New Stories Coming Soon!  If you have adopted a dog from us and have a success story, please submit it to us.  Some of the pictures below may get larger by clicking on them.

February 2006:

Tucker...

February 8, 2006:

We were lucky enough to be chosen to adopt Tucker, aka 05-94. Following is our success story (It's kinda long and drawn out, but as I started typing I couldn't stop). If you need me to shorten it, please let me know, or if you want to edit it, please feel free:

On Sept 15, 2005, we lost our beloved soon to be 4 year old, Golden Retriever Max, to cancer. It was especially hard on me as we were extremely close (he even slept in our bed on my side). We got Max as a puppy 1 week before Christmas in 2001. Someone was selling Goldens on the side of the road and he was the last one left. My husband happened to drive by and saw him, paid the $100.00, brought him home and it was love at first sight. Our extended family has always had Goldens and we were thrilled to have him as he was our first. As it usually happens, my son SWORE to take the puppy out, feed him every day...etc. Anyway, we all know how that works out. So, Max and I went to obedience training at Rob Cary, and for months we had a date every night at 2 am to go potty. The rest is history...he and I bonded and he was officially named "Mommy's Doggie", and he totally lived up to his name.

To make a long story short, Max started acting lethargic on a Sunday...we took him to Dr. R, our vet on Monday. He went downhill from there...and after extensive tests to determine what was wrong, and an Internal Specialist that also had no clue as to what was wrong, we had to put him down less than 48 hours after the first symptoms. He went into heart failure before we could determine what was wrong. His doctors were stumped and so assisted us in getting a necropsy from TX A&M which came back with the diagnosis of hermangiosarcoma. This is a very fast acting cancer that usually attacks the pancreas first, THEN the heart. In Max's case, it showed no signs, and went straight to his heart. It all happened so fast that it seemed almost like a dream. I was traumatized so much that even I was surprised at the extent of my grief. I had such an emptiness that I truly felt like I needed another dog to help me heal, as all my love for Max had no outlet anymore.

I ran across the GRR website one day while searching for a breeder for a new puppy. At once we knew that this was we needed....we couldn't save Max so we wanted to save another Golden in need.

We were so impressed with your site, the dogs, the adoption process (I loved the fact that you would not give the dogs to just "anyone") that we knew this was the right thing to do. We were lucky enough to adopt Tucker and met some of your fabulous volunteers along the way...Nancy, who did our phone interview, Mike Chamberlain, who did our house visit, Cam Snyder, Tucker's wonderful Foster Dad, and Margo, our adoption coordinator.  Everyone was just great and others that deserve credit but I cannot recall their names.

In comes Tucker (aka "Tucker bug"), and the rest is history! We brought him home October 21, 2005 and the fun never ends! This little guy is soooo loving. Whenever we come home he grins like crazy (I have NEVER seen a dog grin like this one can) and we have to have at least a 10 minute kissing, and cuddling, and petting session before we do anything else. Sometimes I think we should have named him Shadow as he follows me around from room to room. While doing dishes or cooking, he lays right down on my feet and does not move unless I go to a different part of the kitchen and then he lays on my feet again. If your not careful, he will trip you, but we have just learned to walk around him. As I type this he is sprawled across my feet....such a wonderful "foot warmer" :-)

When he first came home, he was very skittish about being picked up or handled, even when we were just getting him in and out of the car, but now he doesn't even flinch! He is too short to get in the car or on the bed yet but he lets you help him without even raising an eyebrow now. He fits in with our 3 year old Dalmatian Zoe, and they are the best of friends! They play bitey head all day and chase squirrels. At night they snuggle on the couch together and when we go to bed they are both on the bed with us. He is growing by leaps and bounds and is becoming quite the handsome boy. Quite the student, he has learned to sit, stay, shake with both hands, high five with both hands, and down. And of course he expects his treat for all these tricks he can do, but more than often a big hug and a belly rub is all he needs. We take him in the Suburban with us whenever we can and loves to look out the window as we drive. He prefers to sit in the front seat so can lean over and sneak kisses from me at the stoplight. He fits in perfectly with our family, has the epitome of the Golden personality, and is adored by all that meet him, and is such a blessing for us. I consider him my own special "healer".

Thanks GRR for entrusting us with Tucker, rest assured he is spoiled, loved, cherished, adored, and living the life all dogs deserve.....and did I say spoiled? Please keep up the wonderful work, you are all truly Golden Angels!

Tracy, Michael, Tyler, Zoe, and Tucker
 

Hi again,

Forgive me for sending more pics but I had to show everyone the latest ones I took tonight. I would love to add these to Tucker's success story.

As you all know, Zoe is the Queen of the House, and that has been her position since Max died. The chair in the picture is her THRONE, and she takes that very seriously. No one is allowed to sit in her chair unless she is sharing it with us. Well, tonight Tucker decides that HE is going to sit in the throne....Zoe is not happy about that so she climbs up in the chair with him and at the same time is trying to nudge him out. Tucker doesn't budge, so she gives up and shares her throne with him (see how she is laying ON TOP of him?).......is that love or what?

The other pic is after Zoe successfully shoves him out of her throne. He then shares the couch with Tyler while he surfs....can you get more comfortable??

Thanks for letting me share....not everyone appreciates life with our four legged friends like you guys do!


Tracy

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Oakley...

Dear Friends at GRR,

I’ve been at my new home for a month now, so I thought I would send an update. For those of you who haven’t heard, I’ve gotten my name changed from “Oakley” to Joey. My parents figured that since I’m handsome, charming, and an all-around great buddy, they would name me after Joey on “Friends”. How you do’in?

I’m doing great! I live in Corpus now, and my forever family has a dad, mom, an 18-month-old girl, and three sister cats, who are all four years old. I love living with a little girl. She likes to play outside, which is fine with me! We play in the backyard a couple of times a day. Sometimes, she’ll carry a ball to the back door, and I’ll go over with my Kong ball, and we just give Mom that “Please? Please?” look until she takes us both out. We have a really cool playground in our neighborhood, and we go there almost every day. Mom got me a Chuck-it ball thrower, and she brings it to the playground, because there is a huge field there, and I can run really far to play fetch (remember how I love to fetch?). I have met a couple nice kids at the park, and they get really excited to watch me fetch. They all want to try the Chuck-it. And when they see me run or catch the ball in mid-air, they say things like “Cool dog!” and “I wish I had a dog like Joey!” This makes my mom and dad really proud. And the best thing about living with a toddler? The SNACKS! She drops tidbits from the table, and I’m allowed to clean them up. I’ve tried Cheerios, scrambled eggs, hamburger . . . one day, she dropped a whole Jell-O fruit cup! It was yummy, but hard to lick up. In exchange for her generosity, I have taught her two new words: “sit” (she says that to me a lot now) and “gog”. Okay, the last one is really “dog” - I am still helping her with the pronunciation.

It was a little rough with the cats at first. They had never lived with a dog before. The alpha cat, Daisy, hissed at me on my first night here. The next day, I growled at her. That sent her into hiding for two whole days! Since then, we have slowly but surely gotten closer to one another. We just granted each other nose-to-nose contact yesterday. Luckily, Lily and Rosie came around more easily. Mom says one day, she’ll probably find us snuggling up together. We’ll see about that.

We are working on the one bad habit I brought with me – defending my food. I used to growl whenever someone would touch me at mealtimes. My mom talked to a dog trainer about it, and they have been working on my feeding routine. I’ve had some growl-free meals already, and my folks are proud of my progress! I only barked at my little girl once, when she was shaking her dolly in my face. That made her cry, and I got a very harsh “no” from my dad, plus a time-out in the backyard. No more of those! I am quick to pick up on the new rules. I am so well-behaved – no jumping, no counter-surfing, no inappropriate chewing – that my parents have started letting me stay out of my crate when they go on short trips. But they have to make sure the bathroom door is closed, because I am very interested in those tub toys. Have you ever seen a rubber duckie? They are so bright and squeaky! But Mom and Dad say they are just for my little girl, not for me.

My family and I want to send great big thank you’s to our matchmaker, Jill, and to my foster parents, Julie and Todd. Thank you so much for helping me get here. My dad and mom say they are so lucky that I joined the family. They can’t believe I came so close to being put down at that shelter. Mom says I never have to worry about that again. I love having a forever family. I hope all of the “gogs” who still waiting find great homes like mine. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Love, Joey

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