Swimming with Dogs!

Kevin Costner should star in the movie version of "Swimming with Dogs!" It would be a hit with all of my furry friends. Last night the humans invited another Golden Retriever Rescue foster family over to join us in an evening in the pool. I let humans do the inviting, they talk on the phone better than I do. Bella and I and our three new friends went from five dry dogs to five wet dogs in a minute. Look at the pictures and share our fun!

Above, I am coming out of the water towards the stairs, I got the ball. Bella is still dry, she thinks water is for drinking, not swimming. Sergeant and Sorsha are looking over the edge of the pool trying to spot more tennis balls. Below, Sergeant show us how to get into the water quickly!

Two humans, John and Kris, chauffeured Evelyn (9), Sergeant (7) and Sorsha (7) over to join us in a dip. Sargent was so excited he jumped, or fell, into the pool as he rushed into the back yard. Sorsha took a few more minutes to get her bearings, then a ball landed in the pool and she was in it in a flash. They brought a bag of tennis balls with them and there were floating balls everywhere. Sergeant and Sorsha are brother and sister, Evelyn is a "foster failure." They took her in to foster her, fell in love with her and refused to give her up. Sergeant and Sorsha are wild and play hard, Evelyn is more cautious, but once she gets over her uncertainty, she keeps up with us. I understand "foster failures", I am one myself, my humans took me in to foster me and refused to let me go.

What fun we had, the humans were swimming with us and throwing balls for us just like we have trained them to do. They are good at throwing balls but they are very poor at fetching them. Humans don't seem to have a good "fetch" gene in them. It is nice to see dogs and humans sharing the same fun times. So often we dogs go off and run without taking the time to include our humans. Evelyn took her time getting used to the water, she even required some help getting used to it and learning the correct swimming technique. Swimming is such good, clean, family fun.

Five wet dogs. Twenty tennis balls. One large swimming pool. That tells the whole story. What fun we had. What a good nights sleep I had when it was over.

Mogley G. Retriever

A message from Alexis

There is a comment posted at the bottom of the second previous blog, the one in which we say good by to Alexis, which you may want to read. It is a message from Alexis at her new home. Alexis reports that she is doing well in her new home. She has two humans and no other dogs to share attention with. That means four hands to pet her, a much better deal than she had here. Whenever she was getting attention Bella and I would push her away and we would hog the hands. She has already been for a run in the fields. This is how the foster program is supposed to work, even if it hurts when a friend leaves for a new home. We hope she will keep in touch with us. We really like Alexis and we miss her. We moped around for two days after she left, good luck Alexis!

Mogley G. Retriever

A very Special Dog!

You may remember that Sophie was a foster dog staying at the humans son-in-law and daughters home along with Emma and Piper. Sophie was a super dog, she had the energy level of two normal dogs. She was a tennis ball-a-holic and she played from morning till night with her house mates. When it came time for her to be adopted we described her to one potential home as "like inviting hurricane Katrina to stop by your outdoor wedding to have a slice of cake." You were going to get more than you expected. She may have been the most energetic 18 month old Golden we have ever met. We were worried about her ever finding a home that could give her enough challenge and exercise. Then she tried out to be a police, drug sniffing dog. Her high energy and her need to work made her an ideal candidate to be a working dog. Being able to obsess over something, like tennis balls, means you will work hard and focus on whatever task you are given. All she needs is tasks to pursue and she will have a direction for her energy. It is exciting, a friend of ours is now in the training academy to learn to be a police tracking dog. Many people don't know that Golden Retrievers have Bloodhound in our genes, it was bred in so that we could more easily find birds and game when we were retrieving in the field. We have excellent noses and we are very accomplished trackers. What a wonderful opportunity for one of our friends to be a working dog to help find lost evidence and solve crimes for the police.

A very special thanks goes to the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, their volunteers went out of their way to find a way that Sophie could have a full life. It took time to make the arrangements for her to attend K-9 Academy. We appreciate the time and dedication it took to make it come true. Special people helping special dogs!

K-9 Sophie G. Retriever reporting for duty, Sir!

We expect to read about her in the paper soon:

"Foster dog from Golden Retriever Rescue
of the Rockies, Makes Good,
Sophie solves huge drug case."

Congratulations Sophie!

Mogley G. Retriever

Good By, Alexis

This is how we will remember Alexis, she is watching for a squirrel to come down the tree. This picture is a few minutes before she had to leave us to go to her new forever home.

Thursday noon the humans drove Alexis over to meet someone who was heading north towards Casper Wyoming. Alexis was sad to go, she was settled in here and we could have kept her very easily. She was a wonderful friend. We sent the rest of her medications along with detailed instructions on her needs. She likes tummy scratches and she likes to rest with her head on your feet. We will miss her a lot.

My life is getting better. My appetite has returned but don't tell my humans. When I was sick they tried to bribe me to eat by sprinkling shredded cheese on my food. It worked, now they want to stop just because my appetite is better. I have to refuse to eat before each meal until they give me my cheese sprinkles on my food.

I am still jumping in the swimming pool regularly and getting locked out of the house regularly until I dry off. I don't know why the humans get upset, it is clean water. They call in a swimming pool, if I did not swim in it no one would be in it for days at a time.

We will not have another foster dog until we are sure there is no danger of anyone catching kennel cough. Life will be quiet until someone new arrives. Alexis will be hard to replace in our lives, she set a very high standard when it comes to being a wonderful foster friend.

We wish Alexis a wonderful life and we hope she sees many wonderful sunsets over the plains and mountains of Wyoming. We wish her a back yard full of slow squirrels. We wish her streams to wade in and meadows to run on. We wish her a warm place by the fire when the snow blows and the praries turn white. Good Luck on your journey Alexis, may it be a long one.

We wish you the best of everything;
Mogley, Bella, three cats and the humans.

Alexis the Space dog

The resident human took his lap top with him and left me without a way to blog. I may organize pickets in front of the house to protest and to organize a fund drive to buy my own computer. He claims dog hair on the keyboard makes it hard to type. He keeps spraying flea powder on the keys. Alexis has been to the vet three times to get her stitches replaced. The third time she came home with a big plastic collar on her neck. She looked like a dog from outer space. It upset me a lot, it still upsets me just thinking about it. I attacked her and tried to rescue her from the collar. It got pretty noisy and some fur was in the air. I tore the collar up pretty good, it has a lot of teeth marks in it. The humans separated us and took the collar off of her. They tried to protect the stitches by wrapping her leg heavily with bandages with a layer of duct tape on top of it all to keep her from pulling out the staples. That allowed us to become friends again. The collar was laying on the floor near my favorite nap place, I could not bring myself to go near the hated plastic collar.

The humans watched Alexis closely for a few days to make sure she did not open up the incision, then they relaxed, she managed to tear off the new bandage shortly after they replaced it and she pulled the stitches out again. They took her to the vet, only this time the vet decided that she had healed pretty well and she did not need stitches again.

Our kennel cough is getting better, it is almost a week since we started taking our pills, we only cough once or twice per day. My energy is returning, the cough took a lot of energy away. We still have four more days of pills.
Alexis has perked up a lot more as well. She now chases the squirrels pretty hard. Bella and Alexis keep the squirrels running from tree to tree in the back yard. She is not allowed in the pool until her stitches heal completely and she misses her morning swim. She loves to lay on her back and kick her legs in the air. She does this several times a day, it is funny to watch. She even bounces on her front legs in "play invite".

I miss my swims, the humans don't want anydog in a pool until Alexis is better. They did not tell me not to get into the fish pond. Yesterday when it was very hot I had to cool off and since the pool was off limits, I jumped into the fish pond. When I came into the house they yelled at me that I was not supposed to get in the pool, Alexis might follow me in. I told them they were wrong, I did not get in the pool. They smelled me and they agreed, I had not been in the pool. They took me into the pool to clean off and get the fish smell washed away. I wish the would make up their mind. They don't want me in the pool until I get into the fish pond, they when I get into the fish pond they want me to get into the pool to wash off.

Alexis is now ready to go to her forever home. She still has some healing to do, but that is easy. She has a few days of pills to take for her cough and we can send those with her. The problem is that Alexis thinks she already has her forever home. She has settled in, she took over one of the dog beds, she has her own food bowl, her own leash, and she has free run of the house and yard. She knows the cats by their first names and she knows the squirrels by their chatter. She does not see any need to move. We have explained that she has to go to a forever home so that another foster dog can come to live with us, she says the foster can just go to that other home we keep telling her about. She said that if it is that wonderful of a home, the new foster dog can go directly there. We think she will like her new home once she gives it a try, but she is not too keen on trying it.

We have not heard if there is a firm adoption yet, but we should hear soon if she has a new home. Keep reading, we will update it as soon as we hear.

Mogley G. Retriever

Another day, Another pill

Alexis and the human went to the vet this morning. I did not get to go, they have the best dog treats there. I told Alexis to bring some back, she will eat them, I know her. She told me that the vet did not even let them in the clinic. They drove up to the back door, the vet wheeled out a clean up kit and stitched her up right in the truck. They did not want kennel cough inside. She said that she had some treats and somehow they got lost on the way home. Sure!

We have been in e-mail contact with someone that wants to adopt Alexis. It sounds like a wonderful home for her. She would live in Wyoming, lots of wide open spaces, mountain trails to hike, streams to wade in, wildlife to chase, miles of open space to run in without your leash, and her very own dog door so she can come and go as she likes. What more could any dog ask for? It proves that dogs do not have to die to go to heaven. The people did not say what brand of doggy treat they would be giving her. Humans always forget the important things.

I came running in the house while the evening news was on, the news was that I was wet and dripping all over the floor. You know that "bad dog" routine? You know, the shaking of the finger, the stern voice? That is what I had to put up with. They shoved me out the door and locked the dog door again. I am a sick dog, don't they know they are supposed to treat me carefully?

We did get extra treats tonight. We had several extra pills to take and we had peanut butter with each one. Bring on the pills.

When we checked Alexis' leg and she had an open wound, she had taken out the stitches again. Maybe this time when she comes back from the vet tomorrow she will remember to bring me some treats. Maybe she will have one of those collar things on and we can laugh at her.

Bella is just laughing at us. She has not caught the cough, she has no stitches. She still thinks she is the queen.

Mogley G. Retriever

Kennel Cough

We have never had any problems before. It turns out that it takes a few days for Kennel Cough to appear. Alexis has been here for 7 days now, and she started coughing yesterday morning. Now I am going to catch it, I started coughing this morning. We will get medicine to take, I hope its the kind of pills that you take with peanut butter.

When we were westling today the stitches pulled out of the place where Alexis had a fatty tumor cut off her leg when she went to the vet. Now we will have to go to the vet tomorrow and get her stitches replaced, but we can't go in the clinic with her coughing, Kennel Cough is very contagious. So we don't know what will happen. Alexis was just starting to feel better and she was running more as the new pills helped her knees feel better.

The humans locked me out of the house for most of the day today. If I go in the pool quietly enough, they don't know I am wet util I am in the house. If I make noise when I swim they rush to shut the dog door before I can sneak in to dry off on the couch.

I will let you know how we do with our cough.
Mogley G. Retriever

Alexis and Company

Today was a good day for all of us. Alexis is feeling better today. With pills for her bad knees, she tried to run in the back yard. The human had to put a leash on her to keep her from running and hurting herself before she heals. It is really good to see her improve so much.

We received a comment from a person with an application in to adopt Alexis, they live in Casper Wyoming. It sounds like a nice person, a nice family and a very nice place. We spend time in Wyoming, our humans have a home up in the mountains near Buffalo. We enjoy going up there so much. We are allowed to run without leashes, no fences, just space to be a dog. There are forests, streams, vast plains, horizons that go on forever. We can smell new things on every bush and sniff breezes with odors you will never smell in the city. We hope it works out, it is a Golden dream to be a dog where there is freedom to be a dog, and have the love of a family. They did mention taking long walks, Alexis has knees that won't let her walk too far at a time, even with her new pills.

We have a team at GRRR that evaluates humans and dogs. They seek to make the perfect match. It is their decision which person will be the best forever home for each dog. We have not heard from the match makers yet.
Mogley G. Retriever

A trip to the vet

Monday morning we took Alexis and Sophie over to see the Doctor. According to the history we were given on Alexis, she had never been to a vet, had never had any shots. When we arrived the first thing the nurse did was take their history. Sophie was easy, she was pretty current on her shots and she had no known problems. They were weighed. Sophie was only 45 pounds. Alexis weighed 83 pounds, which is a lot for her height. She should weigh about 68 pounds. They are really going to have to cut back on the treats for her.

When we arrived back at the clinic to get them late that afternoon, both Alexis and Sophie were pretty sleepy. Sophie had been tranquilized so they could clean out the huge plugs of goop in her ear channels. Her ears looked fine from a normal inspection, but way down at the bottom they were plugged up. She was still groggy from that and she walked funny on the leash, swaying back and forth, she looked like a sailor on a Saturday night.

Alexis was very quiet. They decided to spay her, so she has a couple stitches we have to watch. Close inspection of her back legs disclosed that her knee joints are weak and her front left shoulder is not strong. That explains why she does not run hard like the rest of us. The Doctor said she has pain from her joints. They gave us some pills to make her joints feel better.

Sophie and Alexis were both so sleepy that they had to be lifted into the car. They slept most of the way home. We dropped Sophie off at her house where she woke up long enough to grab some toys away from Emma and Piper. When Alexis arrived home she went to sleep under the humans feet. When dinner time arrived, she did not want to eat dinner. They gave her her pain pill with some peanut butter and some water to wash it down. Alexis slept very well all night long.

In the morning, Alexis was really hungry, she enjoyed her breakfast. We both had our morning peanut butter pills. After a few minutes when the pain pill too effect, Alexis became a new girl. She wanted to chase the squirrel, before she had watched it closely but she did not run after it. Those pills must be great stuff. She is still sleeping a lot, and she is not allowed to run for a few days. She is on the way to a better life now that we know how her joints are and she has pills to make them better.

It will be a few days before we worry about finding her a new home, she needs to rest up and heal a little more. Then she will be ready to come to your house and play.

Mogley G. Retriever

Alexis in the Olympics

Well, maybe Alexis will not make the Olympic team this year, but she is trying hard to be a competitive swimmer. Below is a picture of her in the pool taking some lessons on her breast stroke technique. She is rapidly becoming a water dog.
Two wet dogs, Alexis and Mogley drip dry beside the pool.
Below, Alexis gets some chin scratching as enticement to join the fun in the pool.
The end of a tiring day. Swimming and running can wear a dog down.
The humans daughter came by today. After meeting Alexis she asked "You are not going to give her up, are you?" Alas, she is just here until we can find her a new forever home. She has an appointment with the vet Monday to make sure she is in good health and to get her shots updated. Then we will be looking for a new forever home for this wonderful lady.

You may go to the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies web site and fill out an application to have Alexis as your best friend for life. Just click on the link on the left side of my blog.

Mogley G. Retriever

Alexis the water dog!

Alexis went swimming yesterday shortly after she arrived from the pound. She ran into the pool just following me as I went in. She did not know what the pool was and she had never been swimming before. It scared her a little. Today when my human and I went swimming, we looked around and Alexis was following us across the pool. She has turned out to be a very good swimmer and she kept following us in. She says it is fun and once she got over her fear, it was fun. It is a low impact way to excercise, Alexis thinks it will be an enjoyable way to lose weight. Boy are we going to have fun now. We did not get any pictures because the human was in the pool with us. We will get pictures of Alexis swimming tomorrow when we play again.

Mogley G. Retriever

More Alexis

It is now day two for the visit of our new foster, Alexis. Alexis was turned in by her humans to the shelter. It was full so Golden Retriever Rescue had to get her out of their fast. So now she is living with us. We have taken some pictures so that everyone can enjoy her. She is a very quiet, mellow girl. She is looking for a new forever home, her last forever home turned out to be for less than forever. She can't understand why her family abandoned her, she is really a loving, well mannered, obedient golden. If you have room in your heart or in your house, go to the Golden Retriever Rescue web site by clicking on the link to the left of this blog.

This is a photo of myself (Mogley) and Alexis. We are taking a break from playing. Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for being a lover of Goldens.

Mogley G. Retriever

Alexis comes to visit! Sophie too!

We have a new foster dog at our house. Alexis (Alex for short) was in the shelter, she had been surrendered at age 9 to the pound. Her family was moving and did not want to take her along. She was devastated, she had tried to be a good dog, she sat when told, she walked on the leash without pulling, she did not take food from the table. She even fetched tennis balls when ever someone would throw them. But at age 9, she was placed in doggy jail, by her own family! She was confused, scared, and her entire world was gone. Nine years of being a best friend, a buddy and a member of a family, all gone in moments. Instead she found herself on a cold concrete floor surrounded by chain link fence, barking dogs and people that did not have time to give her a tummy rub or a head pat. Golden's love with all of their heart, now that heart was broken. This is the reality of abandoning an older dog.
Below is the first picture of Alexis after her bath.
We don't know the circumstances that caused this to happen, but it happens too often. A disposable society does not have room for the totally unqualified love of a dog for his human family. A family buys new drapes and wants a new dog that matches them. Sometimes it is for a good reason, an older couple have to move to a nursing home. A widower has health problems that make it impossible to walk or exercise a younger dog. But too many have no reason, the dog is abandoned just because the family seeks change.

When Alexis arrived from the kennels, the humans took special care in introducing us. To introduce Bella, Alexis and I, my family took all three of us for a walk in the park together, keeping a tight grip on the leashes to make sure we were all right together. After an introduction on neutral ground, we were turned loose in the house, then taken to the back yard. I jumped into the pool to show Alexis the water, she followed me right in and immediately panicked. Her surrender papers said she was an apartment dog, she obviously had never been in deep water before. She scrambled out and then looked back to see what had happened. I thought she was scared of me and for a moment after I came out of the water, we had a brief tiff. Now I know she had never been in water before and following me in blindly scared her.

Since she was already wet, the humans gave her a shampoo to clean her up. In the kennels it is hard to keep clean and she was definitely not clean. She loved the attention of being scrubbed and dried. Then they brushed her as she dried. They got enough fur off of her that they may knit a new dog from the fur. Below is a picture of her in her afternoon nap, sleeping "frog style".

Alexis is a little overweight, and she tires out easily. She has not been getting enough exercise. We will change that in a hurry. She does love to run and play, but she has not played with many dogs before, she is slow to understand how to play. She says that she did not get to go play with other dogs and she is unsure how to relate to them. I told her just to relax and we will teach her everything about playing that she needs to know.

We will update her story tomorrow after she has had a chance to settle in and get acquainted. We hope you will help her find a new forever home where she can give all of her heart to a human without her heart being broken.

But wait, that is not all. Piper and Emma have a new foster sister as well. Sophie came to live with them until a forever home can be found for her. She is 18 months old, her owner could not care for her due to his health. He felt terrible about turning her over to us, and she felt terrible about leaving him in a time that he faces a long recovery. At a time like that, the human needs the love of a dog. She understands why she is in a foster home and she is making the best of it by playing non-stop with Piper and Emma. Piper and Sophie are the same age, so they are having fun, fun, fun. I will update her story as well as she seeks her forever home.

If any of you know of a human that needs a dog, let me know. I know two wonderful dogs that need humans.

Mogley G. Retriever

Lap Dog!

I am now officially a lap dog. No, not a dog that sits on peoples laps, I am a dog that swims laps in the pool! After I completed my swimming lessons I have been practicing every chance I get. In the photo below I am going to rescue a swimmer that is obviously in trouble.

I am going to work on my life saving qualifications. In the photo below I am pulling a swimmer to the shore by grabbing their swim float. I have a hard time throwing a life ring like the real life guards, but I can take a swim float to them.

Being a water dog is a lot of fun. I start the day with a short swim. Then the humans lock the dog door, they want to keep me out side when I am wet. Is that a way to treat a clean dog? At least I will have a nice cool summer, no matter how hot it gets. If any of my golden retriever friends want to stop by and swim, we can have fun.

Mogley G. Retriver

Ellie has a Home

Ellie has a new home. We don't have many details on the new home, we had to leave town for a few days. We turned Ellie over to another foster family who took her to her new forever home. From what we know, she has a wonderful home and she will be a very happy and lucky puppy. The picture below shows Ellie and I saying good by.
We went up to the summer home in Wyoming to pack it up. The human decided to sell it, and when an offer came in he had to run up and pack up the old home. So we spent a few days in the high mountains with the trees and the wild deer. There were lots of stuff to pack and they ended up using several u-haul vans to move everything. The house had been in the family for several generations and it was full of old items. They had old saddles from the ranch, old pictures and furniture. They had old magazines from the 1930's-50's, they had old dresses, lots of hats, old steamer trunks and even veterinarian equipment. More stuff than you can name. Now the question is what to do with it all?

We are home again, but several more trips will be necessary. Riding in the car is fun, but riding for 8-9 hours at a time is not comfortable. We had to stop and rest several times. A few days in the mountains is fun, but we did not get a chance to play very much. Everyone was working too hard packing and cleaning up the old house.

Mogley G. Retriever

Adventures with Ellie, Part 3

We had fun last night, all three of us went to the concert in the park. There were hundreds of people there, some stopped by to pet us as we played together on the grass. We had a good time listening to music and watching the children running on the grass.


The picture above shows that Ellie has no toys to play with and this is why you need to rescue her from her foster home and give her a forever home with lots of toys and love.

t is the time that we dread, time to write about Ellie so we can find a forever home for her. Ellie has been a very, very fun playmate and we think she is pretty wonderful. She learns very fast, it took only two minutes to teach her to sit when the humans first started working with her. She found out how to come in through two dog doors in only minutes as well, she is still having trouble getting out the dog doors, but that will improve with practice. She eats politely; at our house everyone has to wait until all are served before anyone can eat, Ellie waits patiently, sitting with her tail beating the floor. When it is treat time, she sits in a row with the rest of us, each getting a treat in turn. The cats like her, she has not shown any interest in antagonizing them, they in turn feel no concern in walking by her in the hallway. She walks well on the leash. She is a little weak on responding to "Ellie, Come", but she does respond. She is learning commands very easily and she will be very easy to train. She responds to treats and to praise equally. Both work well to motivate her.


Her disposition is very relaxed. She is not a rowdy puppy, she is very calm and quiet. She does not have the 6 month old puppy destructive tendencies. She likes being with people and is a good lover of humans. She barks only when necessary, that is when someone is at the door. No barking just for attention. The humans say the best part is that she does not chew vigorously. She has not chewed on anything that was not a dog toy. Even dog toys get careful treatment compared to what Bella and I do to them. Your furniture and keepsakes are not at risk with Ellie.


We think Ellie would be a wonderful addition to a family that wants a young dog they can train, but they are afraid of the typical exuberance and excessive playfulness of most young dogs. Her time in the dog pound seems to have taken the high energy out and replaced it with a calm and relaxed approach to life. She is more of a philosopher than an athlete or warrior. She would be a wonderful addition to any family. We love her and we hope she gets a wonderful home, yours perhaps?


Try going to the GRRR web site and see Ellie's profile. Then fill out and application and give this wonderful puppy and forever home. Go to http://www.goldenrescue.com/, go to Adopt/Available Dogs, then click on available dogs in the first sentence. Read about Ellie and many other homeless dogs that need your help to get out of "Doggy Jail".


Mogley G. Retriever

Adventures with Ellie, Part 2

Last night we brought home Ellie, our new foster sister. She was rescued from a very bad shelter by the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies. The volunteers snatched her away and sent her on a long car ride to Golden Colorado where we picked her up. We get to give her a home until we can find the perfect forever home for her. She is not a pure breed Golden, she has something else in her blood line. Mary thinks it may be Collie, others think it is Shepherd. Whatever it is she has a very cute face, expressive eyes and ears, and a beautiful coat. She is a whitish-tan with golden ears. We have a cat her color, it is called a flame point Himalayan. She is only 5-6 months old and still pretty small. She has a lot of energy and plays quite well. She is a very fun girl and we think she will be a great companion for someone.

Last night when she arrived she was still pretty tired, hungry and a little uncertain about her surroundings. She had dinner and went to bed. She had picked up some bad manners somewhere, she kept trying to crawl into the bed, one house rule is that there are several dog beds, only one people bed with no dogs allowed. Once that rule was established everyone slept well. This morning she woke up early and we all went outside for a romp before breakfast.

After romping for a while, Ellie decided to take a wade in the swimming pool. Then she followed us through the dog doors back into the house. That was the fastest anyone has ever mastered the dogs doors. We had a peaceful breakfast, each of us kept to hour own bowl. She even shared her special puppy food with me. Boy does her food taste good. Then we ran and played again before our morning naps. After we woke up the human gave us each a rawhide chew toy. That is the good thing about having a new puppy in the house, the humans know that puppy's like to chew so they give us extra chew toys to protect the furniture. The bad news about a new foster friend in the house is that the humans do not take us out to run in the big dog park until they are sure the foster will come back when called.

That is all for now, stay close to keep up on our adventures.

Mogley G. Retriever

Adventures of Ellie

Ellie has come to stay with us and be our foster dog until Golden Retriever Rescue finds her a Forever Home. She is only 5 or 6 months old, still quite small, mostly white coat but she has golden ears, and she is soooooooo cute! She is a real human lover and spends a lot of time trying to snuggle up to the humans in the house. Bella and I are letting her get away with it because she has been through a lot and we like her a lot. Here is a picture of us as we are leaving the Rescue Kennels, waving good by to Mary and starting Ellie towards a new life.

I will be writing more later today, we had an exciting first evening and morning together. Wait until you read all of the fun we had. Watch for the next news flash! In the meantime you may click on this link and go to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies to see more pictures, find out more about her and other homeless dogs. http://www.goldenrescue.com/available.html

Mogley G. Retriever

A Foster Sister!

Mary sent us an e-mail asking if we had room at our house for a nice little girl. We e-mailed back that we did. This evening we drove across town and picked up Ellie at the shelter. We are still getting acquainted with her, but so far she is a very nice room mate. She is only 5 months old. She is full of puppy energy and she plays very well. Mary told us she is part collie and part golden. She is very white, with tan ears. I will tell you more after we have time to get acquainted. After two hours its bed time and we will have to go to sleep soon. I just could not contain my excitement about having another foster golden stay with us while we search for the perfect forever home. Tell your friends to get ready to fall in love and adopt this little girl, she is still a puppy, but she is learning her manners, she is very cute and has a loving disposition. Boy will it be easy to find a forever home for her. You will want to put your name on the waiting list.

I will write more tomorrow and have some pictures too!

Mogley G. Retriever

Swimming Lessons

Early Sunday morning I was playing along the edge of the pool. Suddenly I fell in the pool. Instead of swimming to the steps to get out, I tried to climb out the side, finally the human grabbed me and pulled me out. That convinced him that it was time for swimming lessons. He said that I had to learn to swim to the steps where I could walk out.

In just a short time (in dog minutes) my step grand sisters arrived to take part in the lessons as well. Piper and Emma said it sounded like a fun idea to them. The humans wanted us to learn how to swim to the steps so we could walk out of the water. They threw balls and even held treats out to motivate us to get in and out of the water. Piper did not swim well at first, she paddled with her front feet but her rear legs just hung in the water. With Pipers thin hair she looked like a wet otter in the water. Soon we were all swimming and playing in the water. Bella and Emma did not like swimming, they preferred to lay in the sun.


Above, Piper and I swim while Emma and Bella give us tips on how to stay dry. It was sure a fun day. Now I know how to go swimming when ever I want to. It is going to be a wonderful summer.

Mogley G. Retriever

Exciting Week End

It has been such an exciting week end that I will have to write about it in several blogs. Saturday morning Piper and Emma came over, we all jumped into the big car and we drove down to the big dog park. Five miles of open fields, streams and woods. We saw horses and lots and lots of other dogs.

Then we came to the river. It is not as big a river as it was when the snow was melting earlier, but it is still a fun place to run and romp. The humans took a lot of pictures and I wanted to share them with you. It is so much fun to run and play in the shallow water with your friends. Several other dogs came by but they were not water dogs, they just stood on the bank and watched us.




To get to the clean stream we have to go by the dirty, muddy swamp. When we left the swamp we were black dogs. When we arrived home we were still wet, very muddy and messy. We went right to the back yard and we had baths. All four of us were wet again, but clean. In the hot dry air, we dried off very quickly, all of us except Emma. Emma has an extra heavy coat and she stays wet for a long time. We had naps then woke up for some more play. When Emma and Piper finally went home, Emma was still wet. All the rest of us had been dry for hours.

Dogs just want to have fun!

Mogley G. Retriever

Update on our Foster Friends

We received a message from the nice family that took in Dixie. We are so happy that she has a happy forever home. This is what makes fostering so worth while! Even though it was written by a human, it is still a good letter...


"You can tell Mogley and Bella that "Dixie" is doing magnificently! Yeah, she was a bit confused and skittish the first day at her forever home, but ever since, she's becoming a tighter part of the family with each day. Her first day with our family was pretty busy. After a full day of meeting a lot of people and dogs at GRRR, she got to attend a 12 year old baseball game. "Dixie" was a bit overwhelmed when approached by masses of people hoping to make her acquaintance, but she settled in nicely. Fortunately, there was a dog park at the ball field complex so "Dixie" got to loosen up a bit. Dixie was also happy to know that we've been caring for a Chesapeake/Lab (Layla) mix while her parents are out of town on an extended trip. Layla and Dixie quickly became friends and they've been playing sun up to sun down every day. They play an assortments of games each day from wrestling, to fetch to spirited games of tug-of-war. I've attached a few photos of some recent tugging contests.
Dixie does indeed have a lot of energy. But, she's no match for this family with three teenage boys and two active parents, all enthusiastic dog lovers. (More example pictures attached.) Her routine has included daily morning runs, and sometimes two morning runs, playing with the boys and Layla throughout the day and an evening obedience walk. In the mix has been some off leash training at the local dog park. We're pleased to report that Dixie has become very refined in heeling, sitting and staying. Plus, she's now giving her paw upon command. She's a sharp, loving gal, and she's very eager to learn. And with all of the time she gets to spend in the park behind our home, she's meeting a lot of new dog and human friends along the way.


Rest assured that Dixie is getting a lot of love and a lot of exercise. While we know she misses her friends, those friends should be happy to know that Dixie has found herself a very loving and caring forever home. Her personality continues to emerge with each day, and that personality includes the fact that she is a snuggler. We are THRILLED to have her as a part of our family. Thank you for taking such great care of her in preparation for many years of love and affection in our home. We hope to reunite Dixie with all of her friends at the GRRR reunion later this summer.

Below: Dixie is a snuggler!

Playing hard can really wear a girl out!

Boring Life

It has been very boring the last few days. Just Bella and I to play together. The human says we are just laying around, we don't do anything. He says we are just depressed because we lost our friends. He took us to the big park to let us run off leash to see if exercise would help. It did help, we were wild dogs for several hours, then we were lazy again. We miss our friends Dixie and Thelma. We have not heard from them since they went to their new forever homes. We hope they are doing well. We gave them my e-mail address, I hope they check in soon.

We hope another foster dog will be placed with us soon. In the meantime the human takes us everywhere in the car, trying to keep us busy and keep us from getting in trouble. We got to run in the water down at the stream, the river is nice and clear now, the spring run off is over, so we came home clean dogs after playing. The human forgot his camera so we will go again tomorrow to take pictures.

Mogley G. Retriever

Two Forever Homes

Thelma and Dixie both went home to their new Forever Homes today. I have several pictures of us having a three way tug-o-war before Thelma and Dixie left to go to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies to meet with their prospective new humans.

The best tug toy is still the old rope with knots tied every foot all the way down it. It allows several of us to get a good hold for a wild game of tug-o-war. No matter how hard we tug we can not hurt it.

These are our last photos of Thelma and Dixie before they left. Both of them have new homes that sound wonderful. We hope they will keep in touch with us, we will miss them a lot but we are very happy they now can move forward to enjoy the rest of their lives.

Good Luck to Thelma and Dixie and thank you to the humans that came forward. Only two families could take them home, but several others came to meet them and wish them well.

Thanks again to all who help find homes for homeless dogs, thank you to those who help run the "no-kill" shelters and rescue groups all over the country.

Now we are waiting for our next foster guests to arrive.

Mogley G. Retriever

Fathers day surprise

Don't tell the human but his puppy's have a surprise for him. He says he does not want any more "stuff" for Fathers day, so they are planning on giving a donation in his name to Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies. That is a great gift for all of us homeless dogs. All they have to do is click on the link on the left of my blog.

We all went to the big park for a run yesterday. Dixie had to drag her leash and it was a good thing. She did not come back well, she got so excited with the big park and all the other dogs to run with that she just ran and ran, not away from us, she kept close, but she did not come back well. So he grabbed her leash and made her walk with him. Thelma did wonderful off leash, she kept within just a few feet of the rest of us at all times. Dixie will do better next time, she just has to learn to stay with the pack.

If you are wondering what to give your father for Father's day, give a gift to the local shelter or rescue, he will love it and some homeless dog will love it too.

Mogley G. Retriever

Rainy Day Dogs

It has been raining for the last two days. Four energetic dogs playing in the house is making the humans a little nervous. They keep yelling at us to go outside. We go outside then they yell at us when we come in wet. Why can't humans make up their minds? Finally they take us for a ride to try and calm us down. The big park was too muddy, the human would not let us out to run in the mud, that would have been fun. All we have to show for a rainy day is these pictures of us in the car. Thelma tried to peek out but she could not find space in the window very often. Thelma is on the left, I am in the middle, Bella is on the right.
Below, Bella has shoved Thelma out of the window, Bella is on the left, I am in the center, Dixie is on the right.
My human says that the hardest thing in the world to do is to pet one dog. He has a point, when he tries to pet one of us, the other three push in to get their share. He has to pet all of us or we get into a fight.

Saturday is going to be an active day. We have several people that want to meet Thelma and Dixie, maybe one of them will be an ideal Forever Home. If nothing else, we will get to spend a day at the Golden Retriever Rescue center playing with other dogs.

Wish Thelma and Dixie luck and hope they find a wonderful Forever Home. We already are feeling bad about losing them, it is a lot of fun to have them here.

Mogley G. Retriever