Good news, bad news.

We have an appointment for Duke to meet a prospective new home on Saturday morning. We know the prospective home is a former Golden owner, they lost their Golden and are seeking to find love again. We know they will be a good home. We will see if Duke likes them and if he wants to move in with them. He says he expects a nice soft bed. He likes a dog door, but if he does not have a dog door, then he gets to be waited on. Think about it. If you have your own dog door, the people expect you to come and go on your own. If you don't have a dog door, they get up and let you in and out. They have to wait on you. So dog doors are a mixed blessing according to Duke.

The bad news is that we had an emergency call to pick up an abandoned Golden at the local municipal pound. The pound has pens for night drop off of abandoned pets. This morning the cages had two St. Bernard's, two Labs, two Chihuahua mixes, and an old Golden boy. Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) called, they wanted us to get the Golden boy out of there immediately. They have holds on any Golden that shows up at a shelter, and an older Golden deserves to have a home, not a chain link run with a concrete bed. In this case, the paper work was not ready so we will pick him up as soon as the shelter will allow. Since the person leaving him did not leave any paper work, the shelter will keep him for a few days to make sure he really is abandoned and not some neighbors sick practical joke.

But this raises the question of why will people abandon their family pets in such a casual manner? Not one, but seven different dogs in one night alone. It turns out this is not unusual. All of the local municipal shelters have night drop off crates or pens. All of them find they are used regularly by people that want to "abandon and run". If they bring the pet in during the day, paper work can be done, a history can be taken, and the pet can be re homed immediately. By abandoning them so casually in the dark of night, the rules are the same with a stray dog picked up on the street, they have to hold them to give the owners a chance to claim them in case the owner did not abandon them.

So what is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with our attitude to our pets, what happened to that dog-human bond we hear so much about? It appears it is too often a one way street. Pushing your 10 year old Golden into a crate on a street corner at midnight is hardly the way a responsible owner should treat such a friend.

This is the new and modern way to end a friendship. Push your family friend of 10 years into a crate on a lonely street corner at midnight, then drive away, leaving no trace. Don't even leave him with his collar and tags, someone might trace him.

Ten years of devotion, gone in a moment. Those walks in the parks, those days of chasing balls on green grass, those evenings laying at your feet and looking at you with the devotion dogs have for their masters, all gone. Only memories, only memories.

Those of us that have warm homes and loving humans can not even imagine how anyone could do such a thing. But we learn that it is very common. Cross your paws for those poor abandoned pets. Ask your human to help, volunteer to help a local rescue. These lonely dogs deserve your help.

Mogley G. Retriever

p.s. The St. Bernard rescue will probably pick up the Saints, they work very hard. The Lab rescue is overflowing and it can not handle all of the abandoned Lab's that are currently in the shelters and pounds so the two labs will likely not get out soon and will join many more that are already in shelters everywhere. There is a downside to being the most popular breed of dogs, the price is paid by the individual Lab's that will never find a home. The small dog rescue has been contacted for their two. The GRRR organization keeps up but only by asking its members and volunteers to do more and more. We will look at the Labs and try to help them also. We keep adding more "Honorary Golden's" to our system. That is why we keep reminding you to volunteer, a dogs life does hang in the balance.