Annual Picnic

Sunday was the annual Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies Reunion Picnic. If you were not in attendance, well, we warned you it would be fun, you missed out by not attending. Saturday we had a cold front move through Colorado and it rained hard, with temperatures in the high 50's. Very cool for this time of the year. Sunday dawned clear, but with fog and clouds hanging around until the sun was hot enough to burn them off.

Bella, Muffin and I were so excited, we started bouncing around the house as soon as the humans started putting on their travel cloths. We arrived at the picnic site early, we had talked the humans into volunteering to help set up so that we could be there to play sooner.

Below, a peaceful scene at the lake before the hoards arrive.

Our cousin, Emma, is not a big fan of swimming, she spent her day digging holes in the sand. She said it was some of the best digging she had ever had, and no one yelled at her. Several people fell into the holes she left behind. That is Muffin on the right, she saw the camera and did her "go hide under something" trick when she sees a camera.

When the guests started arriving, they were full of energy and there was a lot of running, splashing and general playing. What fun it is just to run and play with new friends.

Early in the day there was a lack of ball throwers. Lots of dogs to fetch, but no one to throw. They were all busy getting the food set out and the tents set up. Below, we are waiting for someone to get busy throwing balls. As more guests arrived, more ball throwers went to work. Mostly we did not care who threw the ball, just do it! We met dogs from three states, many of our friends drove long distances to attend and enjoy this special day.

The crowning event of the day is the Great Ball Toss. All of us had to line up on the shore and wait while the official ball throwers put out the tennis balls. Some of the balls had numbers on them and if you retrieved a numbered ball, you received a prize. Then they counted down and released the retrievers. Mostly we did not care about the prizes, there were balls floating everywhere, we grabbed whatever was floating and headed back to shore with it.

Below is a photo of me with my prizes. I found two numbered balls and I even got all the way to shore with them, then I handed them over to a human. They took the balls, exchanged them for gifts and I got to keep the gifts and the balls. I won a bag of treats, two bandannas for my neck and some note paper. I gave the note paper to the humans and I kept the treats. I may bury the bandannas before they make me wear them like some sissy dog.

Attendance was down from prior years, we only had about 150-200 dogs, compared to 200-300 in prior years. This was mostly due to the cold day on Saturday and the heavy fog and clouds early on Sunday morning. The day started out cold and cloudy but by noon the sun was out and it was a wonderful day at the lake. I did get cold, I had been in the lake for over five hours, they made me stand on the shore in the warm sun for a while after toweling me off. Then I went back in for a final romp. When I came to shore, I went looking for the keys to the car, I was ready to find a good place to nap.

If you count success by the tired smile muscles on the humans and the tails that wagged until they drooped from exhaustion, then it was a fantastic success. The humans said the food was great, Bella confirmed that, she spent the day prowling the food tent looking for clumsy humans holding flimsy paper plates. She had a very successful day, based on the snacks she cleaned up from the floor of the food tent.

The Golden Retriever Store was open and guests could find anything golden that they could ever want. Shirts, jackets, towels, note paper and even refrigerator magnets. If it had a Golden Retriever photo on it, they had it for sale. All to benefit homeless Golden's and help pay for the veterinarian costs of many of our abandoned friends.

You have already read that Muffin met several prospective families, she finally made her choice and went home to a wonderful new Forever Home. Thank you all for helping her find a perfect match. But I still have an important question, why do we have to wait a full year to enjoy another romp in a lake?

Mogley G. Retriever