Forever Home. We think she will not be with us for long, she is very good looking and very well behaved. She is getting along very well with the other dogs over at rescue and she has settled in well with Bella and I. She was curious about the black cat when Mini ran across the floor, but once they were introduced, they get along just fine. She has ignored Buddy, the big white cat, Buddy ignores Lenai and Lenai ignored him in return. She loves attention and she would love to find a new home with lots of activity and lots of hands. The hand to dog ratio is going to be important to her, she wants lots of hands, lots of attention. She is a little overweight, but an active home with lots of walks and runs will soon take care of her figure.

Stay tuned for more news as we go back to rescuing again. Lets see, is she number 78 or number 77? Either way, she is a wonderful lady to share our home with for a few days.

Mogley G. Retriever

Rest in Peace Boo Boo Bear

2011-11-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Boo Boo Bear was laying under the computer table, right by The Paw Challenged One's (TPCO) feet, when Boo Boo began coughing and breathing hard. They looked down and Boo Boo was bleeding from the nose and coughing up blood. They loaded him in the car and were off in minutes. Boo Boo laid behind the seat where he cold be petted all the way to the Vet's office. By the time they arrived, there was a pool of blood beside Boo Boo.

The vet examined him and told TPCO that it was time for Boo Boo to take his trip to the Rainbow Bridge. He was not breathing well, and he was losing blood rapidly. Boo Boo left on his final trip with TPCO holding his head and Mary from GRRR petting him. Moose was there to give his respect and comfort to help Boo Boo on his journey.

For a few days, Boo Boo had a little discoloration in his mucus. When his nose ran, they would wipe his nose with a napkin. It looked like he had a puncture wound inside his nose, a little visible swelling, perhaps a hole from a cat claw when he took the mouse away from Minni Cat on Friday night? The vet told us it was far more than that. Boo Boo had a huge tumor in his nose, it had burst, bleeding badly and it had swollen so that it blocked his breathing. All in just a few minutes. He had been laying peacefully beside the computer desk at 3:00, then he began coughing, bleeding and being unable to breath, by 5:00 he had left us.

It is a total shock. We were ready to see Boo Boo slowly become more disabled from his bad hips and knees, slowly losing his mobility. We were not prepared to lose him so suddenly and without warning.

Boo Boo can now run free of pain.   He can now chase the squirrels at full speed.   He can play fetch and chase blowing leaves. He can join so many of the wonderful rescue's that are waiting for all of us on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.   We know that he is free of pain now, but we were not ready for it quite yet.   We will remember you as a wonderful companion, one that lived in pain but brought so much love and comfort to everyone else.   Thank you for spending time with us, Boo Boo.    Run free, you have earned it.

Sunday we learned that Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies had received a donation in Boo Boo's name.   A donor had given a large quantity of glucosamine supplements and a walking assistance harness to fit Boo Boo and help him walk.   Thank you for the donation, it will go to another rescue that needs help.   We have too many older dogs in rescue these days, they will benefit from Boo Boo's donations.

Everyone should get another pet this evening.   Chin Scratches for everyone and tummy rubs all around. Everyone should get another treat this evening.   We never know how many pets and treats are left to us. Enjoy while you can.

Mogley G. Retriever

Some rescue news

2011-11-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

Boo Boo wanted the photo above as proof that he is a very distinguished, elderly golden gentlemen.   He has asked us to call him Bear.     His full name is Boo Boo Bear, but he does not think Boo Boo is fitting him well.   What do you think?    Has he earned the name Bear or perhaps Mr. Bear?

Well, it has been a quiet week end here at the dog house.    We looked up the diary of fosters that we have had in our home.    Boo Boo Bear is the 75th foster we have had.    Roxie, who was adopted out two weeks ago, was the 73rd, and since she came back and left again, she may also be 76.  We are not sure if we get to count her in the number of fosters since she was still only one dog but she went through twice and was adopted out twice.    This time it is going to stick, she is doing wonderful in her new forever home.    Rescue is still going strong, we understand that we have another lady who will be joining us shortly, so she will be either the 76th or 77 rescue in our home.

We suspect that Mr. Bear will be here a long time.   With his inability to walk, he is not going to find many people that want to adopt a dog that can't go on walks with them or play fetch.   He says it is fine, he is happy here and he has unpacked his bags.    He is quite happy being a permanent foster.

Bear has been entertaining the house by chasing mice.    Mini Cat catches mice in the field behind the house and brings them in to play with.   Bear tries to take them away.   It is amazing how fast Bear can move when Mini Cat plays with a mouse just under Bear's nose.  Mini Cat likes to show off, so she brings them in where everyone can see how great a hunter she is. Somehow during the last exchange of mice, Bear got a claw to the nose and his nose is still tender and dripping from time to time.  There was enough blood that the carpet machine had to come out.   Noses apparently do not heal rapidly.   The mouse got away, and we are still looking for it.    Mini does not get upset, she said she can get another.   The Paw Challenged One's were a little upset though,.

Mini likes to hunt in the field behind the house, but at night the coyotes hunt there.    Now that the nights are getting colder, the coyotes are hunting closer to the homes. The dog door is getting locked at night so that Mini does not go out after dark.

The Paw Challenged One has been busy in the basement.   He has a large number of fish tanks down there, and he has been busy with some new fish.   He picked up some extinct fish and endangered fish at a recent fish event.    Extinct? Yea, that is what we thought too....    It turns out that they are only extinct in the wild and there was a effort to have people keep them to spread the gene pool and not keep too many of them in one facility.   So he has dedicated several tanks to them and is keeping records on them.   So if you want to see some "extinct" and endangered fish, just call us.    In the meantime, there is no more sushi on the menu.

One more important item for our local readers.    Murdoch's Ranch supply is having a grand opening in Parker, through the 13th, they are selling the large bags of Nutro Dog Food at "Buy two, get one free".   So stock up, a house full of rescues eats a lot of food.

Mogley G. Retriever

All the news that will fit on a fire hydrant

2011-11-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

Above, Boo Boo and Bella are waiting for TPCO to open the door. It is a good comparison between a normal set of rear legs and Boo Boo's twisted and painful legs. When his legs healed, about 3 years ago, they healed crooked, that puts sideways force on his ankles, so they are now giving way, and the twisted bones are also causing his hips to deteriorate. He is too badly twisted to do remedial surgery at this time. His future is very little movement and lots of pain pills. Watching him walk is painful to all of us, he shuffles along, dragging his rear legs forward on each step because picking them up is too painful. You can see below, that does not dampen his spirits. He has taken over the spot between the computer desk and the toy bin, so he can get attention and toys at the same time. He is a great cheerleader, he barks and tries to help when Bella and I wrestle, but he can't join in, he would probably hurt himself. He is finding the right level of activity and pain medications so that he can do a few things without hurting. He has again started going upstairs to sleep with the rest of us, for a while he was hurting too badly to make the trip up the stairs.

We have not been leaving messages for the rest of you to sniff. The Paw Challenged One (TPCO) has been tying up the computer all day with his writing, and then all night long I have to correct all of his errors. They think he is a writer, but I do all the hard work. Working my poor paws to the bone. He thinks spell checkers and grammer checkers grow on trees.

We have received several e-mails from Roxie, she is doing well. She has taken several trips to the lake, and she has gotten to run in the river, before the snow arrived. She even gets to sleep on the bed, nice and cozy. She says she is happy being an only dog and getting all the toys to play with. Here are several photos she has sent us to prove that her new home rocks!

Way to go Roxie!

Mogley G. Retriever

Update on Halloween Party and Forever Homes.

2011-10-22T20:28:00.002-06:00

The photo above is quite a contrast from when Beth was our foster and just recovering from multiple health problems. Her new home agrees with her so much she came to the Halloween Party as a bee. A very busy, buzzing bee. We were so happy to see that Beth and her family are having fun. She has three golden sister and they were all there to enjoy the Halloween party together. What fun to see her again. What a joy to know that a very sick and miserable dog has become a queen bee.

So much news, so little time. Last Thursday we took Roxie over to meet a possible new family. Roxie has a habit of getting grumpy and not sharing toys well. We took her over to Rescue Central to meet a family that wanted to consider her. It was love at first sniff. She really liked the family and they loved her. They wanted to consider taking an older golden with them as well, one they could hospice for. Just then the rescue transport drove in and they delivered the cutest little 8 mo old Golden Retriever puppy you have ever seen. It was love at first lick. So it was decided, they would take Roxie and the puppy. They threw a toy to the puppy, and Roxie turned into her old toy hoarding self and she growled at the puppy and sent him running to hide. So Roxie growled herself out of a home in the high mountains, on 5 acres, with two streams, no fences between her and the far mountain peaks, daily runs in the forest and nights in front of a fireplace. A dogs paradise, and she blew it over a toy. The good news is that an older golden lady found a home where she will be the guide dog to train a puppy, and a puppy found a marvelous forever home in the high Rocky Mountains.

Early this morning we lined up at the front door to go to the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Halloween Party. The photo above shows us all lined up at the door to go. Even Boo Boo is excited and jumping around. But Boo Boo can't go. His legs and ankles are in too much pain to have him going to a party where dogs are running all over and tennis balls are being tossed. But Boo Boo did not want to stay, he jumped up on the human, the first time that his hind legs have supported him upright, he begged to go. He whined terrible when we went to the car and he stayed behind the door. So all four of us got to go to the party. Below is Boo Boo at the party, he found a spot where he could lie down and keep watch on the madness that was all around him.

We had such a good time at the party, everyone, even Boo Boo was running around. They kept Boo Boo confined a little, trying to keep him from walking. Finally a lady came up, asking if she could meet Roxie. She had come to the party just because she had heard Roxie's story and she felt that Roxie needed a chance in a home where she would be an only dog. With two young daughters, Roxie decided that it was a pretty good offer. A big back yard, and lots of hands to pet, they even allowed dogs on their couches and chairs. Roxie was sold, and shortly she had sold them on the idea of a Dog named Roxie. Below is Roxie, getting some love from her new mommy.

We are so happy that Roxie has a new forever home. We are happy for her and we hope she makes them proud to be Golden Parents. We will miss Roxie, we were suspicious that Roxie was being hard to get along with on purpose because she wanted to stay with us, but she went with them without looking back. Yea! Roxie.

While waiting for the costume parade, the treat machines were in operation handing out treats to all the good dogs. The Pied Piper has nothing on these folks. To the far left you will see Boo Boo sitting, waiting his turn, with his pal Beth in the bee outfit. Did we mention that Beth is now known as Winky, the house elf?

Meanwhile, the costume parade was a hit. Here are a few of the participants.

Above, our cousins went as Roman Chariot dogs.

Above, Moose came as a door stop. Very fitting for him. He has to be the worlds luckiest Golden. He came in terribly overweight, it required many trips to the Official Golden Retriever Vet of the galaxy, Dr. Carpenter. Moose was there so much and he was such a great lover that they adopted him. Now he spends his days at the Vet's office, greeting visitors and giving love to anyone that needs it, then at night he gets to go home to constant attention as well. We marvel that he is not bald, he gets so much attention that his hair should be worn off.

Just before we went home, we went to the nail clipping place. There they discovered that I had broken a nail very badly, split it deeply. It needed medical attention. Luckily the Official Golden Retriever Veterinarian of the Galaxy was in attendance. He drove down and opened up his office just for me. Now I have a bandage on my foot and I have some new pain pills till the hurting goes away.

Mogley G. Retriever

Remembering Nala

2011-10-12T08:50:00.000-06:00

We received the nicest e-mail last night. An anonymous donor donated $100 to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) as a naming tribute for Nala. This means that a rescued dog will soon be named Nala, in memory of our great lady. Thank you very much. Nala will live on in our hearts, and through another worthy rescued Golden.

Nala also lives on in our computer, the photo above has been our screen saver for a long time. Along with the photo of me (Mogley) when I was just a puppy and I was cold, wet, tired and curled up in a beach chair at the annual Golden Retriever Rescue Reunion Picnic and Swim Party.

Another reader has offered to loan an assistance harness for Boo Boo.   They also have a doggie wheel chair.    Thanks so much, we are still working on getting Boo Boo to accept help.    He still thinks he has to be macho and walk by himself and when his assistance canvass shopping bag goes around him he does not want to walk anymore.   We hope a little more time and he will get the idea.     We may need to take up the offer of a lifting assistance harness, but lets see if the bag works out.

The Paw Challenged One is trying to take a movie of Boo Boo walking so you can see how much he has to struggle to move.   With his broken legs having healed crooked, it has put sideways pressure on his ankles and they are twisting.   His pain pills and anti-inflammatory pills help, but there is still a lot to hurt in those poor legs. His struggle does not keep him from being close at all times, he considers being underfoot to be his assigned task in life.   As Boo Boo says, "It takes a big dog to fill a hallway".   He is the most talented speed bump we have ever had grace the living room floor.

Thanks so much to our readers for helping out the rescue cause.

Mogley G. Retriever

New dogs and old dogs.

2011-10-08T18:30:00.000-06:00

Above, a photo of Beth. So much news, so little time. The humans have been hogging the computer. He thinks his new company is more important than dog news. He says he needs to write presentations for something called Venture Capital. It is not even good to eat, so we need to get him off that train. The good news is that he says it is working....

Above photo: Beth and Roxie, nose to nose before they both moved on to new homes.

First, at the annual romp in the lake, aka, Golden Retriever Rescue Reunion Picnic, we had official notice. Beth, our foster who had such a hard life, is off to a new and much better life. The couple that picked her up to foster her have failed. A foster failure is when someone takes in a foster and refuses to give it up. They failed, they told us not to put Beth up on the "available dogs" list, they told us that they wanted to keep her, they could not even imagine giving her up. They sent us some very nice photos of Beth, along with a nice update on her, below:

We have sort of renamed her “Winky, the house elf” – ala Harry Potter – she is our little house elf – and when all four line up to get cookies her bitty self, big eyes and ears sort of sticking out – she looks like a little elf.

She is walking every day, part of our triangle of care – exercise, discipline and affection - excellent with other dogs, our 3, plus the cousins (my sister has 2 chocolate labs and they did a sleepover on Wednesday night); perfect in the car – whether she is riding shotgun or at the feet of passenger or in the back with the rest of the crew; walks great on a leash – and have taken her to Red Stone dog park – off leash park in Highlands Ranch – she has a great time. This morning in the off leash park she ran, which we hadn’t seen before, and really played with us and other dogs. In our backyard she perks up for squirrels –and is doing the “happy dog” roll – flopping on the grass and roll and roll - She is re-establishing her balance in life.

Above is a photo they sent us, showing that she is spoiled rotten, she gets to sleep on the couch. We are so happy for her.   She had a hard life, and she deserves the wonderful home that she has now.    Thanks for everyone that fosters, and fails!   It shows that you truly care for those dogs that pass though your life.

Meanwhile, we welcomed Roxie back to our home today.    If Roxie is a familiar name, it is because a little over a month ago she came to stay with us for the first time.   She was adopted to a very nice home on August 14th (see our post on August 17th).   She only had to share the house with a smaller and much older dog who had seniority.    Roxie quickly tried to become the boss, taking toys away, taking food and in general terrorizing her room mate.   They tried a behaviour specialist, they tried to separate them, they tried very hard to keep her.   It was a traumatic time because everyone loved Roxie, everyone except the senior dog.    Before Roxie was placed with them, the two were allowed to have some play time together to see if there were conflicts, everything was fine.    But as time went on, Roxie decided to take over and she ended up losing her perfect home.   The family was faced with an impossible choice, keep Roxie and let her bully their senior dog, or let Roxie go.    Roxie is such a wonderful lady that they had grown very attached to her, and she to them.   There were tears and heartaches, but today we took Roxie back.

Roxie arrived here, and immediately tried to take control.   We quickly convinced her she was not head dog.    She remembered everything, she was out the dog doors and back in less than 5 minutes.   But then she growled at Boo Boo when he took his normal place at the paw challenged one's feet.   Boo Boo can hardly walk, so he gets special privileges, Including the right to lie at the feet of the tall ones.   That was quickly set straight, now time will tell if Roxie can learn to share.    Boo Boo would not take her bullying, and neither Bella or I will. We will keep a close eye on her and help her learn to play with others.

Meanwhile, Boo Boo is the privileged one in the house. As the senior dog that can't walk, he gets spoiled rotten. Boo Boo is so sweet, he is becoming a very special member of the household.   It is hard to fill the spot that Nala had as our senior dog, but Boo Boo is trying.   A foster family asked if they could take him, they wanted to foster an older, well behaved Golden.    They said they wanted someone that they could take on quiet walks around the block.   We replied that Boo Boo did not do walks, he does not do anything beyond the mandatory bathroom trips. Boo Boo makes an excellent speed bump in the hall way, he is not going to go on quiet walks with anyone.    We feel so sorry for him, he wants to play with us when we run and play, but all he can do is limp along a little, then he has to lie down.   He will pick up a toy and try to invite us to play with him, but he has to do it lying down. He is on pretty strong pain medications, but his legs are so trashed that nothing can give him much relief.    His broken rear legs did not heal straight some years ago, and with the sideways pressure on his ankles, his ankles are giving out.

We went looking for a harness that would have a handle on it so the paw challenged ones could lift up his rear end and keep some stress off of his rear ankles. After shopping and finding how expensive they were, Mary at GRRR told us what to do.   Take a canvass grocery shopping bag, cut the ends out of it and you have a sling with handles that can go around him and help him walk.    We tried it, and it works, sort of.    He does not like it too much yet, it will take some getting used to before he is comfortable with it. If we can keep some stress off his ankles, he may have a few more good years, so each walk we can help him take is important.    Meanwhile, he has his place, at the feet of anyone that is sitting in a chair.   At night he insists on climbing the stairs so he can sleep with the family, but he waits till he is sure it is really "good night time" before he goes up the stairs.   If he will just let us help him, it would be so much better.    Time, it just takes time for him to get used to being half carried.

We still miss Nala.   We use her photo as a screen saver on the computer.   She was so special that we still look back on the days that we were allowed to share with Nala as a special gift.

That is all for now.   Thanks for reading.

Mogley G. Retriever

Rest in Peace, Nala

2011-09-19T15:07:00.001-06:00

This is the post that we have been dreading for a long time. Nala was unable to get up and make her rear legs work Sunday morning. When we got up, Nala was in the process of dragging herself in the dog door from the back yard, using her front legs and dragging her rear legs. She had pulled herself in to the garage and across the garage floor, but she had not been able to pull herself up the ramp into the house. The Paw Challenged One picked her up and carried her to her bed in the front entry. He had come downstairs without his shirt or shoes, he ran back up to get them, by the time he came back down Nala had managed to pull herself into the Kitchen to check on progress with her food bowl. Somehow in a sitting position pulled herself down the hall. We called the vet and ran her across town. A quick review was that she was not in pain, her legs just would not respond. There was some neurological damage and the question was if it was permanent or reversible? We had to leave her there for observation.

Today Nala's condition had deteriorated. On Sunday morning she could get herself up on her front legs and drag herself, now she would fall over and she could not make her front legs work either. Her eyes were rolling, she was breathing hard and heavy, she seemed to have lost control of her nervous system. Her vision had deteriorated recently. There was some suspicion that she had a brain tumor, that would account for her recent vision deterioration. There may have been a stroke as well. Yes, they could keep her alive and perhaps she would leave the vet's cage after a few days. But in the short term she would have no unassisted mobility, in the long term she would have to receive help to go in and out.

We remember how upset Nala would be if we closed the dog door and she could not come and go on her whim. We remember how we would wake up in the middle of the night and see the motion detector lights on in the back yard, Nala was making her midnight or 2:00 am rounds.

She had been very upset with us when we went to the annual picnic at the lake without her. But she was having trouble getting up and down, once she was up, she stayed up, once she was down, she stayed down.   If a dog brushed her in the hallway, she would fall and getting up was getting increasingly difficult.  We knew she would love the picnic, but we were afraid she would hurt herself by not setting limits.   She would be walking the shore, trying to be part of the action, but she did not have that level of energy or of function in her hips.   We knew she was failing, so we left her home, she was mad at us for not letting her go along.    We made sure she had extra treats when we came home that night.

Today, the decision had to be made whether to try and keep her alive, knowing that she would lose most of her mobility in both the short run and in the long run.    We thought about how active she had been, in spite of her hips that were so sore that she drug them, even when they worked to stay under her. We remember how she would come looking for head pats and ear rubs in the middle of the day. We remember how excited she would be when she saw her food dish in hand, she had a special dance she did to hurry it along. We remember how she would begin nagging us if supper was late, she would begin going from her empty food dish to where we were sitting, reminding us we had duties to take care of at 6:30 am and pm. We remember how each trip up the ramp was a struggle, she pulled herself up with her front legs, her rear legs reluctantly coming along. Her front legs had grown stronger as her rear legs became more unwilling to cooperate. How would she feel about living a life where we had to put a vest on her to pick her up every time she wanted to go outside?   We had to ask ourselves if not being able to leave the dog bed without help was really a life?   Would she enjoy living if she had to have her dog dish brought to her, if she had to be half carried out the door to her cherished backyard? Would she enjoy living if she could no longer sneak out and lie in morning sun in the big hole she had dug under the pine tree?

We hope we made the right decision, it is a decision that does not carry re-do's.   No second chance on this one.   We weighed her life as it would be if we kept her, against the life she had told us she wanted to live. We sent her on her way with dignity, we sent her to run free.

Thank you to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies for taking her out of a back yard where she spent 365 days of a year in a lonely yard, in sun, rain and snow. Thank you to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies for sending her to us to enjoy for her last years.

We will all miss you so much, Nala. You were a special lady to us for a long time. Thank you for coming to our house to live.  We were blessed and privileged to be able to help her find happiness in her final years. Rest in peace, Nala.

Mogley G. Retriever

Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Reunion Picnic

2011-09-11T18:28:00.000-06:00

Look closely at the photo above. It is a photo of several hundred Rescued Golden Retrievers playing in the sun and water. Several hundred abandoned dogs, having more fun that you can even imagine. If you have ever donated to a rescue, driven a car to transport a homeless dog, or made telephone calls to arrange a rescue, this is what you made possible. This is the annual Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Reunion Picnic. A reunion of the rescued dogs, their new owners, and the people that made it all possible. For all of you that work in rescue, this is what you have done. Most rescued dogs and cats disappear into a new home quietly, you don't get to see the joy and celebrate the new lives that you made possible. We here at GRRR are blessed that once a year we can see the fruits of our labor. We get to enjoy a day in the sun and water with our success stories. We get to see that the lives were worth saving. This is what a second chance for an abandoned dog looks like.

We don't have time to tell you the whole story about the day in one blog, it will take several blogs. We met old friends, fosters that have gone to forever homes, but come back to the Rescue Reunion to celebrate with us. Fosters that we may have seen as scared and abused dogs, now are shining examples of the resiliency of our canine friends. They are running free, playing as hard as they can, their new owners sharing the joy with their new best friends. This is what rescue is all about. Rescued dogs, showing the joy they have from a second chance at life. If you have ever helped rescue a dog, then you had a part in making this picnic possible. What were once lives at risk are now lives at play. Enjoy!

After several hours of playing, all the dogs had to stand on shore (photo above, waiting for the last straggler to come to shore) and wait till the tennis balls, some marked with prizes were thrown, then we were released to fetch for prizes. I brought in two balls with prizes, so I earned my kibbles for the day. Below, the release.

The photo below, shows a beautiful, calm morning when we arrived at the lake, if you look closely you can see the snow on the Rocky Mountain peaks behind the lake. How quickly several hundred Goldens can destroy the calm.

It was a day to celebrate, and it was a wonderful celebration.

Thank you to all the volunteers that have made this day possible by helping a dog or cat move down the road to a new home. This is the proof that donating and volunteering in rescue was worth while.

Mogley G. Retriever

Score: Golden Retrievers 1, People who abandon dogs, 0

2011-09-01T14:09:00.000-06:00

Above, Boo Boo Bear enjoys the warm summer day. His left leg out beside him, it is pretty cooked from an old break.

We thought you needed to know the score.   Last night we went out to inspect a possible new home, for Butters.  We met Butters and her foster mom in order to do a good pre-adoption home inspection.   We had been trying to get Butters out to meet with a new home that had applied to adopt a Golden Retriever.   Since it was near and Butters foster home was close, we all just went out and had a home visit that ended in a home adoption.
Butters met their rat terrier named Trip, as in you tend to trip over him. Trip told Butters all about the rabbits that lived under the hot tub and in the big field behind the house, How they did not have a dog door, but the hole in the screen door was just as good.   How there was always someone home to spoil a dog.   The hand to dog ratio was 6 to one, and if Butters stayed, it would still be a very good 3 to one. Butters unpacked her collar, her bag of dog food, her thyroid pills, and moved in.   She told her new family to hurry up and sign the documents, she was moving in to stay.

Butters did tell her new family that she wants to go to the Golden Retriever Rescue Reunion Picnic at the Boulder Reservoir.   Over 200 wet, muddy goldens retrieving tennis balls for prizes, it is the place for Golden's to be.    So you mark your calendar also, September 11th.   If you don't belong to GRRR, you can join at the booth. It is a hoot, and below is a photo from last year.

We have to bring you up to date on Boo Boo Bear. He went to the vet on Tuesday morning. He had a broken leg, it healed crooked, but it was healed. His current problems are his ankles, they are pretty bad. He is on a mild pain reliever with slowly increasing dosage to find the point at which he becomes active without over stressing his legs. Boo Boo feels better already. After years of pain and hobbling around, a little relief goes a long ways towards giving him his mobility back. Below, Boo Boo says this is a very unflattering photo, but it does show his bent legs. The left rear paw turns in and his knees, both of them, bow out.

Mogley G. Retriever

So much news, where to start?

2011-08-27T20:40:00.000-06:00

Above, Beth checks out the camera...
The Paw Challenged One (PCO) has been hogging the computer for something he calls work. It looks to me like he just runs away from home and takes his computer with him to the nearest coffee shop. Meanwhile we have been busy.

Beth left for her new home. A very nice couple wanted to foster Beth, but we suspect that Beth is going to become a foster failure. A foster failure is when someone takes a dog to foster and then refuses to let it go. Last Tuesday we took Beth back to get her two week check up, she had some more work done on her teeth, but she had gained 1/2 pound. When you only weigh 27 pounds, 1/2 pound is a lot. She was doing better and showing some energy. The family came by with their three elderly Goldens, all three were happy to meet Beth. After spending some time together in our back yard, Beth decided she could accept their invitation. Two humans who are home all day, more time to spoil a dog she said. Beth sent a follow up e-mail, she said she went for her first walk and that she is getting spoiled, just as she expected. Just as she deserves. Below, Beth and her new family get aquainted.

We are happy to see Beth move on, we are sad to have her go. After 75 fosters, we are used to coming and going. But Beth had a special place in our hearts, we hope she finds happiness in her new home. Our house tends to be pretty hectic, busy and noisy. Beth was worried when Bella and I would bark at the neighbors and wrestle and growl while we played. Beth needed some quiet to regain her composure. Keep us informed Beth!

Below, Boo Boo checks out the back yard.

Then today a call came in for a real rescue. A mother had to move without time to make arrangements and she had left behind her wonderful 9 year old golden named Boo Boo Bear. The son called Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies and asked if we could take him, soon! He was moving also and needed to find a home for Boo Boo immediately. We ran to pick him up, and in moments, Boo Boo was at our house. Boo Boo is very mellow, he is a big, handsome and very people smart golden. When a smart golden has spend 9 years living with humans, he has learned how to be the ideal companion and friend. Boo Boo is very talented at being man's (or woman's) best friend. He had a broken rear leg 3 years ago, he limps a little, the leg is crooked so he is not good at running or jogging. He is still good at giving love and he brings his perfect manners and calm demeanour to a new home. He will find a new home very soon, he still has a lot of good years in him.

Mogley G. Retriever

A very important news flash

2011-08-21T19:41:00.000-06:00

Above, Beth does her morning stretch, or what passes for a stretch when you are old and stiff.

They did not tell us.

For weeks now Fiona and Abby, two golden doodles over at Another Tequila Sunrise, have been attending a treat class.   They discovered that if you behave badly and ignore commands, the two legged ones take you to pet store, enroll you in a class, and a trainer teaches your owners how to give you treats.    Yes, it is true, and they did not share this information with us.    Go to http://lizski.blogspot.com/ and read all about it for yourself.    For the last few weeks they have been blogging on all the treats they get, even real hot dogs, and they get to walk up and down the isles of the store and pick out their own treats.    They get play dates with other dogs, treats by the pound, lots of pets and attention, all for just being bad.

And they did not tell us.

A store employee teaches owners how to give treats properly and frequently.  How to bring your best friends to the pet store and treat them.    How to pet you, how to buy you new collars, and how to spoil you.   All for just ignoring a few commands.

And they did not tell us.    They just ate the hot dog treats, played with their friends, then went home and ignored more commands.

What a deal.   And they did not tell us.    You would think that we would get some kind of news flash.

I hope you all go to their blog and leave some nasty comments.   Tell them that with news like that, they need to get the word out.    This is something that is important to all of dogdom.    They held out on us.    Spread the word.    All this time we have had it backwards, we thought we got treats for being good.   Now we have discovered that being bad is what brings in the loot. And they did not tell us!

Meanwhile, Beth is doing fine.   She is gaining a little weight, and she is learning her way around fast.  Beth is pretty hard of hearing, but she hears a little.   She has bad vision, but none of that is slowing her down.   She has taken possession of the bed beside the bed upstairs.    Her hips seem to hurt when she walks.   We have another vet appointment on Tuesday to check her teeth again and to see how her hips are. She gets up stairs, but not easily.   She responds to hand signs pretty good. She is fast becoming a member of the pack.    When they were drilling Roxie on her commands a week ago, they looked around and found that Beth was following the commands, mostly the hand signs. Beth has been trained at some time in her past, which makes her being abandoned on a rural road all the more disturbing. Someone loved her enough to work with her, then dumped her. Why?

Mogley G. Retriever

A Home for Roxie and update on Beth

2011-08-17T19:02:00.000-06:00

Above, from the left, Roxie, Beth and Nala in the car at Rescue Central, waiting for the meetings with possible new forever homes for Roxie.

The Paw Challenged One (PCO) has been working on something he calls work, which apparently demands that he hog the computer. But we have a few items to report that are important.

On Sunday the PCO loaded up Nala, Roxie and Beth for a trip over to Rescue Central. Several people had asked to meet with Roxie, and the PCO wanted to show how great Nala and Beth were doing. Nala had not been out for a trip since her spring visit to the vet, she was pretty sick and they were even talking about how long she had to go before the Rainbow Bridge. Now Nala is making her Christmas wish list and planning next summers picnics. Beth went along to show how well she is doing and how strong she is now that she is getting three meals a day, and lots of attention. She wanted to show off a little. Below, Beth shows "Tails Up" as she heads off to help Bella tree a squirrel.

Roxie had her first meeting with a couple that decided Roxie was a little too much energy for them. They lived a quiet life, without jogging or running, and Roxie was a high energy lady. They will meet some more laid back Goldens and find someone to give a great home to. The second meeting was a great match for Roxie. They had several teen age children, a family that jogs and hikes in the mountains. They promised that Roxie would go to bed tired on a regular basis. They have a dog door, so she can run in the yard whenever she wants. They even have a swimming pool. There were 8 hands and only two dogs, that is an 8 to 2 ratio, she should get a lot of attention. Roxie accepted the offer of a new Forever Home, and she says we should end her story with "And they lived happily ever after."
Below, you know Beth is spoiled when she gets dinner in bed.

Meanwhile, we have a gratuitus puppy photo. Puppy is the name of a young lady that was there to go to her new forever home. She is off to a great life, and she sure was happy to meet everyone and to be the center of attention as she started her journey.

Mogley G. Retriever

A very sad Saturday

2011-08-13T17:46:00.000-06:00

I signed on the computer to write a blog about Beth and her progress.    But more important items need to be covered.
First, we ask you to go by  Life at Golden Pines and leave your well wishes for Kim.   Rudi has passed on, Rudi was one of our long standing Golden blogger friends. There is a wonderful tribute to Rudi, and a wonderful story about the journey of a rescue dog. Help them to make the final journey and give them your hands and paws.   http://lifeatgoldenpines.blogspot.com/2011/08/tribute-to-our-girl-rudi.html

Then please go give support to Trudi at http://www.pointedstick.org/trudi/blog/?p=974 .    Her wonderful Golden lady, Lady, is in the emergency hospital.   She needs your support at this time.

Meanwhile, we will give you and update on Beth later.

Bella, Nala, Beth, Roxie and Mogley G. Retriever

Another day, another Beth

2011-08-11T20:32:00.000-06:00

Above, Beth curled up for her afternoon nap. We are so happy when we get to see Beth move forward in life. She is becoming a spoiled brat, she gets three meals a day, they want to put some weight on her skinny bones. She is getting around better and she feels good enough to be underfoot most of the day. She has decided she likes this papering stuff, she will take all of it she can get. The big news is that her tail is coming up from time to time as she takes interest in what is going on around her. It probably helps that she has gone off her heavy pain pills, she is less loopy when she walks and she has more energy. We finaly have some photos of her with her mouth closed. Below, Beth has already learned the classic "Scratch my tummy, please" look. Come on, just a little scratch?

A closer physical exam shows signs that she was abused more than we thought. Her ears show signs of damage, one has lost its tip, she is missing a good inch of ear with scar tissue on the end from an old wound. The other ear is a little jagged on the top and a very large piece of scar tissue is in the middle of the ear, making it too stiff to flop around. Her nose, her front teeth and gums look like someone bit her very hard on her muzzle at some time when she was young. The photo below is not so much about Beth, it is a reminder to the Paw Challenged One to pull some weeds and mow some grass.

She is still a very happy lady, her tail wags when someone walks in the room, she jumps up to greet everyone. She follows humans around, and she is well on her way to becoming a Velcro dog. She does not like being alone and she is rapidly accepting her place in the pack. She lines up for meals and she is learning how to get along with everyone. The humans were terribly impressed when they let her outside, and a few minutes later she was scratching on the door, asking to be let in. They were almost estatic when she followed them out into the garage through the dog door, she is clearly feeling more comfortable with her new home. She likes Nala best, Nala is very slow and quiet. When Bella, Roxie and I are running and playing, she gets a little nervous. Below, finally a "tails up" moment, she found the squirrel path and she is following it to the base of the pine tree.

Mogley G. Retriever

A daily dose of Beth

2011-08-10T20:04:00.000-06:00

People think we do nothing but rescue dogs around here.   Above, I am climbing the apple tree looking for a ripe apple.    They are still a little green, but they are good.   Not enough are falling on the ground so I have to take matters into my own paws and shake the tree, and climb it from time to time to get my afternoon snack.   In the background is Roxie, taking lessons.

We will try and have a little update on Beth each day.   Beth is feeling much better today.    She ate her breakfast, lunch and dinner with enthusiasm.   The rest of us are not too happy that she is the only one that gets three meals a day, but I suppose she needs them.   She is so thin and so weak, we will let her eat her noon meal in peace.   She is getting all kinds of supplements to help her get stronger. She is walking better and she is feeling a little more like exploring, she checked out the whole back yard today.   She is funny, when she first arrived she was carried in and outside to go potty, she was carried up and down the stairs, and she was carried around just so she could be in the middle of the action. She has decided that being carried is a pretty good deal.   She waits now to see if she is going to get a ride before she walks out the open door.   She learns fast.   We will try and keep you informed about Beth's progress.

Below are two photos of Roxie.   One photo of Roxie dry, and one photo of Roxie wet.   We had the kids over to swim on Tuesday, and Roxie jumped right in to joint them.   She had a fine time swimming with the children.    She misses the children from her old home, so she played with our visitors and entertained them well.

So say hellow to Roxie, she is a great lady with a great story as well. It is just that Beth is an emergency, so we have tended to focus on Beth. Roxie is worthy of her own story.

Mogley G. Retriever

Beth the story of a rescue

2011-08-09T21:20:00.000-06:00

Today we have photos for our readers, both Beth and Roxie posed for photos today. Beth did not like hers, she says she needs a few more days before she will feel well enough to perk up and look good for the camera. Today she still looked like a dog under the influence of many drugs. The Paw Challenged One (PCO) said that she had some good stuff, he was going to take the drugs down on the corner and sell them, but Beth said she needed them.

Beth came in from a shelter. She had been picked up on the street, dirty, hungry, with several health problems. She was supposed to be named Handsome, her transfer papers listed her as male. Her coat needs work, her nose is almost bare of hair. She had large tumors on her stomach which may have been why she was listed as a male. Her teeth were in terrible shape. Her eyes are cloudy with cataracts, and her coat is coarse and thin from living outside. Every rib and bone in her body is visible. She is estimated to be 10 years old. Her visit to the vet was a long day, when she arrived here last night, she was still under the influence of her drugs. This morning she was not much better, she was still being drugged pretty heavily to help her heal without pain. In the photo above, she was busy searching for a good potty location. She has not straightened up since she arrived, she is still feeling the effects of the surgery. Below, Roxie and Beth get acquainted while exploring the back yard.

What makes her so special is that through all of this, she still wags her tail and looks for attention. She crawled over looking for a head pat and a very careful tummy scratch when she was still too tipsy to walk. Most of the day she was laying beside the computer chair, where a hand could reach her from time to time and remind her that she was among friends. She is so skinny that petting her is like rubbing a wash board, her coat is coarse, thin and still pretty dirty. Then there was the problem with her eating, she was just to sick to eat. Since her pain pills needed to be taken with food, it was difficult to keep her on schedule with pills. She quickly learned to spit them out like a pro. By morning she was hiding them in her mouth until she could find a place to spit them out. All day long we tried to get her to eat, no results. Cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter, everything was tired. Cat food worked for a few bites, only. Finally this evening she gave in and she ate 1/2 of a can of her food. The funny thing is she would only eat it off of the Paw Challenged One's fingers. They had to feed her from their fingers or she would not eat. But the hunger strike was over, the pills were down, all is well in the dog house. Once she had eaten, the tail came up. That is the sign of a dog on the mend. Tails up! We have a special bed for her to sleep on tonight, right beside the bed. No more outdoor nights for this lady.

Stories like Beth may help you understand why we work in rescue. If you have not volunteered to help, just follow Beth and her story for a while, then go down and offer to help out. We will be following her on the blog, and she will be the subject of lots of attention. We will be spoiling her silly. It will be a while before she goes up for adoption, she has a lot of recovering to do.

Mogley G. Retriever

More dogs are in the dog house!

2011-08-09T10:38:00.000-06:00

Above: Peanut (Pete). The Paw Challenged One (PCO) is busy on the computer, something about big market moves and he needs to make us some Kibble. So he won't let me on the computer except when he is in the rest room. So this is a quick update, with more to come.
Last night we made the drive over to the office of the Official Golden Retriever Rescue Vet. We had to pick up 10 year old Beth (Elizabeth) or Lizzie. He was an intake from a local pound, they had picked her up as a stray. She came in as Handsome, they thought she was a boy. She was dirty, bedraggled and hungry. Her ribs were showing, her teeth were broken and she had several large tumors on her tummy, and she was not spayed. When we met her, she was still groggy from having her tumors removed and several broken teeth removed. This morning Beth is still not feeling well, so we won't post her photos till she has a chance to put on her make up. Beth may be the smallest grown up Golden we have ever fostered. She looks like a 5 month old puppy, a 5 month old puppy that is just getting over an operation.

While we were there we picked up Peanut (Pete) and Roxie. Pete has been in GRRR for a while, we had his photos up on the blog two weekends ago. Pete won't last long, he is a beautiful boy and very well mannered. We only had him for a few hours, then another foster mom picked him up to foster. He will have a ball playing with Riley and River, two big golden boys.

Roxie is a new lady that just came in. She is the voluntary surrender from a home that lost their husband. With three teenage boys and two goldens, they felt they had to cut back on the household burden. So Roxie came to stay with us till we can find her a new home. Roxie is a wonderful 4 year old lady, she is so well trained and well behaved. She will not last long once we have time to post her photos and do a write up on her.

We will be back with photos and more, later. So the dog house has Nala, Bella, Mogley, Roxie and Beth at the moment.

Mogley G. Retriever

Rocky, the Champ!

2011-08-04T19:38:00.000-06:00

First, a few actual quotes: "I would like to bust his face". "If I could find him, he would not be able to breath through his nose for a year". " I would love to find him in a dark alley". We heard a few of those statements Saturday when we first met Rocky at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies after parade picnic. That is where we took photos of Rocky playing in the cool off pool. The quotes are directed to Rocky's former owner, whoever he is.

Rocky earned his name because he had a rough start, but he will emerge as the Champion! Below is the write up that is on Pet Finder to help him find a new home.

18 Month old Rocky is so beautiful that he looks like he could be the cover boy for The Golden Retriever News. Yes, Rocky is wet in the photos, he found the swimming pool and he did laps. He is an Olympic class tennis ball fetching machine. He has only been with us a few days and already he has his own fan club.

Rocky had a rough spot in his life. He was found abandoned, with duct tape on his muzzle. That is why we call him Rocky -- he had a rocky time, but he is going to be a winner in the future. We can not imagine why anyone would tape his mouth shut. He is so much fun. He spends his days trying to get humans to throw balls and toys for him. He loves the water and is very athletic and has boundless energy. He can jump shorter fences with ease, so he will need a 5 or 6 foot fence. Rocky is very intelligent, he is very well behaved and quite mellow for a younger golden, he listens well and is eager to please.

Because of what he has been through he will be slow to trust fully. His new family will need to be patient and able to give him outlets for his energy. He is looking for a home with a family that wants someone to jog or run, climb mountain peaks or play Olympic class "fetch" with. If you need an excuse to get your daily exercise, he will help motivate you! We think he is pretty special and he needs a forever home that is really Forever! We bet that you can't meet him without wanting to take him home.

Rocky was found by police on a street, dirty, muddy, hungry, with duct tape on his muzzle. The Tech at the Vet's office called Golden Retriever Rescue and the rest is history. Rocky is on his way to finding the kind of home that he has earned. Rocky does not let his past trouble bother him, he just wants a family with a large yard, several tennis balls, and a strong arm. We have spent time with him twice and we have found that he is just a wonderful Golden boy. He is currently in need of a foster home, as are several other recent rescues.

We plan to follow Rocky's path and make sure he gets the Forever Home that he deserves. He may be the only rescue we have that is forming an official fan club, everyone wants to help him find his perfect home. He is a sweet, sweet dog.

In the meantime, our resident paw challenged ones have a new task. They volunteered to help write Bios and take photos for our rescue Goldens so they can be posted on the Internet on their way to finding a new Forever Home. For the last few days, the computer has been busy with lots of new Goldens as they enter the system. So watch for more updates.

We also have a Maddie update. We had to drop off a sweater with her name on it, we had forgotten to send it along with all the other things Maddie took with her. Maddie sends word that she is doing wonderful. Maddie says she is chasing the rabbit, losing weight, and she has a full time, very devoted care giver. She gets walks, she gets to go everywhere in the car, she is never left alone. She gets brushed every morning and she gets treats several times a day. She sends her regards, but she has no interest in coming back to our home. No way!

We have had several swimming pool parties. The kids come by and swim on hot days, and I get to play with the tennis balls in the pool and swim with the children. This may go down as the best summer yet.

Mogley G. Retriever

Happy Days for us and for Maddie!

2011-07-31T11:38:00.000-06:00

Above photo is Maddie at our picnic.

Two big news items today. First is our visit to Rescue Central on Saturday. Second is Maddie and her new Forever Home. Saturday was the big parade. Since my paw challenged ones do not walk well anymore, they went to the picnic area where the after parade picnic was to be held to help set up. We wanted to see how Maddie was going to act around a lot of dogs. If she is going to be a therapy dog, then she needs to be well socialized. She did great. She did not play with the others a lot, but she did join in and socialize. That is understandable, she was hot and it was all new to her.

The picnic was not very big, most of the people that walked in the parade were tired and hot, they went home to cool off. A few folks came by and there were perhaps 15 Golden's to play with. Below is a photo of one of the new rescues that we will be writing more about soon. He is making his views known about walking in the heat in a parade. Just wait till you read his story! He will be up on the web site soon.

After leaving the picnic, we took Maddie to meet her possible new home. Boy did Maddie hit the jackpot on this one. She went out in the big back yard to check out the accommodations and found the resident bunny rabbit. She gave chase, but the bunny just ran in a circle, he could have been laughing at Maddie's attempts to catch him. Maddie ran like the wind, but the bunny just hopped away. The prior resident golden (Scout) had the same problem, after years of trying, the bunny still lived in the back yard, un-caught.

Maddie took her bed, her bag of toys, treats and her food along just in case. After getting acquainted, she decided to try it out, Maddie unpacked and stayed. This morning we checked in on her and she is quit happy, still a little shy and still uncertain. Maddie had bonded very tightly with Marilyn, it will take a few days for her to settle in totally. But two walks a day, lots of brushing and petting, nice neighbors, frequent treats, squirrels and her own private bunny to chase, all add up to one fine home for a Golden Lady.

We have more about the new rescue arrivals, but we will have to save that till later.

Mogley G. Retriever

A meeting for Maddie

2011-07-29T21:16:00.000-06:00

Tonight we had a good time.   The paw challenged ones came home with some pizza bones.    We should have been allowed to go pick them out ourselves, but the ones they brought were pretty good.    Maddie likes pizza bones, a lot! It was fun to share a special snack time with Maddie and Nala.

Nala gets the first treat, and she also gets the last one.   Something about her time getting short, so she gets extra treats, extra petting, extra everything.   If I get on Nala's bed they make me get off of it. Nala is still getting around well once she gets up.   Even with her pain management pills, she has a bad time getting up and down.    Once up, she stays up, once down, she stays down.   She walks unsteady on her hips, but she still comes looking for her share of attention and she is always first in line for treats.   She still makes her trip outside just after midnight, she makes a quick inspection of the back yard, then she comes back to sleep.   She still watches out the front glass door and lets us know if someone is coming down the walk.   The morning sun hits her bed, and as soon as she is done with her breakfast, she returns to soak up the sun.  More and more often, people come in the front door and Nala barely wakes up.   She will wake up to greet them, get her attention, then its back to nap time.

Then there was a long telephone call.    There are two applications for people that want to meet Maddie.   They were told to call them and set up an appointment to meet Maddie.   The first phone call was a long one, it was decided that the home sounded like a perfect match for Maddie.   The lady had lost her Golden and wanted to find another full time companion.    She was offering a home with just two hands to pet her, but they are full time hands.   Lots of walks in the neighborhood, a nice back yard for those times that a lady needs a backyard.   Full time house privileges, room in the bedroom for her bed and lots of attention.    Maddie will be tested to see if she can become a visiting therapy dog at a local retirement center.   If she passes, she will be spending time with hundreds of hands to pet her and enough attention to wear out her fur.    What a life that would be for a loving lady.

Maddie says she is not excited about the attention right now, but she will see if she can work with it.   She is shy, and she will have to work her way out of her shell.   The reward will be so much attention that she will never be alone again.

Wish Maddie luck, tomorrow afternoon she will go see if she likes the arrangements.    If she does, she will stay and start her new life.   If she decides not to make that her Forever Home, she will be back and we will call the next applicant and interview them.

We checked the list of our foster visitors.    Maddie is the 73rd foster we have had here.   I was number one, and I have stayed number one.   I was also the first foster failure, the first foster that they took in and refused to give up.   It happens often in the rescue business, and it is what makes rescue so much fun.   73 is not a landmark number, but we are tracking so when we hit 100, we can celebrate.

Mogley G. Retriever

Maddie, an update.

2011-07-24T12:38:00.000-06:00

Maddie has had an exciting week end. She had a visit to Butter's house. Butter was one of our fosters about a year ago. She went to a forever home that was only a short distance away. Butter's home did a count and determined that the hand to dog ratio was lopsided. There were four hands per dog, and the ideal ratio is two to one. Butter is left alone for half days during the week, so a companion was called for. So they asked to meet Maddie.

Since they lived nearby, we drove Maddie over and left her for a while. Butter and Maddie looked like they could be great friends. Butter started out by bringing her toys over to Maddie and dropping them in front of her and on her, trying to get her to play. Then a squirrel ran down the fence and Maddie was off and running. She was in full chase mode, tail up and running like the wind. With Butter and Maddie both after the squirrel, it looked like a friendship was starting. Maddie is very shy, and she was pretty upset that she was not in her home. She hid under feet and growled at Butter when Butter tried to take some toys away. Alas, Maddie was told no. She came home, to start her search all over again, she had become very attached to our home.

Above, Maddie is in full squirrel alert mode.
We need to mention Butter, she looks like a new dog.    Her hair is beautiful, she is bouncy and playful.   What was once a very sad lady, overweight, alone and lost, she has blossomed into a great companion in a wonderful home.    She was having so much fun with her family and they are enjoying each other so much that another Golden was wanted to add to the happiness.    So while Maddie did not fit with Butter, their search will go on for the ideal companion for Butter.    Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies is looking for the ideal match.

After Maddie came back home, She sulked for a while, she was not happy that she had been taken out of her home.  Today is a big day, Maddie is out in the back yard chasing squirrels with Mogley and Bella. She is in full "Tail Up" mode today.   Running and playing.    Bella and I are not toy centric, and if Maddie has a toy, we let her have it.    She feels a lot more comfortable being able to join in at her own speed.   She is coming out of her shell.     When we hit the dog door to go out back and bark at the hikers in the park, she is with us.   She is learning how much fun it can be to run with the pack.

We are looking for her forever home.    We think she may find a home with an older dog that won't push too hard to play, and will let her move at her own pace.    She is a wonderful lady and she is going to get a wonderful home.   That is our promise to her.

Mogley G. Retriever

Welcome Maddie!

2011-07-17T18:28:00.000-06:00

Help us welcome Maddie to the Dog House. Maddie came to stay as a foster at our home today.

There are easy rescues, they are the ones where we go out and take a homeless dog from a pound, or we find it locked in a back yard run, alone and unwanted. It is easy, we are rescuing a dog from a bad situation.

There are hard rescues. Where we go pick up a much loved and very well cared for lady from a home that does not want to let her go. A home where she is happy, pampered and showered in love and attention. A death in the family, a move to a small apartment, a downsized home and life style means lots of changes. Maddie was a much loved member of the family, but she was gaining weight from no exercise. A family disability meant that her family could no longer take her for long walks, there was no large yard to run in, there were long days in a tiny apartment. Her family wanted more for Maddie, they asked us to find her a new and very special forever home where Maddie could stretch her legs and live an active life.

Maddie came with two pages of commands she knows, detailed instructions on "fast potty" commands, how to tell her to stand at the door so her feet could be wiped dry when she comes in from a wet walk. Come, Sit, Down, Leave it, Drop it, Shake, Heel, NO, Nope, Don't, Jump on, Jump off, Jump up (into the car), and more. So many commands, so much training and love were given to her, her new home had better be a wonderful place, they have a very high standard to live up to. The only command she has not followed so far is "Maddie, do the laundry". That may only be because we have not shown her the laundry room yet.

It is a good thing we picked her up in a large SUV, or else we would not have had room for her two bags of favorite toys, her large dog bed, a bag of food, two large boxes of dog treats, her medical records and her typed pages of detailed care instructions.

We do know that she is shy, she also is slow to take up with men.   Her mommy told us that when she was adopted Maddie had been mistreated by a man and Maddie still has some hesitation when she meets a new man.   The man had better prove he can be her friend, then all is well. We will post more on Maddie later, she has not yet settled in and we don't know her yet.   Give us a chance to get acquainted with her, and give her a chance to settle in with us.

Meanwhile, welcome Maddie to our foster home.   We will have her swimming and playing in no time.   Soon she will have a waiting list of people that will want to adopt such a beautiful, well trained and well mannered Golden lady.   Maddie will carefully review her choices and make a selection of an active home, a home that knows how to treat a lady.    If you want to adopt this lady, you had better offer a very special home to her, she is going to hold out for the very best.

Join us in saying "Thank you" to her family for seeking what is best for this wonderful lady, they made a huge sacrifice so Maddie could have a better life.   From all of us in rescue, Thanks.

Mogley G. Retriever

A Forever home for Leia

2011-07-17T10:01:00.001-06:00

Mark the calendar, July 16, 2011 will forever be Leia's "Forever Home, Adoption Day".    We hope she celebrates many, many more of them.    We took Leia over to Rescue Central yesterday to meet the family that has been trying to meet her for several weeks.   They live on the Western Slope of Colorado so they don't come over every day.    We had exchanged e-mails and they had read all about Leia's adventures.   We had talked about the cats, she has a older cat to share her new home with.   Leia will also share her home with Cosmo, a young male.   Cosmo is into chasing and being chased, so that will be a great place for Leia, she can run and run.   On the ride home she had a new snow goose to keep her company in the back of the car, along with her new best friend, Cosmo. Her new home has 13 acres to run on, with a pond nearby so she can keep up her water training.   Her family will dote on her a lot, based on their conduct when she was getting acquainted.  Lots of tuns in the mountains and walks on the trails. We are happy for Leia and happy for her family, they will have a home filled with golden love once again.   We are sad to lose her, but so happy for her and her wonderful new home.

Meanwhile, back at the home place, it is quiet without Leia.    Bella and I moped around all evening with no one to wrestle with but each other.   This morning after breakfast I was left a special treat, a whole banana was left right at my nose level in my special place, on the end table, right by the big chair.    It was one of the best bananas I have eaten all week.   I don't understand how the paw challenged ones think.    After leaving it there for me, he yelled at me when he saw the last of it disappearing.   Almost as if he did not want to admit that he left it there for me.   They are sure hard to understand at times.

Today we are scheduled to go pick up an older golden lady to foster.   They have to give her up, and they don't want to so they are putting it off as long as possible.   Late this afternoon we will go meet this wonderful lady and learn her story.   This is the kind of story that makes us glad to be part of rescue.   When a special lady needs special care at a very trying time in her life, and her family's life, we will be there for them.

Don't forget to vote, twice a day in two catagories, for Ruby the Service Dog.   Go to this link if you have forgotten to mark it. http://dogtime.com/petties    Vote early, vote often.   Go to yesterdays post if you don't remember why you are voting.   Also, visit Ruby at her blog page, http://servicepuppyruby.blogspot.com/ and give her some good vibrations.
Mogley G. Retriever

Help, we need help!

2011-07-12T15:59:00.001-06:00

Above, Service Dog, Ruby in her working uniform!
The power of the pack, we are calling for the power of the pack.    Call in the hounds, call in the poodles, call in the Siberians, call in the mini-dogs, call in the big dogs.     Calling all fur friends!   If we had a horse, we could ride down the road calling "To Paws, To Paws, the Blog Voting is coming!"

A wonderful blog is up for an award.   Raising Ruby is a blog about the daily life and training of Ruby, a service dog in training.    Go to her blog and see what it takes to make a beautiful puppy into a wonderful service dog.    Follow her life, and you will also be learning a lot about training and service to others.  Go to http://servicepuppyruby.blogspot.com/ then save it because you are going to need it every day.

Save this link as well, http://dogtime.com/petties which is the blog you will go to to vote, twice, through July 29th.   You vote twice, because Raising Ruby is nominated in two different categories, so be sure to vote in each category.  Ruby is under Best Blog Post, and under Best Cause Related Blog.   Apparently the rules allow you to vote twice a day. If you have more than one computer, you can vote twice each day on each computer.

Ruby has told us that Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies is the charity she chose to win the two $1,000 awarda if she wins.   If she wins, we win!   If she wins, all of rescue wins.   If she wins, all service dogs win.

So get to voting!    Tell all your friends.   Tell all your computers.    Spread the word.   Remind them every day!   Vote!    Fellow bloggers, post this on your blog to help spread the word!

Mogley G. Retriever

p.s. Don't forget to vote!

Swimming with the gang!

2011-07-10T21:34:00.000-06:00

Above, Leia and I play tug-o-swim with a water Wubba. Today, Sunday, our cousins came by to try out the pool again. They wanted to see if we could have any fun. As you can see below, we had a very fun time. Maddie came, she is the golden lab in the photos, you have to look closely to tell her from Star. Star has a very heavy, curly coat, but in the water it looks like a flat coat. Look for a fluffy tail to see if it is Star or Maddie. We had to stop early, the thunderstorms were coming on and we wanted to be dry and in the house before the lightning started. In the photo below, Leia and Star are both diving off the side, after a ball. Star is great in the water, but when she climbs out, she is so heavy with water in her heavy coat that she has trouble standing till she drains off.

I hope you enjoy sharing our fun day with us.

Above, from the left, Piper, Leia in front, Star behind her, then Maddie (Madison) and I am on the far right, and in the lead as you will notice. What a fun summer we are having.

We hope you are having a great summer too!

Mogley G. Retriever

Swimming with Leia and Star

2011-07-09T19:54:00.000-06:00

Above, Leia is heading in with a ball, I am standing on the pool bottom waiting for someone to throw one my way. Our play mates came by again today to help us enjoy our weekend. The three children are good at helping us work out. Star is a super swimmer. She jumps in to retrieve balls, she jumps in just to do laps. She is a water dog and no one knew it. She has a hard time standing up when she gets out, her heavy coat is so wet that she can't walk for a few minutes till she drips off.

Above photo, Leia is the grand champion water dog.   She loves the water and she loves the children.   They swim with her, throw balls in the pool for her, and they give her a place to rest.    Leia likes finding someone to give her an arm to rest on when she gets tired, then she goes back to swimming and playing again.    Leia can launch herself off the side of the pool after a ball, just like a championship dock diving dog.

Leia has added two more items to her list of what she wants in her new home.   She would like to have children, and a pool.   Or at least a stream nearby.   She loves the water.    We are all told that we can't go in the pool until we are told it is OK.   Leia is getting bad about not waiting for the OK before she gets in.   That means she may be wet when she is supposed to be dry, like just before bedtime.

We can't tell if the children enjoy playing with Leia more than she enjoys playing with them.   Or maybe its a tie.

After we were told to leave the pool and put on our leashes to dry out, a thunderstorm came by. Star is a little thunder shy, she does not like storms.    Leia likes to nap in the crate, its a very dark and secure place.   So today when the thunder started, Star went in to the crate to hide, but Leia was already napping.   So here is what happened.

Mogley G. Retriever

Thursday tails

2011-07-08T08:45:00.000-06:00

Above, Leia and I are taking a morning walk on the edge of the pool. We had a wet late afternoon and evening on Wednesday, up to 2 inches of rain in an hour. The thunder and lightning was keeping some of us awake during our evening nap, but just barely so. Star is staying with us, she is supposed to have bad thunder phobia. She was OK, she did try and hide, but then she would see us ignoring thunder and she would calm a little. It helped that she had some calming pills. Star found the crate and went inside where it was dark and quiet, that seemed to make everything OK. She came out when the skies had cleared and she saw us outside playing. Below, Star is waiting for diner to be served.

Leia has several people asking about her, but she has not decided on a home yet. She wants an active household. This place is full of older dogs and she tries constantly to get a game going, but we just go lie down and nap. She would love a family that hikes mountain trails, or jogs regularly. She has to go run in huge circles in the back yard several times a day to keep her pent up energy from getting her in trouble. Below, Leia is resting between runs.

Sage is enjoying his new home. Lots of hands to pet him, lots of play time. He is being spoiled rotten. He says that as soon as Mary is back from her trip, that his family wants to fill out the papers and make him a permanent member of the family. He hopes he will get a little cake and ice cream for his Adoption day party.

Dad has a new phone, with a fold out keyboard. He says he needs new tiny fingers to type on the tiny keys. He says there is one very good thing about texting instead of calling people. When he is mad at someone he can write a very pleasant and nice message, using only his middle finger, and they never know.

Mogley G. Retriever

Wednesday Update and Star comes to visit

2011-07-06T18:11:00.001-06:00

Above, Leia does what she does best, look very cute!
So many things are happening that it is hard to keep up. Sage is trying out his new home. One of the couples that came over with their grandchildren to swim on the 4th were waiting to see if another couple were going to adopt Sage. We finally received their reply and they were going to wait a little while as they had a recent death in the family and felt they needed to wait to adopt. We called the swimming couple, or rather they called us and we told them Sage was still available. In the meantime, they had volunteered to become foster parents as well. So their first foster is Sage, until we can get the paper work done for his formal adoption. Good going Sage, you have a great back yard, a very nice home with toys and even better, grandchildren who will regularly spoil you rotten. Good going Sage. Below, I and Leia are playing tug-o-war with a pool toy before the contest gets started. She will be soaking wet in just a moment or two.

At noon, Star arrived.   Star is a former foster that we found a home for a long time ago.   Her mommy had to go out of town on business for a few days.   Star has anxieties, so leaving her at a boarding kennel was not a good answer.   Star came to stay a few days with us.   She has some thunder anxiety and when a thunder storm passed over we were worried, but she was fine.     Star brought some toys, but Bella tried to shred them immediately so we sent them back home. Star did keep an old shoe as her comfort toy, Leia immediately started throwing it around.   Star does not seem to mind, she plays well with others.    Her first few moments were exciting.    We thought she was not going to be a water dog, no worries about the pool.   She jumped right in and swam.   Not once, but several times.   She is a real water lady.   Which does raise a small problem, she is a heavy coat Golden and when she gets out, she is heavy and can hardly walk.    She also takes hours to dry.   So we may restrict her access to keep her dry.

For all of you that want to help rescue, but are not sure how you can help, here is an idea.   We are keeping Star, but the payment for her boarding is a donation to Golden Retriever Rescue. That helps everyone out, and helps the rescue.   So you may want to follow our lead and keep a Golden to help a rescue.   If you are looking for a place to board your pet and want it to get special attention, call one of your rescue friends, offer to donate to their favorite group for a few days of boarding.   Because of liability most rescues will not formally sanction this as a fund raiser, but you can do it privately and it is a real win-win.

Nala needs mention.   During the madness of our days of Wet dogs, we tried to keep Nala in the house.   She gets knocked down constantly by the other dogs as they run and play, but she won't stay out of the middle of the madness.    If there is something happening, she is going to be part of it.   She was so upset when she would get locked inside that she had to be let out and she had fun.    Being part of the family activities is important for her, even if she does take some punishment from the faster and more active members.   She still loves being in the middle of any activity.   But we see her moving more slowly today, I think it is just a one day thing from overexertion and that she is back up to full speed soon.

Princess Leia is still here, there are two people waiting to meet her, but the scheduling has not worked out yet.   She will find a great home very soon.   Leia has great manners when she is on a leash.   Off leash, she is a bit of a terror.   She is very mouthy, trying to grab hands, trying to jump up to greet guests.   We are working on her manners, but we are not going to get her under control before she is adopted so her new family will have to take her to lessons.   Leia has become a real water dog, she loves swimming and she will gladly do laps in the pool with me.   She has such a wonderful disposition and she is so smart that someone will adopt her and make her a wonderful member of their family.

Mogley G. Retriever

A Very Wet Dog 4th of July!

2011-07-04T19:10:00.000-06:00

Wet dogs to left of us, wet dogs to right of us, shaking and spraying. If you want the dry look, you are in the wrong place. Imagine the fun, the madness, the chaos, the water, when you have 18 dogs. The entries in the contest were 15 rescued Golden's, one poodle, one Labrador and one Sky Terrier. The Sky Terrier was a good swimmer, but she looked like a patch of sea weed drifting across the pool. She liked swimming, but she liked the shaking and drying off even better.

The Lab came via our cousins house. He is visiting while his family has a job in California for a month. He is a little chunky, and he is ball obsessed. He is on his way to losing a lot of weight. Below, on Saturday, our cousins waterfall and pool, with Mandy in it with Molly. He joined in the party, and we had fun with him, and all of our friends.

The wet dog contest is going to become an Olympic event. They already have the pool, all they need are the dogs and we have a great new event. Below, one of our Olympic coaches gives the competitors last minute instructions on correct conduct. Get in the pool, get wet, and stay wet.

Below, in my yellow officials vest, I am bringing safety equipment into the pool so that everyone is safe and no one drowns.

Below, I am bringing a safety float to a young swimmer.

Here I am giving a young swimmer a pull to the shore.

Below, 6 of us demonstrate the un-synchronised swimming that we are so famous for. The gallery looks on with envy.

Below, a photo of the time trials. One loser is leaving to drip off. I am standing up in the pool, waiting for a ball to get thrown.

I won the gold, of course, but my cousin Piper came in a close second and if I had not saved several of the judges from drowning, Piper may have won. Piper came in the front door, ran out the back door at full speed and into the pool She did not come out again until three hours later when the contest ended. I was forced to wear the officials vest, the doctor did not even want me swimming so when I get tired, they make me wear the vest. Humiliating, but better than not swimming at all.

The real winners were five children that spent the day swimming with their dogs. They had a blast. How often do you get to enjoy an exciting day with your best friends? The kids loved it, the parents loved it, and a good time was had by all.

We may have to make this a weekly competition.

Mogley G. Retriever

A wonderful day at the Rescue!!!

2011-07-02T20:20:00.000-06:00

Above, Butters, in her new ride, ready for a long ride to her new home with her wonderful new family.

There are great days, there are wonderful days, and there are Stupendous days. Today was even more than that! We drove over to the Rescue Central for a 10:00 date for Sage to meet the couple that drove in from Chicago, about 14 hours, just to meet him and several other Golden's. Bella and I rode along so we could supervise and coach Sage on how to respond. Once we arrived, Sage went for a walk with the couple. Butters was there and she was already impressing them with her good behaviour. After meeting Sage and Butters, they had a hard decision. Butters won the new home, and left to conquer the big city. The photo above is of Butter, settling in for her trip home. We are really happy for her and for the family that chose a wonderful lady. They have a small house and yard, Butters is a better fit for a smaller house. Sage was thought to be a little exuberant for a small place.

While we were there, the paw challenged one got busy with his camera. He volunteered to help take photos of new arrivals for the web site, and to help write biography's for our homeless Golden's. He spent several hours working with new arrivals, but they kept arriving. He ended up taking photos of 10 different orphans. Now the hard part comes, writing up their stories. For the blog and for the web site.

Above, Ruby, a very young (10 mos) and very small Golden lady. We had taken photos of Ruby to post her on the web site, then Ruby went to work and turned on her charm. She had not been posted yet, but she was a special young lady. A family came along while we were taking her photos, they wanted to meet Leia and Ruby, they decided they liked Ruby best, and offered her a new home. With several children making over her, Ruby quickly accepted her new home, and went home with four hands petting her and giving her treats. She will spend the next few months in dog heaven. We just hope they don't wear her fur off, they were giving her so much attention. Good going Ruby, you found a great home.

Above, Leia is a blur, and this is the only photo we took of her that was not completely blurred. She is a Whirling Dervish. To keep Leia's feelings from being hurt, we offered to take her home and let her stay with Bella, Nala, Sage and I. Leia jumped in for the ride and we arrived home. Leia came in one door, ran out the back, saw the pool and followed me in for a swim. She came out, a little startled, she had not been in deep water before and she was a little uncertain about the deep water.

Above, I am returning with a ball, Leia is turning back to shore, Sage is supervising from the shore, but notice that he is dripping. We had just gotten out of the water and shaken off, when the phone rang. A lady was over at the Rescue looking at Golden's, and she wanted to see Leia. She received directions on finding our home and in only 40 minutes, she was here, taking Leia for a walk. Then everyone went into the back yard, and play time became a three ring circus for her to watch what happens when five goldens go mad trying to impress. Sage kept loving up to the lady, he thought she was very nice and she gave very good ear rubs. Then we found out that her husband wanted a big red male, just like Sage. Sage looked just like the golden they had just lost. But she wanted a smaller lady, just like Leia, plus her sister was looking for a golden lady like Leia. After an extended play time and getting acquainted time, she went home, promising to bring her husband by to meet Sage and her sister is coming to meet Leia. We may have homes for both Sage and leia soon. In the meantime, we have two more playmates to romp with. All in all, it has been a wild day.
The weekend is just beginning. The next two days are the annual Wet Dog Contest. We have invited about 20 goldens to come by and see who can win the prize for the best wet dog. I expect to be a top contestant, I have been practicing for days.

Mogley G. Retriever

A letter from Camp Fraser, from Jude

2011-06-30T15:55:00.000-06:00

Jude sent us a write up about his first few days as a Mountain Dog in Fraser Colorado. He apologises for his typing as he is not used to the new keyboard and screen yet. Here is Jude:

When they first brought me home, I met Bella and Lily (their son's goldens) who were with us for 2 weeks at "Camp Fraser." They helped me learn the ropes of how far we could roam on the 10 acres, how to walk off leash on the neighborhood dirt roads, and where the ditches that still have water in them can be found. We had some wonderful mouth wrestling tournaments, and took toys out of each other's mouths with no growling (sharing is great)! I also went on a trip to a local pond for a short swim.

On our first morning walk, we all 3 saw a coyote in an open field, ran about 20 feet, stopped and came back. They could hear the coyote yapping back at the house. Other critters that I have met so far include a couple of mountain squirrels (much cuter and nicer than the city variety.) I also saw a group of seemingly lost pronghorn through the front window. We don't how they got to the forrest from their open ground sage-covered habitat, but they were sure fun to see in the area in front of the house.

We received some paperwork from GRRR, indicating that I am about 4yrs and 5 mos. The tattletales went on to say that I enjoy soft toys, shredding them is part of the fun.  I like to shred dog beds if they are not up to my standards.

Sooo, they say, nothing but balls and Kong Air toys for me.   Yesterday they gave me a real beef bone. I carried it around for a bit, chewed on the yummy outside and then took it out to the deck.  The humans go curious and may have stumbled on my hiding place, in an area next to a basement window well.  I buried it for safekeeping, just like the dog in the insurance commercial! This morning, when I went out for my potty run, I checked to make sure the bone was still there.    I don't know if I can trust them or not, so I will keep an eye on it.

Tuesday Bella and Lily returned to Denver, I went along for the ride.  By the time we got back I was exhausted and a bit confused about not having my cousins here anymore.  Now that I have been here a while, I have started having more facial expressions when they speak to me, letting them know what I want. There is a hanging screen in front of our French doors and I have no problem going out the split, which then closes again with magnets. It's like a large, soft doggie door. I like staying on the deck enjoying the fresh mountain air, the wonderful views, even if my peeps are in the house.

I have met most of the neighbors, and 2 of the dogs.    Cody, a neighbor's GRRR dog, and I will be best friends soon. I really like people and especially enjoy playing with their dogs. I am already considered part of the family, and I am so glad that I agreed to come and live in Fraser. After the 4th they are planning a road trip to visit their son in Omaha. I will meet the whole family, including their small dog Zoe, this weekend. I really enjoy riding in the car, and I am going to have fun going on a 9 1/2 hour trip.    Once I train them how to take care of me and let me out once in a while.   Roads may come and roads may go, but potty stops are pretty much everywhere.
That is all for now, thanks to all the GRRR volunteers that worked to give me a nice home with nice people to share it with.

Jude G. Retriever

A vet visit and Sage

2011-06-27T19:02:00.000-06:00

Sage is still with us. The photo above is his favorite photo. It shows him in "full play" mode. He loves to run and play with toys, balls, sticks, whatever he can find. Sage has a couple more days with us. He is waiting till this weekend when he will meet with a couple that is flying in from Chicago to see him. He is just hanging out, enjoying his vacation before he has to go to a new home and go to work making people happy. He says that it just proves that you can look far and wide, but you will have to go a long ways to find a Golden as nice as Sage.

Meanwhile, I went in to the vet today to get a picture of my heart. I have sub-aortic stenocis, which they tell me means that I have a special heart. They made me lie down on a raised bed, then while everyone petted me and made over me, they put some jelly stuff on my tummy and looked at my heart with this stick thing. I was given lots of treats. He increased my Atenolol dosage. He said that I need to take it easy, I can't run and play too hard. My humans chuckled, they decided long ago that I should enjoy life and run and play as much as I want. Its my life and I want to enjoy as much as I can for as long as it lasts. So far, so good!

In celebration of one more year of life, one year more than what they predicted, I am hosting a party on the 4th of July. Its a "Get your Golden Wet" party. The swimming pool will have a dozen Golden's and their owners, all swimming together. Guests are asked to bring a dry golden to the party, and you can take a wet one home.

Mogley G. Retriever

Welcome Sage, a beautiful gentleman.

2011-06-25T16:17:00.000-06:00

Sage is the newest member of our pack. Five year old Sage came to us as a foster on Tuesday afternoon. He was looking for a new home, and we had an opening for one more foster. Jude was happily adopted on Sunday night, and we had a vacancy at the dog house. Sage will not last long, he will be "Gone in 60 Seconds", just like the movie. Sage was surrendered to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) when his family found that their frequent out of state trips were forcing Sage to spend more and more time in a boarding kennel. Sage has an old ACL injury that makes him slow down from time to time and he will limp slightly when he has run too much. He runs well, just not too far at one time.

Sage is so beautiful, the photos don't do him justice. He is a darker red than it looks in the photos. He carries himself like royalty. He has been through obedience training, and he stayed awake during class. He obeys his commands like a circus performer. Tell him to "down" and "stay" and he is on the ground looking up at you, waiting for "release". He is well socialised, he gets along with everyone. He even tolerates the cats, he has received the special award that Mini Cat gives to especially well behaved Golden's. He is a wonderful addition to our home

WE heard rumors that when someone comes to adopt him, he may have already "run away", but they already tried that story one time to many and it did not work. There is already one couple that is coming in from Chicago to adopt a Golden from GRRR, they are serial adopters, and they want to repeat the magic that their last two dogs brought with them. Sage is on the short list that they will meet with when they are in town. Stay tuned, for more meetings with special potential adopter's. Take a look at all of the photos of Sage, then tell us he will still be here next Monday!

We are falling behind on our blogging posts. Last weekend on Saturday we had an all day swim party with our very wet cousins, and we have still not posted about that. We were too busy saying goodbye to Jude, and exploring the new fountain. Sage is more important, don't you think? Someone asked how we live with dog doors and a constant stream of wet dogs. We fail to understand the problem, we may track in water, but it is clean water. Some hot days, we are locked out till we dry off, but many days we jump in the water and then run in the house before the humans can close the door.

Mogley G. Retriever

A water play pen

2011-06-22T21:41:00.000-06:00

Our cousins, above, Molly and Piper, have a brand new water play pen. They built a small pond with a waterfall in the back yard so that Molly and Piper could play in the water when ever they wanted. The digging took a long time, but the results are great. Now we can run out for a morning wake up, or an evening soak.

Above, Molly is soaking in the shallow part, Jude is coming down the path into the pond. Jude went out to inspect the pond before she met her new family. What do you think?

Mogley G. Retriever

A forever home for Jude

2011-06-19T19:36:00.002-06:00

Jude is in the car, ready to travel.   This afternoon a couple from Fraser Colorado came to see Jude.   Frazer is way up in the high country, up where summer is just a rumor that they hear about on the news. Up where it frequently is named the coldest spot in the nation on the national news. Up where the moose and the bear wander through the yards and where the sky is blue instead of hazy.  Up where snow is white and they don't remember what color grass is, they only see it a few weeks a year.   They had recently lost their Golden Retriever Rescue dog named Pepper.   When they read about Jude in the blog and on the rescue web site, they thought that Jude reminded them of Pepper and maybe they needed to investigate.    They called and put in a hold on Jude, then they drove down, almost 4 hours, had lunch with a father in a rest home, and then came to meet Jude.

Jude had set high standards for his new home, he was holding out for a special place. They told Jude that they would offer him 10 acres to run on, lots of rabbits, foxes, deer and an occasional moose or bear, for him to sniff the tracks and trails, but he can't chase them.   They offered him several golden friends that do sleep overs from time to time, and golden friends that lived just down the road that he could play with.    They offered him some water to play in and mud to romp in and a special "doggie mud room" where he can get clean as he comes back inside. They told him they take long walks in the forest and down the country roads where there were no leash laws. They said they would throw balls and toys for him to chase and fetch.   They even told him they had plenty of things to chew on, all the sticks he could ever want.  They told him that on long cold winter evenings they often sat and petted goldens while the fire burned.

They could have saved their breath, he did not hear anything after the 10 acres to run on.    He sold out immediately and asked for the paper work so he could paw print it on the line.  He did not even try to negotiate a better deal. He did not even ask about the thickness of the doggie beds, or the brand of treats they handed out.    He just wanted to sign the papers and go.

Jude got an extra drink of water, and was ready to travel. Once Jude jumped into the back of the Subaru Wagon, he was ready to go.  He was planning on riding all the way to the top of the mountains with his head between the seats, getting his ears scratched and head rubbed.    He took along a bag of food, just in case the trip lasted a long time.

In the morning Jude will probably wake up to fresh snow on the ground, snow is forecast, in a wonderful new home.   It may take a day or two to get used to being over 8,000 feet up, it will be hard to catch your breath at first.  Then he will meet the mountains and the forests, then he will explore his new forever home, forever.     When Jude breathes air tomorrow, it will be air that smells of pine forests and snowy peaks, not of auto exhaust.   When he see sky, it will be blue, clear and sparkling, not clouded grey by the dust of a city. When he smells scents, they will be of wild animals and of natures creations, not the scent of city streets.   When he hears a screech in the distance, it will be an eagle hunting high in the sky, not a siren from a fire engine or a police chase.

Good luck Jude, you lucky dog, you!   We did ask for visiting privileges, and Jude promised to send us an update on his adventures.

There is no place like home, especially if your home is on a mountain top in the high Colorado Rockies!

And a special thanks for all the volunteers in Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, who work hard to find special homes for special goldens.   Jude was special, and he has a very special home.    You did a good job of finding him a home, and homes for the other 360+ goldens that will come through Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies this year.   Thanks everyone! You all did a great job.

Mogley G. Retriever

PS.   Next we will post photos of Jude's last adventrue with us, he went our to try our cousins new water fall and pond.    We have not even posted photos of the great sleep over and pool party yet.

Hey, Jude!

2011-06-17T20:21:00.000-06:00

Jude is such a big, lovable, handsome, energetic boy that we have taken an instant liking to him. He had only been here for a few hours and I offered to play tug-o-war with him. He is a lot of golden in a big package. He is a toy hound, he has a toy in his mouth most of the time, and he can get three tennis balls in his mouth at once. We have not gotten a photo of it, but we watched him pick them up. He is still young, only three, so he is still a little hard on my favorite toys, but that is the price of being a foster brother. He is big, so his chewing is pretty vigorous, but he confines himself to dog toys, that keeps the humans happy. He is dog door trained, he loves going in and out. He sits for treats when he is told, and he sits for his food bowl at dinner time. He knows his sit, stay, down and NO. He has proven himself to be a water dog. In spite of the humans yelling "NO" and trying to keep him out, he waded into the pool within an hour of arriving here. He tried to get in the Koi pond, but the net was in place, apparently it not only keeps fishing birds out, it also keeps golden retrievers out, temporarily at least.

Jude is still cat curious, he likes to check out the cats, he has not chased, but he has followed pretty closely. By tomorrow, he should be done with his curiosity and maybe we can certify him as "cat friendly". He is already at home. He came in the house at 90 miles per hour, checking everything out. In minutes he found the food and water bowls, the dog toy box, the dog door, the swimming pool and the koi pond. Then he started carrying the toys outside, one or two at a time.

Tomorrow my three cousins will be spending the day with us, their home is being used to throw a big party for their foreign exchange student, and all the other exchange students. So all dogs are spending the day here were we will have a very long and wet party. Jude will have a real good time when he can go all the way into the pool. That ought to make for some good photos.

Jude arrived at our house today through a strange set of circumstances. First our cousins had been fostering Goldie and Elsie. Goldie and Elsie were a bonded pair of ..., well 1/2 of the pair was a Golden Retriever, and 1/2 of the pair was a German Short Hair Pointers. Both of them were sweethearts and were very appreciated, by all except the cats. But after only a few days of foster care with our cousins, they developed kennel cough. So they had to be taken across town to be placed in isolation. Meanwhile, Jude was ready to find a new home, but he needed a place to stay until his forever home could be found. So we traded. But since everyone is coming here tomorrow anyway, Jude is spending the night. He may stay here, or he may go stay with our cousins, who knows?

Jude is a "friends and family dog", when a dog this beautiful and lovable comes along, you start calling friends and family to see if anyone needs a very special dog. Jude is worth making a phone call for, your friends will thank you for telling them about this wonderful boy. In the meantime, we bet he won't stay long, he is too good looking and too nice to be in the rescue system for very long.

Above, Jude is trying out the water, I am already wet.
And while we are mentioning great dogs, Goldie and Elsie may be in quarantine for a while, but they are wonderful dogs also, they will be looking for new homes in a week or so.

Mogley G. Retriever

Spring has Sprung!!

2011-06-07T19:01:00.001-06:00

Nala is looking for the keys. She says that they usually hide them under the carpet. Maybe they don't hide them there anymore, after that incident last summer. Nala is almost old enough to drive in either people years or dog years, so you would think it would not have been the big problem they made it to be. We did not drive far, just down the drive way. Yes, that is me behind the wheel. Bella is in the back seat telling me how to drive. Below is how they make us ride. Apparently I have to take Drivers Ed or something....

We can tell it is spring.   The swimming pool is open and the convertible top is down until fall. We are ready to go for a ride.  I have already been in for a swim. The humans say that the pool is not clean yet, but I don't mind a little green in the pool with me.    It is still water.   All is well in the world.   The Koi pond is full, its my favorite place to drink.

Our cousins have it made this year.   If you will remember, Piper came over swimming and she would not get out of the pool.   She would swim out to the center of the pool and stay there if anyone even looked like they were going to take her home.    Her teeth would be chattering, she would be sending out little waves from shivering, but she would not get out. Molly liked swimming a lot as well.   We called them the Swim Sisters.

Did Piper get a wonderful present or what?    Her family built a waterfall and pond for Piper, Molly and Emma to play in.   No fence around it, so they can stay wet 24 hours a day.   It is deep enough and big enough to swim in.   They have a dog door, so they can go swimming while waiting for the family to arrive home. Emma is unimpressed, she wanted a thicker dog bed, but Molly and Piper are going to have a wonderful summer.    Can wood floors shrink from too much water on them?    Do Golden Retrievers get mold on them from too much water?   If a Golden Retriever comes in the living room wet and dripping, and no one is home to scold her, is she still wet?

Mogley G. Retriever

Cancer in Goldens

2011-05-31T13:01:00.000-06:00

Above, Nala shows her intelligence, even in a photo it is easy to see she is very smart.   Just like Albert Einstein, Nala has that disheveled look with the messy hair.

Our cousins went home Monday evening.   We had a good time entertaining our friends, but with the
death of Gracie, we did not run and play as much as we usually do.   We spent most of Memorial day quietly contemplating many lives that have been lost, both our Soldiers defending our freedom, and our Golden Retriever friends.    After the flags were taken down in the evening and our dinner finished, Bella, Molly, Piper, Emma and I sought the counsel of Nala.   Nala has been around a long time and has managed to acquire a lot of knowledge in her 13 or 14 years.   We don't know how old Nala is, and being a lady, she won't tell.

She said that she had been watching the trend in Golden's as more and more of her friends are catching the dreaded big C.   She said she had some theory's on why it is becoming more prevalent, but she wanted to do some research before she made an announcement.    She sat up late and worked hard on the computer drawing graphs and charting trend lines.   By morning she had prepared several charts that clearly explained the trends in cancer in dogs.

This morning we were all watching the news, and sure enough, there was Nala's chart, or at least a chart that looked like hers, on the morning business news.     It seems that the latest study has been released and there seems to be a tie between cell phone usage and cancer.      Nala had already gone back ten years and charted the growth of cell phone usage and the increase in cancer deaths in Golden Retrievers.   As she theorized, if you chart the two together, there is a direct correlation.   With both cell phone usage, up over 300 percent, and cancer deaths in our older Golden friends, up over 300 percent.    The two sets of data are conclusive proof that excess cell phone usage is causing tumors in our Golden friends.   It also proves that Nala knows best.

It is scary, Bella and I may give up talking on our cell phones, and we may switch to text messaging instead.    Now where are we going to find an iPhone with a larger keyboard that we can manage without getting daily pawdicures?

Mogley G. Retriever

Crossing the Rainbow bridge

2011-05-28T19:59:00.000-06:00

Rest in Peace, Gracie, 2000-2011.

A wonderful lady has left us, there is a hole that only time can fill.

Today should have been a happy post, but some days never go the way we want them to. Thursday evening our four cousins came by to spend a long week end. Bella and I were looking forward to five days to play and have fun. What can be more fun that having Gracie, Emma, Molly and Piper come to our house to stay? Play Time! Watch out, squirrels, seven goldens on duty now!

Gracie had been experiencing a little stomach trouble, she had thrown up before she left home. Friday morning and Friday night, Gracie did not want to eat. Finally the tall ones put extra canned food in with her dry diet and she cleaned up some of her meal, but not without some urging and a lot of time. She was locked in the bathroom so no one would bother her while she ate in peace, even that did not get her meal eaten. Later that evening she took her place beside the big rocking chair, right where a hand could hang down and give her a rub from time to time. But her breathing was heavy and a little labored. At 10:00 when the evening potty time was announced, she went out with us and quickly came back inside, then settled down for a long evening nap. Everything seemed normal, except for her labored breathing.

Saturday morning at 6:00 everyone was told to go outside for a morning potty run, Gracie joined us as usual, but when she came back in she laid down in the middle of the family room and did not move, she just watched us. While the rest of us were bouncing around, excited about our dishes being filled and breakfast prepared, Gracie just watched. Nala is always fed first, it takes her a very long time to eat, so she goes to her corner where no one is allowed near her. When Gracie's dish was set down in her corner, she did not budge. The paw challenged one came over to her and tried to help her up, she could get up on her front feet, but her hind feet would not move. He called the rescue to tell them he was bringing Gracie in to the vets office, now! He called a neighbor to come help carry her out to the car and they were gone.

She was loaded in the car at the rear of the Expedition, somehow she managed to crawl, using her front feet only, forward until her head was between the seats where she could get petted all the way to the rescue vet office, 30 miles away. Once there she was helped onto a stretcher and quickly wheeled into the exam room. It took only a few minutes to determine that her abdomen was filled with blood. Her spleen had ruptured and she was bleeding out internally. Her gums were white. By then she was so weak that she could only pant harder as she tried to breath, she was not in pain, but she was slipping away. With Mary from rescue petting her, Gracie laid her head on the paw challenged one's lap, and Gracie was sent on her journey to the Rainbow Bridge.

Gracie was still listed on the rescue's page of available dogs, but just like Nala, Gracie had already found her new forever home. Gracie was already home when she went to live with Emma, Molly and Piper, she slipped into a new life with lots of friends and lots of attention. The following was Gracie's post on the "home wanted" section of the rescue book. As you can see, she was indeed a special lady.

The answer is Wine, Scotch and Golden Retrievers! The question was, "Name three things that get better with age"? Eleven-year-old Gracie is proof that Golden's don't get older, they just get better. She is a very quiet lady, with the manners of a queen. She is a wonderful companion. She has no bad habits -- no chewing on shoes, no barking at neighbors, no chasing cats. She is cat friendly. Tell Gracie to "Go Potty, Gracie" and she runs to the nearest grass. She uses the dog door when she needs to.

Gracie is slightly overweight, but that is easy to correct with a leash and walking shoes or just some regular ball tossing (she loves tennis balls). She is very affectionate. If you don't like petting a Golden head when it lays on your lap, if you don't like to scratch a Golden tummy, then she is not for you. If you are looking for a loving lady with great manners and a very calm disposition, Gracie will make you a wonderful companion.

Gracie's family went from a house to an apartment. This sweet and very special Golden was a loved and well cared for girl and was surrendered reluctantly by her family who wanted the best life for her. Give Gracie a second chance at a happy home, and she will show you that she knows how to be your best friend. One look at her sweet face, and you're sure to fall in love.

We are so sorry for her passing. At the same time we are so happy that we could have her for a little while and happy that we could bring some love into her life and she could bring her love into ours.

Below: Nala, left and Gracie on a better day.

It is a very hard thing, it was unexpected and we were unprepared for it. We had just finished having a discussion about Nala and how we should watch her closely so that when her life became more pain than joy, we would know it was time to let her go. Nala is getting stronger everyday and has more energy. Gracie always seemed to have so much energy and so much love. She was an attention "hound", if there was a hand available, Gracie was under it.

Gracie was her lovable, sweet self right up to the time she passed on, she had no pain, only love. Gracie left us with dignity, getting her ears scratched, her chin rubbed, and stroking the bridge of her nose softly. Four hands were helping her relax and cross the bridge in comfort.

Rest in Peace, we will miss you. You brought a lot of joy into many lives.

Mogley G. Retriever

Update on a wonderful lady

2011-05-23T17:34:00.000-06:00

I have not written much about Nala lately, we were very worried about her and we did not want to write a depressing story. We remember that "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". She is doing much better. First Nala had heartworms, then she had a recurrence of heartworms. The poison they use is very strong and when you are 14 years old and weak, it takes a lot out of you. Then she had an infestation of mites. With her heavy coat, when the mites got down to her skin, she had raw places and sores where the mites were hidden. Bella and I had to have the mite treatment, it is not as strong as the heartworm, but it is still strong medicine.

Poor Nala, she has very few teeth, bad hips, cataracts, she is totally deaf, two rounds of heartworm treatment, and if that is not enough, she had open sores from the mites. Her hips are weak and it does not take much to knock her down when Bella and I play. On top of this she had to have a round of mite medicine. The good news is that she is getting her movement back. The mite treatment seemed to take the pain away from movement, the mites were causing more pain in her movement than we realised.

The bad news is that during the treatments, the rainbow bridge was mentioned and there was discussion as to how good her quality of life was. In the bright sunlight today, it sounds so cold to talk about her quality of life and the trip to the Rainbow Bridge, but when there is pain, there is a time that the pain is more than the joy that is left. It was not her time yet, but we do know that when the time does come, she will not suffer needlessly. Luckily it was decided to give her a chance to get we back to health again, and Nala gets to enjoy some more Golden years.

Nala is back! Yesterday she even ran with Bella and I, we all ran out to the back fence to protect it from a golden retriever running loose in the park. She is trotting in and out the dog door, making her rounds of the back yard. She is once again busy protecting the front door from the UPS lady. When we explained to the UPS lady about Nala, she said that Nala can bark at her all she wants.

Nala is due back in to get her spring bath at the groomer. If she keeps looking stronger, we may take her yet this week. Every day she is a little stronger, every day she is a little more active, every day there is a little more spring in her step, every day she has a little more joy back in her life.

Welcome back Nala, we are glad to see you getting better.

Mogley G. Retriever

Of dogs and poop!

2011-05-18T11:46:00.002-06:00

The resident human Chauffeur has gone over the edge. He is seeking a Nobel Prize for his work in Poopology. He is even threatening to write a Doctoral Thesis on the topic, and see if he can not get a endowed chair established at the local University.

You see, he has this theory that when you compare the number of dogs (d) in the household to the number of dog poops (DP) that need scooping at any given time, you find a number of curious mathematical relationships.

First, the relationship between resident dogs at any given time, and the number of poops per day seems to be logarithmic. If you will allow days to equal DY, He believes that you can express back yard dog poop using the mathematical formula of (DP=(d to the tenth)*DY).
Although the above formula does correlate well to the number of dog poops in the yard at any given time, there are other formulas that seem to also track backyard dog poops at any given time. He has a graph of black helicopter sightings and he says there seems to be enough of a correlation to prove that black helicopters are actually sprinkling dog poops in back yards. It certainly is a better explanation of black helicopters than any other we have heard.
He has placed book marks in several Stephen Hawking books. He has this theory that the number of dog poops in the yard is mathematically linked to they existence of Black Holes and Worm Holes in the time-space fabric. He believes that in between Worm Holes and Black Holes, they will eventually discover a third window, Dog Holes. He has sent several e-mails to Stephen Hawking, but so far has not received a reply, unless that fellow with the white outfit and the butterfly net was from Hawing's office, but he did not answer the door when he saw who it was.
If Dog Holes exist in the space-time continuum, then the extra dog poops may be linked to the number of UFO sitings on any given night. He has a graph going that the shows the number of sightings of Green Men and flying saucers, compared to the number of dog poops he finds in the morning. This chart also shows some strong linkage, with the chart peaking on moonless nights.
He even believes that quantum theory is involved in his research. He says that the quantum of dog poops is the square of the dogs in residence, or Q=Dogs squared.
He has even kept a chart to see if the number of dog poops in the yard is somehow linked to the number of treats per day. He has a chart of "Treats per Day" vs "Dog Poops per day". We enjoy the days when the chart spikes, on the treat per day axis, but it is heck when that axis drops.
We have attempted to counter this by putting forth the theory that the extra dog poops on any given day are caused by the neighbor cat who is not only very big, but also too lazy to dig. We may have to resort to a chart to prove our theory.
As a last resort, Bella and I are trying to rotate the "Treat to Poop" graph 180 degrees so that the poops to treat ratio is inverse. That way we may be able to get increased treats on his lazy days.

Have any of you had a similar problem with your owner?

Mogley G. Retriever

ps. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but Google decided to hide our blog from us for most of a week.

Of Mites and partys!

2011-05-11T09:46:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since we posted.    I was concerned about how to treat a sensitive subject.    You see, when Nala went in for her heart worm treatment several weeks ago, Bella and I had begun scratching.   Somehow the three of us had acquired mites.    Since the heartworm treatment is a similar, but much stronger, medication than the mite medication, Nala could not take both.    Bella and I were put on a weekly medicine that will kill off the mites, it goes on once a week for 5 weeks, so that the eggs and future generations are killed as well. But Nala only had one heartworm treatment and she reinfected with mites, but due to the stress on her from the heartworm treatment they were hesitant to put her on the follow up medications until she was a little stronger.

Monday Nala went in to the vet's office where she was supposed to be kept overnight so she could be closely monitored when she received her mite medication.    She was not happy, she did not like being confined, but she made the best of it.    Her trip to the vet included a major grooming.    Her coat was very matted, she had been scheduled for grooming several times, but her treatments required a recovery time and grooming kept being postponed.   This time she had her coat combed out very well, so that the mites would have few hiding places.    She says she likes her new spring look!

When she came home on Tuesday, she was very stiff from all the stress, but she was feeling better because her coat was clean. She made her rounds, checking out every corner to make sure her home was just as she had left it, then she had a serious nap.   This morning she is feeling much better, and is walking without any wobble.   She still has a weekly mite treatment for four more weeks, but she will get her meds here, no tiring trip to the vet.    So once again, Nala has faced adversity and overcome.

Meanwhile, Bella and I have stopped scratching, we have several more weeks of meds as well, but hopefully by the time we are done, they will all be killed off.

But this raises another terrible situation.   This weekend is the first Golden Retriever Rescue dog party of the season.    Hundreds of Golden Retrievers will be gathering for the Spring Fling.   But Bella, Nala and I are quarantined.    We can't even have play dates with our cousins until our cycle is complete.    Our cousins family do not even pet us when they stop by, just in case we still have mites.   We can't go to the groomer, we can't go to the dog park, we can't even go shopping at the pet shop.    In four years, we have not missed a single dog event.    In four years I have been there to demonstrate my prowess at ball fetching, and I have proven that they were wrong when they said I would not live to play this long.    Woe is me, and woe is Bella.   Nala says she is quite happy to stay home and nap.   But Bella and I are very upset that we can't go.

Bummer.

Mogley G. Retriever

View from the Cat perch

2011-04-28T10:44:00.000-06:00

As you know from reading this blog, it is so canine centric that you would think dogs had minds. Mini Cat and I like to sit on the computer, it is always warm. When I took over the computer this morning, my intent was to shed on the keyboard or perhaps cough up a hairball or two, but when I moved the mouse and the screen came on, I figured "Why Not?"

My name is Buddy Cat. Since I am a rescue too, I don't know why I can't get a little blog time in as well. Mini Cat and I are in charge of day to day activities in the house. With three large dogs, you may think that they run things, but nooo. Cats Rule! Any dog that forgets that Cats Rule, is quickly reminded of it. Why do you think Mother Nature put those big fat, tender pink targets on the end of a dogs face? It is part of her grand plan, Cats Rule. Those things they call noses are really just "Stop Buttons" on a dog. One quick flick with the claws and the dog stops! They are so convenient and so easy to use. Mother Nature was so good at planning ahead. Mini Cat is much better at it than I am, she is fast and her claws are sharp. When a new foster dog arrives at our house Mini sits in the center of the floor and dares them to try it!

It is all part of the grand plan to move dogs out of the house. Mini and I certify foster dogs as Cat Safe, so that when they do go up on the web site, they are much more adoptable. This means they leave our house quickly and we don't have to be bothered with all the slobber. If a foster is not Cat Safe when they arrive, they sure are when they leave.

The dogs have served a useful purpose on a rare occasion. Once when a fox came over the back fence to chase Mini for lunch, Bella and Mogley came storming out of the house after the fox and turned the tables on her. They almost got the fox before she went back over the fence and disappeared into the park. The dogs also teach courtesy to cats, when a new foster comes in, they show they are not supposed to chase the cats, and in conjunction with the "Stop Button", the new fosters learn very fast.

On Tuesday they took Nala over to the vet for her follow up visit. After her heartworm treatment she was very weak, at first she improved for about 10 days, then she started slowing up again. She was diagnosed with a sore on her rear paw, and a spinal problem. She is now on a heavier pain medication, antibiotics, and she seems to be coming along on it. She is slowly gaining energy again and acting like the real Nala. She still sleeps a lot, but as you can see, so does Bella. Nala needs a bath and grooming very badly, she is shedding in big clumps, but until she is a little stronger we don't want to put her through the wash. So the house smells like old dog, it should smell like old cat, a much better odor.

Buddy Caty

A new step

2011-04-24T14:31:00.000-06:00

This afternoon has been spent making a new step for Nala.   Bella and I think Nala is pretty spoiled, at 14, she is the senior member of our Golden Pack, we understand her special treatment, it is for a good cause. She can't hear, she is losing her sight, she has lost most of her teeth, and she is getting very stiff in her hips. She gets special food, special supplements, even special treats so she does not have to chew on hard treats with her gums.

For Nala to go in and out to the back yard through the dog door she has to go through the garage.   She has to go from the hallway, through the dog door, down onto one step and then onto the garage floor.   When she comes back in, her front legs are coming through the dog door and onto the hallway carpet before her back legs have stepped up onto the concrete step, then one more step up to the hallway level as she comes through the dog door.    She can't push with her rear legs, they are getting quite weak, she sometimes stalls and struggles hard getting her feet up and on the step, then pushing and pulling herself up, over the threshold and into the hall.

Today's task was to build a platform out into the garage, making the step much larger so that she can step up onto it and then come in on the level.   If this does not work, then a ramp will need to be placed up to the platform.   So far, she has navigated up to the platform and in twice with no struggle.   We hope the platform outside the door will let her continue to come and go when she pleases.  There is already a light on all night over the step so she can find her way in the dark, her vision is getting weak in the dark. She does enjoy her freedom and her ability to go outside and enjoy the yard with us when we are running. She does not like being confined, she likes her activity. As much trouble and as much pain as it causes her, she still makes 10 or 15 trips in and out each day, we wanted to see her continue to be active.   They will let her in the back door, then she will run out the dog door and around again.   We will give this a few days and then see if the ramp is needed or if she will function without it.

We hope you had a Thankful Easter, it is a wonderful day to celebrate family and friends, and especially old Goldens.

Mogley G. Retriever

Death to Warthogs!

2011-04-20T09:31:00.000-06:00

Mogley to the rescue! This warthog managed to conceal itself in a plastic bag during a shopping trip. Once it was safely inside the house, it charged out of the bag and chased the family into the kitchen. Luckily I was on duty, I grabbed the warthog and immediately killed it with the classic strangle hold. You just can't relax around the house, enemies are everywhere. The coyotes and foxes have killed off most of the squirrels and all of the rabbits, so there is nothing to chase outside. Most guard dogs would have relaxed, but not me. I stayed on "red" alert and it paid off. When a warthog threatened our home, I was on the spot to throttle it before it could damage anything.

Nala is still slower than she was before she had her heart worm treatment, but she is getting around OK. She has a harder time getting up once she lies down. She is showing her age when she starts moving after napping for a long time. She has a little harder time getting her rear legs to push her up the two steps into the house. She has to work at it to climb up. We are looking at building a ramp for her to make it easier on her to get in and out. She still has her wonderful outlook on life, she loves every minute. She has such a wonderful face and she brings cheer when she comes into the room. She gets a special allotment of attention, as a senior Golden, she gets many special privileges. She does not have to climb into the car, she gets lifted in and out. She gets special vitamins and special canned food to help her eat with her few remaining teeth.

We have been hearing from Golden Retrievers all over the world, they are getting ready for their duties of delivering eggs and treats on Easter morning. If anyone else has photos of themselves getting fitted for their delivery duties, let us know.

Mogley G. Retriever

Getting ready for Easter

2011-04-17T21:05:00.000-06:00

My followers will remember that we proved that Santa uses Reindogs to pull his sleigh on Christmas Eve, while reindeer get all the credit. After all, we are there to help, we just want to serve, let the reindeer get the credit, dogs are really man's best friend. Now it is time to dispel another myth.

As you can plainly see, the Easter Bunny is really a Golden Retriever. In fact, the Easter Bunny is multiple Golden Retrievers, all over the world. Our friends, Hamish & Rescue Sophie have sent us photos as they try on their costumes and get ready to "fetch" eggs and treats to good little boys and girls all over the country. Below, Hamish gets fitted for his costume.

If you will just think about it a little, you will understand how you have been duped all these years. Doesn't it make sense that if you want something "fetched" you would not call your local bunny rabbit? Come on, what are you thinking? Try throwing an egg (or tennis ball) in your back yard and see who brings it back? Your Golden Retriever or your bunny rabbit? Below, Sophie poses for a "pre-delivery" photo.

You know that bunny rabbits don't carry baskets around, they don't deliver anything. If you have a basket of green grass, a rabbit is more likely to eat the grass than share it with little boys and girls.   That is where the Golden Retrievers prove once again how unselfish they are.    They allow the rabbits to get all the credit.   They allow the rabbits to pose for all the publicity shots.    They allow the rabbits to get all the good advertising endorsements.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Golden Retrievers go about the business of delivering and "fetching" gifts to good little boys and girls.   Unselfish devotion to the cause of helping bring joy, it's what we do as dogs. It's how we bring joy into so many lives.    Luckily, there is a Golden Retriever nearby, no matter where you live.   There is a Golden Retriever nearby to sneak out and make their rounds, hiding eggs and toys in time for the morning egg hunt.    Remember kids, there is a reason everyone knows that dogs are your best friends.

So now that you know the real story, I hope you will continue to pretend that the rabbit is the star of Easter, they have this ego problem, so they need the recognition. We all know that the real hero's are the Golden Retrievers that will deliver the treats and the decorated eggs all over the country.    So give your Golden Retriever an extra treat or two, they deserve it for their devotion to helping without worrying about who gets the credit.    And special thanks to our friends Hamish & Sophie for sending us photos as we suit up for the special day, and thanks to them for giving us permission to use their photos in this issue of our expose!

And don't forget the real story of Easter. We hope you all have a very Blessed Easter.

Mogley G. Retriever

A rainy morning

2011-04-14T10:24:00.000-06:00

Nala is patiently waiting for the sun to come shine on her favorite resting place. Bella is sleeping next to her to keep her company. I am sleeping on the couch. What else is there to do on a rainy day?

We have not had any rain or snow for so long that we had to go outside and investigate it.   It was funny stuff, water from the sky?   Who thought of that idea?    Anyway, we checked out the big outdoors, we got wet, and we came in to dry out and enjoy being house dogs with a warm house to lay in.

Life is quiet.   Our computer is back and it is working faster than ever.   By removing everything and starting with a blank computer, we picked up a lot of speed.    The new computers all come with tons of junk on them that slows them down right from the start.   No fleas on this computer.......

The paw challenged one says he has blocked the racy "French Poodle" web sites that I liked to visit late at night when everyone else is asleep.  He thinks that is where the fleas came from that infected the computer and took us off line for a while. I wonder if he blocked the "Golden Retrievers Gone Wild" site?   I will check tonight. Since he signs on the foster dog adoption sites, I can still visit the local shelter web site, it has a lot of racy photos of dogs, some in very suggestive poses.

Mogley G. Retriever

Testing, one, two, three......

2011-04-12T14:14:00.000-06:00

We are testing to see if the computer is now free of fleas.    Nala is licking her lips, she is ready to begin reporting on her exciting daily activities.    It took four days to get the computer back, it had multiple viruses, even the back up had viruses.    We think we are clean now, we ran three different virus programs on it and they now say -0- found when they are done.    We are terribly behind in reading our friends blogs and exchanging notes.

Our bad news is that Nala is slowing up. She was recovering fast from the heartworm treatment, then she seemed to peak and begin going down.    She was eating mixed dry food and canned food, but she stopped chewing the dry food, so now she is on canned only.    She only has teeth on one side of her mouth, only one canine tooth.   It was getting harder for her to chew on the few remaining teeth.   She hears nothing, she is so deaf that we have to run in front of her to get her attention when it is dinner time or time to go outside.    Her vision is decreasing, she was almost up to a visitor today before she even knew they were here.    Her hips are weaker and she has a hard time getting up after a long night.   Her medications are a good help, but they can't make up for the age in her joints. Her spirit is still strong, she gets up and goes outside through the dog door, then back in, around the house and back out again.   She will do this three or four times, then take a nap in the sun.   She gets lost more often.   When she wakes up in the middle of the night and she does not know where her pack is, she will sit and bark till someone comes to get her and tell her that everyone is still there.    Then she will happily go back to sleep.    She used to wake up and bark at every car that drove in the circle at night, she could see when the lights came in the glass front door and swept across her face.   Now the paper boy comes and goes without being announced.

We keep our paws crossed that it is just a temporary thing, that she will perk up.   She has slowed up in the past and then bounced back, so we are hoping......   We even miss being awakened at 4:00 a.m. to greet the arrival of the newspaper.

Mogley G. Retriever

The case of the missing note!

2011-04-10T12:50:00.000-06:00

My last post was just a note to update on what is going on.    It turns out more, or less was going on than we thought. We could not even post the last post.

First, the last note was supposed to say that it was not my fault.    In the past when the computer has caught a virus, the human has always blamed the Resident blogging Retriever.   He walks around humming the tune "My Dog Has Fleas", accusing us of giving fleas to his computer.    This time it is his fault.   We were not surfing those x-rated dog sites again, he was listening to on-line radio.    He has a friend that has a radio talk show in Colorado Springs. The house radios do not pick up the station, so he listens to the radio on-line.   It turns out that he had not updated his anti-virus data base for two days, he turns it off when backing up as it interferes with the back up program.    So a devilish virus invaded.

Now the computer is at the shop, getting totally scrubbed and having a new operating system installed.    So Monday we may be back on line.    Today we are using the computer in the basement, the one with the hand crank on the side of it.   The one that has a plaque on its side that says "Historical Archeology Site, do not disturb!".   The museum curator will really get mad at us when they find out we used it.

We can't load photos on this computer, it thinks that photos are still made on tin.    In fact, we can't even use the computer if the wind is not blowing and the lightning is not striking.    We have to attach a key to a kie string to boot it up.    "How old is it, you ask?"   The keyboard only has the number 1 through 9 on it, the number 10 had not been invented yet when this computer was built.

We will be back, with a new system soon and then we can resume blogging.    Please do not adjust your sets!

Mogley G. Retriever

No photos, just a note

2011-04-08T19:21:00.000-06:00

The Orkin man to the rescue!

2011-03-31T09:08:00.000-06:00

Gracie is still not a camera ham. She lays her ears back when the camera comes out and the flashy thing goes off.

It started innocently enough.   The one who is paw challenged noticed that a swarm of ants was covering the front driveway.    The warm spring sun had brought them out to do their thing and apparently their thing is forming large swarms in sunny places.   He grabbed his spray gun and went to work on them.     Shortly thereafter he was out back and on the logs by the garden was another swarm of ants.

So a real search was conducted.   He was searching for swarms of anything. He found another one.   He called the Orkin man.    The Orkin man made an inspection of the house, looking everywhere.    Then he delivered the bad news.

"You have a terrible infestation! One of the worst I have ever seen, it will be terribly hard to control this one."    He then took some photos to document the extent of the infestation.   Below is his photo of the worst Infestation of Golden Retrievers he had ever seen.

The photo was a little blurry, the pest control man took the photo as he was fleeing out the front door, he was in fear of his uniform. His black pants were rapidly being covered by golden hair. We did not think it was funny, and we think the resident chauffeur should be ashamed. Besides, the infestation will cure itself tomorrow when our cousins family gets home from their vacation and we are back to being just three.

Mogley G. Retriever

A Lazy day!

2011-03-28T11:24:00.000-06:00

Above and below, Molly is the only one up and about today. We had a little snow last night and Molly is the only one that wants to be outside playing. The rest of us are napping. Each of us has our own nap place. Our cousins are here often enough that they each have a place to nap. People wonder how we handle this many guests. It is easy, everyone has a place for their food dish and when it is dinner time, everyone has to go to their place and wait for their bowl. Gracie is learning where her place is, so she gets fed second, right after Nala. Nala can't hear you tell her to go to her place, so she gets fed first to keep her where she belongs, besides, Nala is the slowest eater in the house, we are all done long before Nala is done. Gracie then is taken to her place, then while she is busy the rest of us get our bowls. Then it is off to our nap places.

Below is Molly in her favorite nap place, where she can keep an eye on the squirrels in the back yard. Remember that Molly is the only member of our pack that has actually caught a squirrel. We are waiting for her invitation to become a member of the Golden Retriever Hall of Fame.

Bella and I share the couch on the front sun porch, as the sun moves around we get warm sun a little later in the day.

Nala always claims her Golden Senior right to nap in the warm sun inside the front door.

Below, Gracie naps under the computer table, that is where people are all day long and she keeps everyone close.

So goes life in the Golden House. Another lazy day!

Mogley G. Retriever

The wild bunch Rides again!

2011-03-27T12:14:00.000-06:00

The Wild Bunch is assembled for treat time.   You can see the newest member of the bunch, Gracie, on the left, behind Emma.   Gracie is fitting in just fine.   We were told she would be a little shy around new dogs, but she is taking it all in.   Day two of the Wild Bunch reunion is going fine.    We had three children over to play with us Saturday.  We had a wonderful time running with them, chasing tennis balls, and getting attention from six friends that just stopped by to get a much needed golden fix. The Wild Bunch lived up to our name, we played hard and entertained everyone.   But we have a big legend to live up to. Here is part of the legend!

Our dad has told us tales about the Wild Bunch when Butch Cassisdy and the Sundance Kid hid out in the Hole-in-the-Wall near Kaycee in Northern Wyoming.   He is obsessed with the Hole-in-the-Wall.   Everytime he went to the old family home nearby, he would do an off road trip into the Hole-in-the-Wall. I have gotten to run there several times and it is great. No fences, no boundaries. I can be out of sight and only be 10 feet away. They made me stay close, too many rattlesnakes and too many places where a flat trail skirts a 1,000 ft drop into a black hole.  Once I barked at a bear that was only 500 feet away, but it was across a chasm on the opposite edge of a cliff.   It would have taken us a day to travel around the canyon, or a day to climb down one side of the cliff and up the other side.

He says that Historians have gotten the story wrong, the real story isn't about Butch Cassidy, it should have been about the place. The Hole-in-the-Wall is about 10 square miles of impossible canyons and rock cliffs, places that you can not even imagine can exist.  It is where Chief Little Wolf and Chief Dull Knife led their band of Cheyenne and Arapaho after fleeing the Custer Battle in 1876, the band of 300-600 hid from the 6th Calvary and remnants of the 7th Calvary for three months before escaping out the west side. The rugged land is the reason the Wild Bunch could hide out from hundreds of lawmen so easily and for so long.  So he named us the Wild Bunch in memory of his child hood when he would climb the rocks and ride horseback with his father up the network of cliffs and canyons of the Hole-in-the-Wall.

There is an even more compelling story about his trips into the Hole-in-the-Wall to join a search for a friends daughter who's murdered body is hidden in the wild canyons and impassible rock cliffs of the Hole-in-the-Wall. Over 400 searchers spent months in the mountains and along the cliffs. They found several bodies, some thought to be from the Wild Bunch gang, but even now they have not found the young lady.   He had started a book on the lost lady and tried to interest Ann Rule into taking up the mystery as a book. It is just one more testament to the labyrinth that is the Hole in The Wall. And a story waiting to be told.

Mogley G. Retriever

Introducing Gracie, our visiting foster.

2011-03-26T09:13:00.000-06:00

Introducing Gracie, our newest foster lady. We have already sent over a write up on her for the adoption site. She has been with our cousins for a week, and she has proven herself to be a real lady. When she first arrived here last night, she was a little uncertain about the wild pack of goldens that she was going to spend the next week with. This morning she is finding her place in the pack. Below, Gracie and Nala are becoming friends, they both like to relax and let the world go away.

With some prompting from our cousins and an interview with Gracie, we sent over her write up for the adoption web site. Gracie says that she will take any home just as long as it has a very high hand to dog ratio. She likes attention and she is very good at giving petting therapy. If you need to relax and just enjoy some Golden love, she is the dog for the job. Below is our write up on her:

Wine, Scotch and Golden Retrievers! The question was "Name three things that get better with age"? Gracie is proof that Goldens don't get older, they just get better. She is a very quiet lady, with the manners of a queen. She is a wonderful companion. No bad habits, no chewing on shoes, no barking at neighbors, no chasing cats. She is cat friendly. Tell Gracie to "Go Potty, Gracie" and she runs to the nearest grass. She uses the dog door when she needs to. She likes tennis balls. She is slightly overweight, but that is easy to correct with a leash and walking shoes or just a some regular ball tossing. She is very affectionate. If you don't like petting a golden head when it lays on your lap, if you don't like to scratch a golden tummy, then she is not for you. If you are looking for a loving lady with great manners and a very calm disposition, Gracie will make you a wonderful companion. Gracies family went from a home to an apartment, she was not mistreated, she was not homeless on the street. She was surrendered very reluctantly because she was very loved and well cared for. Give Gracie a second chance at a happy home, she knows how to be your best friend.

Below, Gracie and I get our photo taken together.

Mogley G. Retriever

Dead Toys!

2011-03-25T15:52:00.000-06:00

As you can see, Bella killed my new Blue Huron. She is taking a nap after demolishing my new toy. She had already demolished her new toy, a squirrel. She said that it was the only way to save them. She has been watching too much TV news from Washington DC.

Late tonight, Friday, we will be invaded by our cousins and Gracie.    That's right folks, the "A" team of demolition will be arriving to spend a week with us.   Molly, Piper and Emma along with Gracie will be staying with us for a week.     Bella said that she just as well rip the toys up because they would not survive the first ten minutes of the invaders.     She made so much sense that I found one toy that still had some stuffing left in it, and I tore it out also.     Because by this time tomorrow we will have no toys left alive.

We do have fun when they are here.   There is always at least one dog that is ready to go play. If we wear out, then someone else takes over.   Piper and Molly can wear us all out, then they wear out each other.

We also have some work to do.   We have to take good photos of Gracie so she can go up on the web site. It will take some time, but we have to get acquainted with her and do a nice write up so that she can find her new home.    Since she does not like crowds and wild playing, we wonder how she is going to fit in.   She will probably follow Emma off into a quiet corner and hide from the madness.

Nala is doing better each day.   She is back to the energy level she had before she was treated for HeartWorm. She does not hide when the going gets wild, she holds her own in the house, making everyone walk around her.   She is second in command, behind Bella.  She does not outrank me, but I do defer to her as she is senior and she gets our respect. Stay tuned, we should have photos of our newest 11 year old foster lady, Gracie, by Sunday.

Mogley G. Retriever

Adopt a dog to go green!

2011-03-23T17:16:00.000-06:00

Above, I am ready to do my part in cleaning up the earth.

Our family is not one of the new "green" families. In fact, with the paw challenged one's (PCO) history of oil and gas exploration, gold mining and other such activities, they think that trees grow on trees.   Silly people! The PCO even thinks that gas comes out of the ground.    He should know better, he sleeps with up to 8 golden retrievers some nights, with the window closed yet.

Bella, Nala and I are helping them turn green.   Recently the trash company started picking up two different trash cans.   One can is brown, for the trashy trash.   One can is green for items that can be recycled.    We were having trouble getting the PCO convinced that most plastic items should go into the green can to be recycled.   Immediately there was trouble with the concept.   For one thing, the green can did not have a good lid and it was pretty low. When they would throw a TV dinner plate into the green can, Bella and I would take it out and clean it.   After all, they were supposed to recycle "clean" plastic.   We just took it upon ourselves to clean it before it was recycled.     We had long used this concept with empty ice cream containers, they always gave them to us to clean, we just had to extend the concept to all ex-food containers.

While we are going green, we also reminded them to stop using the garbage disposal.   It takes elecricity, it puts pollution down the drain and into the waste treatment plants where it takes extra work and power, and its wastes water.    Use the Golden Disposal Service instead.

Finally we have reached a truce.   Instead of just throwing dirty containers into the recycle can, they give them to us first.   We lick them clean, then they can put them in the green can and all is good.   We have had a treat and the world is cleaner because of it.   Plus we don't waste soap and water in cleaning up the recyclables.

Which leads us to the main theme.    Want to go green?   Adopt a dog.   That way you can clean up your recyclables without wasting soap and water.

No, no! No need to thank us, helping the earth stay green is reward enough.   Well that and a few more dogs adopted into homes and out of kennels.   Maybe we can start a new slogan:   Adopt a dog and save the earth!

Mogley G. Retriever

Nala's progress

2011-03-22T18:43:00.000-06:00

Nala enjoys her days in the sun. She still spends most of the day sleeping. She sleeps so well that people come in the front door, step over her and sometimes she does not know we have company. Since she does not hear anything, we have to wake her up by touching her, then she jumps. Mostly we just check to make sure she is breathing well and then we leave her to rest.

She is doing much better than she was doing. This evening she even trotted in from the back yard instead of tottering in. She stands pretty firmly, not swaying too much. She still does not get up and down well, but when she is up, she is moving much better. Her appetite has returned, she is eating very well now. She still gets spoiled, she gets canned dog food mixed in with her dry bites. She even gets a little grease on her food to make it more interesting.

Bella and I were given new toys today. Our cousins always tear up all of our toys, so we have some new ones to play with until Friday when they arrive and tear them up again. I have a Blue Heron.

Bella has a Squirrel, but she won't share.

Spring is coming and life is good.

Mogley G. Retriever

Nala has a visit to the Doctor and A new lady in town

2011-03-21T21:06:00.000-06:00

Nala just can't seem to get a break.    Friday when she came home from the vet after her heart worm treatment, she was not feeling very well.   We decided that she was functioning at about 40% of the normal Nala that we know and love.   By Saturday afternoon, she was up to about 60% of normal.   She was walking better, still very unstable, especially on her rear legs.   But her tail was up and she was wagging pretty constantly instead of just from time to time.    Sunday morning we were seeing more of our friend, Nala.   She was even showing some enthusiasm when breakfast came.    Nala is usually a chow hound, and when she does not eat, we all worry.

Then came Sunday afternoon.   She slept almost all afternoon.   But worse, when dinner time came, she sniffed her plate and wandered off.   She did not want to eat anything.   She would not even take her pills with peanut butter, or with some bread or cake.   She had to be forced to swallow the pills.

Monday morning, she did not want to even go to her breakfast plate, she refused to eat anything.   Her tail was down again, she was walking pretty stiffly.    We loaded her up and off to the vet we went.    We had to leave her there for observation.   Later Monday we went back to pick her up.    She was sure glad to be out of the pen and back with us in the car.   She said that the floors in the pen were pretty hard and her favorite bed was not there.   She was afraid we were going to leave her again.

Back home she has a pill to make her appetite better, another pill for her stiffness in her hips, and a pill to keep infection away.   She is just having a bad reaction to the drugs.   The drugs do not wear off easily when you are 13 years old.   She needs more rest and more food to build herself up before she can recover.    She will get all kind of special food in hopes that between the good food and the appetite stimulant, she will get some nourishment and some strength.    We are all just thankful she is recovering here instead of having to spend another night in the vet office.

Meanwhile our cousins have a new foster.    We have not taken on another foster because we want Nala to get healthy before we bring in someone else.   But our cousins were called to go out of town and pick up a wonderful 11 year old golden lady named Gracie.    Her family was moving out of their home and into an apartment.   At their temporary apartment, they were not allowed to have Gracie in the house, they had to leave her in the garage. They quickly determined that was no way to treat a 11 year old lady.   The called the rescue and asked to have someone pick her up so she could have a better home, the kind of home she deserved after a long life of faithful service to her family.   We are told that Gracie is not used to a lot of dog friends, she takes a while to get used to new friends.    People are fine, but dogs are not as quickly accepted.

We have not met Gracie yet, but we will.   Our cousins humans are going to be gone for a week to some terrible place they call Hawaii.   When we asked about going along, they said we would not like it there, there are no squirrels, no snow, no ducks, or anything fun. So our three cousins, and Gracie, will be arriving here on Friday and they will spend 7 or 8 days with us.   Hopefully, Nala will be feeling better then, but Gracie is a laid back kind of a dog, so we don't expect any excitement with her around.    Having Molly, Piper and Emma is easy, they stay often enough that they know the rules. Gracie is not a puppy anymore, so we don't expect that she will be any problem.  We look forward to having Gracie visit for a few days, we will introduce her to life in a wild and ferocious pack of Golden Retrievers.

Mogley G. Retriever

NALA is Home!

2011-03-18T19:09:00.000-06:00

Nala is tired after her ordeal. Tuesday when we went to the vet for shots and our annual check up, we took Nala along. When the vet told us that Nala was heart worm positive again, and we had to leave her for treatment, we were very upset. Nala took it all very well, until she went back to the kennel area by herself, then we heard her barking her "I am lost, come get me" bark. At home when she can't find the rest of her pack she has a special bark to call us. Because she can't hear and her sight is limited, she has her own way of getting "found" when she feels lonely. We felt terrible to have to leave her behind, calling us.

She arrived home around noon, still a little shaky and unsteady on her feet. The vet tech told us that she had not eaten all of her breakfast. If Nala did not eat her breakfast, she must have felt bad, she is a real "chow hound". At home she had a hard time getting settled down on her favorite bed, she just could not find a comfortable way to lie. She was still feeling pretty bad. She finally went to sleep and slept soundly most of the afternoon. By 6:00 when dinner was served, she was showing some energy again. We think she will need another day or two to recover, and it probably will take a week or two before we see the real Nala. Below, I am helping Nala relax by setting an example and hoarding her favorite bed.

Luckily our human is busy procrastinating, it his special gift. We did get him to take some photos and we will share so you will have something to look at over the week end. Below you can see Mini cat checking out the front drive while Bella checks out Mini cat.

While we are sharing photos, we just as well introduce you to some more of our resident zoo. Below is Mushu, our long fin Koi. She is spending the winter inside in the 65 gallon tank, soon she will go outside where she will have a warm summer vacation in the pond. Mushi has several gold fish friends to keep her company till the outdoor pool warms up a little more. Most of the fish spend the winter in the pond, but this tank full of fish were just recently re-homed and coming from warm water they could not go out just yet.

Mogley G. Retriever

2011-03-17T20:55:00.000-06:00

It is getting very bad around the house.   Nala always barked at 6:00 sharp to wake everyone up.   She is spending the night at the Vet's office, so we slept in this morning.  Apparently the alarm clock was not moved up to daylight savings time.   It's that International Association of Procrastinators (IAP) thing again.   We stumbled across a post-it-note reminder to set the clock forward.   We left it out where he could find it, but it turns out the note is last years reminder, so he says it does not do any good this year.   He says he left himself a note this year and when he finds it, he will change the clocks.  That explains why we were late to so many parties this year.

They are moving forward rapidly with the organization of the International Association of Procrastinators (IAP).    They are going to schedule their first annual meeting, they called a hotel and explained that they wanted to reserve a meeting room for their meeting.   They suggested that we send the notices out calling for a 9:00 a.m. meeting, but the hotel will reserve the room for 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. to allow time for the people to arrive. Luckily it is the same hotel that was going to host last years meeting, so they know about such things.

Several people thought that an honorary membership certificate was a good idea.   We will ask for some volunteers to work on a committee to design a nice certificate.   We do have an idea for the design for the crest for the organization. It would probably look a lot like the Honorable and ancient family crest of our dad.    Their ancient family crest is "two gold bricks on a four poster bed, on a field of poison ivy".

Mogley G. Retriever

Will a blogg post write itself?

2011-03-16T21:13:00.000-06:00

Will a blog post write itself?   We think not.   The resident "one who is paw challenged" or OWPC, is busy writing a proposal for a new company and hogs the computer.    So we have to sneak on the computer when he is not looking.

Today we went to the Vet for our annual shots and our heart worm test so we could begin our heart worm medications before the mosquitoes start flying around. We took Nala with us even though she had been to the vet last week and had her blood draw for the test.   When we arrived at the vets office, we learned that Nala is heart worm positive.   Whether this is an "again" or a recurrence of the prior infection, we don't know.    Nala is spending the night at the vet's office and we won't be able to pick her up till Friday.    Poor Nala, she was getting to where she was living a comfortable life, now she has to go through the treatment again.   Hopefully it is a light infection, as it has not been too long since her prior test.    Good Luck, Nala, we will see you soon. Sorry you missed dinner but they promised they would feed you.   You will be missing your friends, we heard you barking as we left, and we will be missing you.

He says he is also going to work on the new web site for the International Association of Procrastinators (IAP),   Last week you learned that their association has been slow to get off the ground.    We had scheduled the organizational meeting but no one showed up for it.    That is just as well, he did not get to the meeting location until two hours later.   The hotel did not mind, the reservation clerk did not get the meeting room reserved anyway.   We may have to give her an automatic membership, obviously she qualifies.  If this keeps up we may have more members than AARP in a year or two.     We may sell membership certificates, when someone does not get a job done in time you can present them with a certificate.

He put out a request for suggested rules for the association.   The only suggestion we have received back is that we should have a rule that our members should not sky dive, procrastination in pulling the rip cord could have severe consequences.

Mogley G. Retriever

To Post or not to Post, that is the question?

2011-03-13T14:33:00.000-06:00

As our photo shows, we are still waiting for the chance to leap into action, we have not moved a muscle.  But first, a nap.....
Our dad has been slow in letting us post on my blog.   It turns out that the delay is part of his overall program to become more active in clubs and organizations.  Several years ago (2001) he thought about joining the International Association of Procrastinators (IAP), the foremost organization for procrastinators in the world.   He figured that if he was going to join, he just as well join the very best. Then a few weeks ago (a fitting delay for such a momentous step) he downloaded the membership application. He wrote them a check for his dues, but it is still in its envelope, with a 12 cent stamp on it, laying in the "out basket".

He went to their web site to see what he has to do to qualify for membership, but their web site is still under construction.   They had hoped to have their site up before their next meeting which was scheduled for May of 2005.    Of course, their meeting date has been slid a little bit.   Apparently no one told any of the membership about the meeting time and location.   That could be because since the inception of IAP in 1990, all membership applications that have been received were rejected due to lack of qualification of the applicants.   If you expect to join the foremost procrastination association in the world, then sending in your application on time will automatically disqualify you.   Duh!

Meanwhile, the association has been suspended due to lack of filing, but they plan to appoint a committee to handle the filings that will be needed to reinstate it, as soon as they get members.    Several people have said that they will make donations, very soon, but the bank account is not yet open so bills can't be paid.  Which works out surprisingly well, the association has not yet purchased office supplies to establish its office anyway.

Our resident human says that very soon the organization will be up and running, it just takes some effort by the founders.   Plans for the organization include a special TV channel that will provide 24 hour news, delayed five days from the current news casts, for those who missed it when it was on. Kind of like CNN does now.  It will partner nicely with the cable TV shows that replay old Super Bowl games.
There will be big demand from advertisers and sponsors for our TV programs.  The day old bread shops should find us a great place to advertise.   Liquor stores should be great advertisers, last time we looked, all of the wine in the store had old dates on them.   Maybe not, when we asked the clerk for a 50% discount on a bottle of wine because the date on the bottle was old, he refused.
Based on the number of old movies and last years sports events that constantly play on cable TV, a large number of the US population can be expected to join the organization, as soon as we set our membership requirements.

More on their progress when we make any.......

Mogley G. Retriever

A word from the cats

2011-03-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Buddy cat is very angry that the dogs are trying to balance the household budget on the backs of the cats, we are going to get our side of the story on the table, or on the bed as the case may be.

Mini Cat is not very angry, her status as the spoiled cat in the house is not in danger. She has the best bed, and she has the best food. As you can see below, Mini cat gets a gourmet choice at every meal. It is the only way to keep the birds safe from her attacks. The sun is shining on her coat and it makes her look like she is silver, fear not, she is solid black with only a tiny spot of white on her chest.

Mini points out that we can not cut the household budget by reducing her food choices. She will simply add birds to the menu. Buddy does not care much for the great outdoors, he likes the indoors and the soft beds.

Buddy Cat is the quiet one in the house, quiet until midnight that is.   Buddy has to talk to us all about midnight or one in the morning when he wants attention and no one is awake to pet him.    So he wakes someone up to get his attention, then he goes back to sleep.    He is spoiled too.

At least we dogs just sleep quietly all night, we only bark if there is a real disturbance outside.   Then we do our job as watch dogs.

Meanwhile, we still have not balanced the budget.   There was a wonderful suggestion that treats be cut back with a substitution of cake from the day old cake store instead of treats.    We tried that one, but the day old cake did not get any older.   The humans brought it home and promptly make it disappear.   The good news is that the day old cake store is the same store that sells day old bread.   So we ended up with bread treats and the human ended up with day old cake.

So we are still trying to balance our budget.

Mogley G. Retriever

Balancing the Budget

2011-03-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

In order to balance the budget, some of us are still working hard. Above, I am bringing in the morning paper, rain or shine. I watched the Westminster Dog Show, they had Golden Retrievers in the sporting class. I think we need to send them my pictures bringing in the paper, then we can enter in the Working Class of the show. If the judges had to swim out into a cold lake to bring a dead duck back to shore, they would realise that fetching is real work, more work than following a dumb sheep around all day.
See below what I have to go through to deliver the mail.

We had so many great ideas about how to balance the budget that we hope you will go back and read the comments. If you will recall, we needed to cut $1.35 from our annual budget in order to match the cuts they were considering in Washington D.C. Cheyanne in Denver had one of the better ideas. Since having a dog helps people with their mental health, which in turn leads to better physical health, more exercise, etc., we should send everyone down to adopt a homeless dog, then everyone can save money.   Maybe she would like to head up a "Adopt for your Health" day.    Then we were told that day old cake at the bakery is much cheaper than dog treats, and much better as well.   Let them eat cake was the cry.

We thank Jack, at a Daily Dose of Jack, who offered to save us money by not buying his new book.    What a sacrifice he was willing to make to help us with our problem.   That is the true spirit of dogs, he scrifices a sale to help us. What a dog! We want to point out that Jack's new book is one of the few books where the dog does not die at the end, so it won't cause you to cry.   If you hurry to his web site through the link above, you can enter a contest to win a copy.

One of our readers sent an e-mail suggesting that the tall ones simply squeeze the toothpaste tube a little harder.   If they could get one more brushing out of each tube, then after 5 years they will have saved the necessary $1.35, just like Washington DC does it, promise the savings some time in the future.

We are still working on how we will finally save the $1.35 that we need to cut out of the budget.   More ideas are still coming in.

Friday the tall one had to go to an office.  He took Nala along for the ride, then stopped by the vet and got her blood test and her heart worm meds.   Nala had heartworm when she came into rescue, so we are very careful with her, we don't want her to fight that battle again.   Bella and I have appointments next week to get our tests, our annual shots and our heartworm medications.    Yes, spring is coming and it is time to get ready. Nala said she got lots of attention at the office.   Now Bella and I are now due a ride to the office.

Maybe the tall one will balance the budget in another way, he has an offer to go back to work.   Maybe the offer will get good enough to make him go back, then we won't have to balance out budget by cutting. Think of all the dog treats we can buy then!

Mogley G. Retriever

Dogenomics

2011-03-02T20:07:00.001-07:00

Our cousins have gone home this evening.   After two days of playing and wrestling, Nala, Bella and I are ready for a nap, we crash in the entry and sleep till dinner.   We earned our nap, so we will be turning in early tonight.   We hope that sleeping is free because the financial times are changing.

The Bumpass Hounds set our human to thinking, which is a dangerous condition.    The Bumpass Hounds pointed out that President Obama has proposed cutting $100 million from a $3.5 Trillion Federal budget.   That amounts to 1/35,000 of the budget. Now that our family is retired, we budget about $50,000 per year for our household budget. Using this as a guideline, we have proposed cutting our annual household budget by $1.35.   That way we will be exactly in line with the cuts proposed by the president!   He said that we all need to tighten our belts during this fiscal downturn, and we want to do our part, no matter how much of a hardship cutting $1.35 will be.

The chauffeur began by soliciting suggestions from each of us as to how to cut the family budget.    Being an expert on Dogenomics, I immediately suggest that the tiny cans of canned cat food that Mini cat eats are 50 cents per can and she eats two cans a day.   We could balance the budget pretty fast and help her lose weight at the same time.   The reason they feed Mini cat special food is because Mini cat likes to hunt birds, and she is very good at it, if she is hungry, she goes out the dog door and finds her own dinner which means there will be feathers on the floor.  As far as Nala, Bella and I were concerned that is a great solution.   But it turns out that they don't want her to hunt birds, so they won't let us balance the budget that way.  Something about protecting the birds.  Several nights ago, Mini caught a midnight snack, a mouse, and brought it alive into the bedroom and then chased and played with it till everyone in the house was awake. Feeding Mini became a much higher priority. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Nala suggested that we could cut back on the use of dog shampoo.   She said we could save three or four times that much per year.   An eight dollar bottle of shampoo does not last long with all of the fosters coming through the house.    Besides, Nala does not like baths much, so she was willing to make the sacrifice.   But that idea was vetoed by the chauffeur as well.

Bella pointed out that it was time for the dreaded annual shots.   She would be willing to stay home when the rest of us went to the vet to get poked.    Then there is the cost of the heart worm medication that will be starting soon.    We could balance our budget in a hurry with her suggestions.    Again, the chauffeur said no, we all have to get our annual check up.

Mini cat suggested that if we limited the dog treat time to once a day from twice a day, we could save a lot of money.   I think she is still mad because I suggested taking away her food for three meals. The chauffeur said that treat time is important, twice a day we all get to bond and he says that is important.   Something about making sure we sit and stay on command.

Buddy cat said that she would be glad to go without a new collar this year.   She very seldom goes outside and no one sees her collar under her thick white coat.   The chauffeur pointed out that the reason Buddy cat is getting a new collar is because she pulled her old one off and lost the tags, she has to have her tags on, it's the law.   Once again we are stopped.

So we ask you, our readers, how would you reduce our annual living budget by $1.35 so that we can share in the huge sacrifice that our leaders in Washington are facing.   After all, that is a big cut to make.   So leave us your suggestions about where to cut.

Mogley G. Retriever

Visitors, again

2011-03-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty quiet. Just Nala, Bella and I have been being lazy for several weeks now. We have been taking it easy and waiting in the sun for the summer to come. Above, Bella and I enjoy the morning sun on the front sofa. Below, Nala keeps a watch out of the front door, waiting for company. Nala has such an expressive face, she is always the star of any photo shoot.

Today, our cousins came to visit again. They are having a sleep over while their humans are traveling. It gives us all a chance to get together and play. We all look forward to our over night play dates, and we are also happy when they go home and we quiet down again till the next trip. Below are photos of all six of us sitting for our morning treats.

Mogley G. Retriever

Roxanne, the day after

2011-02-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we received an e-mail with these three photos, letting us know that Roxanne had spent a peaceful night sleeping beside the bed, she had a new toy to play with. During the evening she napped at and on her new friend's feet. She met some of the neighbors and had a good first evening at her new home. She did check out the top of a kitchen counter, so she got told "no" for that one. She was testing her limits, and she will need to learn where the lines are drawn.

We think she has found a wonderful home and we hope we can keep in touch with her. We may even be able to arrange play dates. Have fun Roxanne, you are a very nice lady and you will make your new family very happy.

Mogley G. Retriever

The countdown has begun!

2011-02-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Roxanne went to visit a nice couple at their home earlier in the week. We made special arrangements, most of the time a foster does not get to spend time in a prospective new home before she has to make up her mind. In this case, since they lived nearby and we had a nice sunny day, we arranged to drop her by and after some serious questions, we left her to play for a while. She liked the family, she liked the home, she liked the back yard, and she liked the way they threw the ball. They liked her quiet manners, they liked her polite behaviour, they like her beautiful coat and her loving ways. It was a very good afternoon. They went for a walk to meet some of the neighborhood dogs, it was a good outing. She particularly liked the hand to dog ratio, it is 6 to one. She liked the extra attention.

But they had to travel out of town for a couple of days. They asked if we would hold Roxanne for them until they got back. Then they called from out of town to adopt her, they were afraid someone else might claim her while they were gone. We told Roxanne the news, she was very happy. They have had several goldens in the past and were just waiting to adopt in order to honour the memory of their last golden.

This evening, they will come home and we will meet them again to leave Roxanne to settle into her new Forever Home. They plan a trip to the pet store to buy the correct food, treats and a new bowl. Roxanne gets to start with her own items, not used ones. We will send her with a bag of tennis balls, Roxanne is a tennis ball fan.

Say goodby to Roxanne, she is a foster, orphan, no more. She is a lady with a home, a family and a future.

Roxanne, we will miss you a lot, and we wish you a wonderful rest of your life.

Mogley G. Retriever

Rescue Central on Saturday

2011-02-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

Roxanne has been living with us as a foster since last weekend. The first few days she was very timid and nervous.   She had been through a lot since she was surrendered by her family of 6 years to become a homeless dog.   A growing family, active children and an energetic Golden Retriever lady was more than the poor family could cope with.   Then Roxanne made her escape to the wild, and the next 11 days, loose in the big park, dragging her leash, were days of fear, hunger and cold. She was happy to come back in from the cold, but she was dirty, tired and hungry.   She made her trip to the vets office, there she got her check up, and she was spayed, a few years late in her life, she is 6 years old.   Then after a couple of days of recovery she came to live with us until she could be placed in a new home.   Part of the task for us is to evaluate a new foster and find out her personality so that she can be placed in a home that fits her and where she can find her new life with a new forever family.

Friday we had sent in a bio on Roxanne, it was posted on the web, outlining what we had learned about her during the week.   What we learned was that she was nearly the perfect family addition.   She was old enough to be calm, experienced enough to fit into a home without problems.   She was very well housebroken, she was good with the two resident cats, she was polite, she got along with the other three canine residents and she was a good house guest.  She did not chew on things, she did not bark at strange sounds. She knew her basic commands and obeyed them immediately. Her bio on the web was great, so she was going to have a lot of good offers of new homes.     Roxanne was settling in well, and she was prepared to stay as long as needed, until the perfect home came along.   Often we have a list of demands for a new home.   Roxanne had few requests.   She wanted a chance to chase tennis balls, and lots and lots of attention.  She was a Velcro dog, she wanted to stay at the humans ankle all day long.  Just a place to nap near the family rocking chair was all she needed. She was a very easy going lady, she would fit in about anywhere.   Someone was going to get a very wonderful addition to their home.

Saturday afternoon we had an appointment at Rescue Central to introduce Roxanne to several possible new families.   Because it was a nice day, everyone was allowed to pile into the SUV and go for a ride. At first the chauffeur was going to leave Nala behind, but when we charged out the front door to jump into the car, Nala was front and center in the pack.   She could not jump up on her own, but with just a little boost she managed to climb in.   It has been a long time since we all were allowed to go together to visit our friends at the rescue.   Part of the fun of being there is meeting other new rescues and meeting all the people.   There is always lots of people, lots of coming and going, lots of new friends to meet. People bring their own dogs to meet and play with the fosters. They want to make sure a new golden will fit in with their current dogs.   Seniority in a family has its advantage.   First they may take a walk to see how their new family will work on a leash. Then they will go to the play yard to see how the dogs interact on their own.   While Roxanne was off with other families, we were allowed out of the car to visit and sniff the official rescue mail box post.

When we arrived, the two families we had come to meet were busy meeting other fosters. A family that had come to meet several other fosters saw Roxanne and wanted to meet her.   After a walk and some play time, Roxanne was on the list as a possible for them as well. But two other people had requested to meet Roxanne, so she went on walks with them and then spent some play time in the play pen with possible new brothers and sisters.    Roxanne flunked the first play date, she and the resident golden both went after the same tennis ball and ended up having an argument over it.   Her second play date ended in Roxanne ignoring her possible new brother.   In the meantime, the first family had fallen in love with Skittles and were already filling out the papers.   Then her other family took Hank for a walk, and fell in love with the big, red male.   Hank was a good looking boy, he was just getting over his kennel cough and was just now coming up on the available list.   They were runners and Roxanne was not a long distance lady, she was panting after a short run.   Hank was a long distance champion, lots of energy and long legs.   Two families came by and apologised to Roxanne, they felt badly that they could not take her home, but she came in second on running, and second on getting along with a tennis ball obsessed golden.

On the way home Nala fell asleep, she was tired and the long day had worn her out.   Nala did enjoy the attention she gets when ever she appears at a rescue event, she is the senior and one of the favorites because of her wonderful personality. Roxanne was feeling a little let down, she thought she was going to find her new forever home immediately.   After talking it over, we decided that taking it slow so that she gets the best forever home is a better goal for her. Wish her well, she will be meeting new families this coming weekend.    But this time she will know what to do better.     Sunday morning was the first day that she felt comfortable enough to play with Bella and I. We ran and played in the snow together, we even played chase in the snow.   It usually takes a week to settle in enough to begin playing, so Roxanne is right on schedule.   We will enjoy her a few more days, then she can go looking again.

Mogley G. Retriever