The rest of the Story

Photo above, Chase.
Sometimes we lose track of our foster brothers and sisters when they leave our care and go to a new home. Chase was such a beautiful and fun Golden brother. We played well together and we enjoyed each others company. We were sad to see him leave with "Bear", we went out the front driveway to say good by as he jumped up in the car to go to his new forever home. We could not stay sad for long because Kiah came into our home almost immediately. If you read my blog you have read about both of them. What we did not tell you is the next chapter in both of their lives. Below is Chase and I, still wet from the pool.

A week later we had a call from the Rescue Placement Office. They asked if Kiah could come by and meet a prospective new forever home? When we arrived at Rescue, we were surprised to see Chase back at rescue. Chase is a beautiful, large 9 month old Golden Retriever. Full of energy and always looking for new fun.

Chase had learned a new trick at his new home. He had learned to play keep away with the humans artificial leg. He had also learned that when she was wearing it he could grab at it (after all, it was a toy) and trip her. She fell when he was trying to take the leg away as she was walking on it. The reason Chase was placed with "Bear" was that Chase needed exercise, "Bear" also needed exercise and Chase was to be the motivation to keep them both active. They had bonded and were a wonderful pair, except for his playfulness and his love of the game "keep away". His playfulness could mean severe injury to her at some point, not to mention the problems she had chasing him across the floor to get back her leg with him running away with it. Chase had become the perfect. lovable, anti-helper dog. But we do know he is appropriately named.

We were at the Rescue to see if Kiah would be a better fit in this home than Chase. Kiah made an instant impression with "Bear", Kiah was the same size and had the same looks as the dog she had recently lost. Kiah's birthday was even the same date as her prior dog's birthday had been. The meeting was an instant success. Kiah was 4 years old and had settled down. Kiah was not a "toy hound" that obsessed with toys and games. Kiah was a mellow girl that thrived on attention but was not big on the whole play thing. Kiah had found her new home. Amid tears of sorrow for having to surrender Chase, there was also joy at the adoption of Kiah into a forever, forever home. Below, Kiah, the happy face.

But what about Chase? If you read my blog you know that we came home with a new foster that day, Autumn, not with Chase. When Chase had gone home with "Bear", there was already a waiting list for him, several people had read his story and had asked for him. They needed to be approved for an adoption, their homes had to be visited to make sure they could provide a proper home for an energetic Golden. Approval takes time and while they were waiting, Chase went home with "Bear". They were now approved and patiently waiting for another dog, when Chase reappeared on the scene.

While Chase was on his way back to the rescue offices, phone calls were being made to the list of waiting families. The rush was on to see who could be the first to meet Chase and take him to a new forever home. Chase now has a new home where he plays keep away with lots and lots of tennis balls and he has kids that can run with him.. He is now in a home where he can play keep away with appropriate items, and his energy can be channeled.

We don't know if he has a large toy shaped like a leg, but that may be a good idea for some dog toy maker to market. It may not be a best seller, but I do know someone that would buy one. This is one of the very few times that a placement has come back, but we can certainly understand why and we are glad that the story has a happy ending for all.

So now you know the rest of the story!

Mogley G. Retriever

A Duck Fixation

My human must have a duck and tennis ball fixation. We have many different ducks for me to play with. Here are some pictures of some of the ducks he bought for me. He brought me a rubber duck. He thinks its funny to see me play with a tiny toy like this. I was pretty young when he took this pictures. Ducks are tough! Even Bella and I can not pull it apart. They are sure good to play tug-o-war with. This was our Christmas Duck.

This is my second Christmas duck, the first one did not last long.

I took better care of this duck, I even slept with it for several days before I killed it.

Below, my human tried to fool me with a fake duck in the pool. It did not take me long to find out it was fake. he can't fool me. I have seen real ones when we go to the lake.

Ducks and Golden Retrievers just go together!

Now he is going to buy me a pheasant to fetch. We have twenty tennis balls, but he keeps buying new toys. I think it is time to go to the range and let me fetch the real thing.

Mogley G. Retriever

One year ago!

This is embarrassing. The humans found some photos of me when I first came home with them in July of last year. I was not even 7 months old yet but I was already very handsome. The toy in front of me did not last through the night, I destroyed it!

It was also a year ago that I went to the Golden Retriever Rescue Reunion Picnic. We have another one coming up soon. Isn't this fun? I hope all of the rescue dogs will come back for our annual reunion this year.

These are not only all (or mostly) Golden Retrievers, but they are rescue dogs, or family's of rescue dogs. Homeless dogs that have been given new homes and new lives.

I was cold, wet, a little scared and I sat in the only available chair where I could get warm. It was my first trip out to a GRRR event. I did not know there were that many dogs in the whole world. I sure did have fun, I swam with the big dogs and played with everyone until I was too tired and cold to continue on. Just wait till this year's picnic, I can now swim twice as good as I could last year.

Mogley G Retriever

Foster Friends

My human asked me how many foster Golden's we have taken into our home this year. It is over 10, but it is hard to keep track. Some of our Golden friends have spent less than 24 hours with us before going to a forever home, some spent 3 weeks before they could be placed. If they need medical care or they have a behaviour problem, it takes longer for them to move on with their lives. When Kennel Cough came into the house we had to stop everything until it could be cured.

Here are two of the special friends that we enjoyed this year. The human says that he could have permanently kept any of the foster visitors and each one leaves a wonderful memory behind. Thinking back on our foster siblings, a very special one was Thelma, below.If you remember, Thelma and Louise were made "Honorary Golden's" after they were picked up running free on the desert in New Mexico. We had to get them out of a high kill shelter quickly, so we forged Golden Retriever Certificates for them so they could enter the Golden Retriever Rescue system. We do that for a lot of dogs, that is why GRRR is so special, our volunteers go to a shelter to pick up a Golden and come back with several more dogs because they were on the shelters "short list".

Thelma and Louise were so bonded that to socialize them they were sent to different homes. Thelma was distinctive because she had to test her limits regularly. She would pick up a shoe and look at the human to see if she was going to get yelled at. She would start edging up to the table to see how far she could stretch across it without getting into trouble. She was quick to obey, she just had to test to see where the lines were. She had not spent time in a home before and she needed to learn the limits. Thelma needed exercise every day or she would start getting into things. If she was tired she would be a perfect dog. If she was fresh, she would look for trouble.

Daisy, above, was the opposite. She knew the limits, she just became to excited and to exuberant to worry about them. She behaved beautifully, never did anything bad, but she bounced off of walls with her play. She played until she had to drop and sleep, then she would wake up and play some more. If she picked up something she was not supposed to it was only to get attention and force the human to chase her to get it back. She needed action!

Each of the 12 Golden's had a very distinct personality, distinct combination of size, coat, color and face. The human says that if all of them were lined up he could pick them out. He thinks if he could just watch them play he could pick them out by temperament.

That is why it is important that the match team understand both the prospective home and the homeless dog to make a good match. We need to make sure you understand that each dog is an individual. We may all look golden, but we are all individuals. That is why GRRR uses foster homes instead of chain link runs. We are all in need of a home where we can be ourselves.

Mogley G. Retriever

Kiah, one last look

This is our last picture with Kiah as we leave to take her to her new forever home. I am on the left, then Bella with Kiah trying to squeeze out to look.

The following are pictures that were taken when Kiah, Bella and I went to the big dog run In Cherry Creek State Park. It is our last outing with Kiah before she went to her forever home. Isn't she a lovely and fun foster sister? Have a wonderful life, Kiah.

Mogley G. Retriever

Kiah today, gone tomorrow

Introducing Kiah our new Foster Sister.

Kiah quickly earned the nickname of "Happy Face".

Thursday evening Bella and I were at the concert in the park, two humans and two Golden's were laying on the grass listening to the music. Everyone that passed by stopped to pet us. Children even brought their parents by to pet us. We were having a good time. Bella and I were the best Golden Retrievers on the green. Then the humans cell phone rang. It was Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, GRRR, calling to tell us that there was an abandoned golden in need of a foster home. Mogley to the rescue!


In less than two hours we were back with Kiah. Kiah is a four year old lady, she was the victim of a divorce, she had not done anything wrong, she had not chewed on any shoes. She had not stolen food off the table. She walked well on a leash and obeyed her commands when told to sit or stay. But she ended up in the rescue system because the broken home left no room in a tiny apartment for a dog, even a very, very good dog.


Kiah spent the first few hours laying in the front porch, watching the road, hoping her real family would come claim her back. Even when we called her in to dinner, she went right back to her vigil as soon as she was done.

As Kiah settled in with us we learned a lot about her. She had been a townhouse dog, without a yard to play in and few chances to interact with other dogs. She was very quiet, she did not rough house with Bella and I, she did not get rowdy when company arrived. Calm, collected and dignified would best describe her.

Below, Kiah, on the left, Bella on the right, and I wait for a treat for posing for our pictures.
The human wrote an e-mail to the rescue placement office telling them that Kiah was close to being a perfect dog. She did not chew on shoes even though she slept with the humans sheepskin bedroom slippers laying beside her paws. She was perfectly housebroken, she did not jump on people when they came to visit. She did not pull on the leash when walking. She did not bark at strangers on the sidewalk out front. She knew her commands and obeyed them.

She clearly had been loved and well cared for by her former owners. She missed them and she was anxious about the kind of home she would be sent to as her new Forever Home. She was so perfect that even before she appeared in my blog or on the Internet listing of available dogs, she had several people asking about her. There were several people on the waiting list who had asked about a special golden friend like her, the e-mail describing her was quickly forwarded to people on the waiting list.

Sunday we went to the big park for a run. It was the first time that Kiah had been allowed to run lose without her leash and she did enjoy it. The humans are careful, they make sure we come back when called before they take us to the big park, it is four miles square with forests, rivers and lakes. They make us drag our leashes while they make sure we come when called. Only then will they take the leash off and let us go full speed. It only took a short time before Kiah was running free. She was always good about responding when called and she was rewarded with more time to run free. We arrived home, tired, hot and dusty.

Back home a telephone call was waiting. The rescue placement team had found a match and Kiah was to meet a possible new forever home. It is a long way from our home to the rescue offices, but it is always worth the drive. I had taken a swim just before I was loaded into the car, by the time we arrived at the rescue I was dry.

Kiah was introduced to "Bear". Bear had lost her long time golden buddy and was still saddened by his passage. She needed another Golden Retriever to help her move on, it was a perfect fit, Kiah needed another human to help her forget her loved ones so she, too, could move on.

Kiah was with us for less than three whole days. We are happy to see her move on to a wonderful forever home, we are also happy that she went to someone we knew from prior Golden Retriever events.

Before we left the rescue, we were introduced to Autumn. Autumn is a 4 year old Golden who was surrendered after a divorce left her with no home. She spent the night in a chain link run at the rescue and she was anxious to have a warm, comfortable place tonight. We never leave a golden in a kennel, it is not the way to treat such wonderful friends, the goal is to have a foster home waiting for them. Sometimes there is a late night surrender or an unscheduled drop off that prevents a foster home from being found immediately. We drove over with Kiah, we came back with a new foster sister. I will tell you more about Autumn in another blog.

Now it is time to say goodbye to Kiah, we know we will see you at the Golden Retriever Reunion Picnics and the Golden Swim Party in the park. Kiah, you are a wonderful lady, we wish you a wonderful life, take good care of your new human for you were destined to be together. Someday I may write more about how the match came to be, it is a wonderful story itself.

Mogley G. Retriever

Retrieving Ducks

The resident human keeps trying to make me work for my room and board. First he makes me fetch the newspaper from the front driveway in the mornings. Then he makes me chase the squirrels and raccoons out of the yard. He makes me bark when people come to the door or walk by in the park. He litters the lawn with tennis balls and expects me to pick them up. As if that was not enough, he is now making me fetch ducks. He told me that my ancestors were hunting dogs who would retrieve ducks and pheasants from the fields and ponds. He threw a fake duck into the pool and told me to "fetch". I swam out, checked out the duck, sure enough, it was fake. So I told him to give me a real duck or he could fetch it himself.

He complained about my attitude. He says that my ancestors had to swim out in muddy swamps, in freezing cold to retrieve wild game. He said that I have it easy, I swim out in clean, 80 degree water. If it is so easy, why doesn't he do it? Humans, you can't please them and they are very hard to train. .

Mogley G. Retriever

Chase has a home

That was fast. Friday afternoon we picked up Chase at his home and brought him to our house as a foster dog to begin his search for a new home. Saturday afternoon a lady came to see him and Chase was gone. He has a wonderful new home, his new family recently lost their old golden and they are ready to love a new friend. In between, Chase had to spend the night with another blond lady named Vanilla. Vanilla and Chase played all night long, at 3:00 a.m. the humans had to get up, separate the two so the household could get to sleep.

Chase, we miss you and we wish you a long and fun life at your new home. Above is our last picture of Chase as he says goodbye to the pool on his way to a new home. Another wonderful dog is off to a wonderful life.

Mogley G. Retriever

Chase the Wonder Dog

Yesterday evening my humans slipped out without telling me where they were going. When they arrived back home they had a new foster friend with them. Chase is his name, playing is his game. He is a 9 month old male, full of energy and ready to play. He was surrendered to Golden Retriever Rescue because he played too rough with the three young children in the house and one child had very bad allergies. Chase and I got acquainted on a short walk in the park, then we all went into the back yard to run. It was a hot day, so I went for a swim and Chase, not knowing what a pool was, went right in with me. It scared him a little, when he came out he could not stand up, his thick coat was so full of water he fell down. All of the pictures below are with Chase being wet or damp, so his coat is not showing at his best. He has a magnificent white fluffy coat when it is dry and fluffy. We probably won't see him dry and fluffy again till he goes to his new forever home. The humans say that when he runs his coat shakes and he looks like a ballerina.

Some friends stopped by last night, Barkley, the pesky Pomeranian, Reba, a year old Golden, and Theo, an older lady. We all played far into the night. Barkley mixes it up with the big dogs and joins in the play times. Below, Chase, Bellla and I are playing on the living room floor early Saturday morning.
Chase is looking for a new Forever Home, if you are ready for him, he is ready for you. Contact Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies by clicking on the link to the left of the blog. Help this beautiful boy find a wonderful home! You may also donate on line to help this great bunch of volunteers. Wonderful people helping wonderful dogs!

Thanks,

Mogley G. Retriever

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