A piece of me is missing

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · 14 Comments

Those who work in rescue know that bittersweet feeling that arises when certain dogs (or cats or whatever) move on to their forever homes. We’re delighted for them, of course, but there is a sense of loss too. It’s more than a fair trade though because they still maintain a place in our hearts. Yesterday it was Marshall’s turn to vacate his kennel at my house in exchange for much nicer digs with his new humans. I can’t tell his story better than Ogee so please visit her blog here for Marshall’s story. I suggest this reluctantly due to Ogee’s…

Lily

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · 5 Comments

Lily is one of our new guests at Homeward Bound. She’s delightful. She’s 12 years old, I think, and, as you can see, she’s carrying around a mass down below. But she’s a happy girl that loves everyone, and she zips around the yard with the energy of a younger dog. She’s the the kind of dog that makes you smile and can lift your spirits just by hanging out with you. She loves other dogs and cries and moans when she sees one she can’t get to. Last weekend she got to meet my foster, Scrappy, and they got…

Doing rescue can change you

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Homeward Bound Memorial Garden · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · 22 Comments

When I adopted my first Golden Retriever back in 2001 I was like most people. I wanted a young, healthy dog and paid little heed as the rescue adoption counselor explained the benefits of adopting an older dog. I wanted what I wanted and that was it. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that as there are many healthy, young dogs that need homes. But I had no idea of the changes to come when I started volunteering at Homeward Bound. I remember wondering during my first weeks there how we were going to get all these older dogs…

The Bradford leaves

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Homeward Bound Memorial Garden · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · 7 Comments

The Homeward Bound Memorial Garden has a couple of trees whose leaves turn a vivid red and gold in the fall. I’m told they are Bradford pears. Every year I try to capture their glory but my results never seem to match the spectacular reality. It seem to me that the Bradfords are the last trees to fully turn and ultimately free their leaves. Sometimes events accelerate the process. The shot above was taken two days ago on Saturday. On Sunday we were visited by a storm and the tree now looks … quite naked. No, little tree it’s not a…

Max flips Scrappy

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · 9 Comments

Max had to go back to the Homeward Bound kennels a few weeks ago because I ran out of room at my house when Marshall came. When that happens we watch to make sure there is no backsliding. Max was a little unsure of himself during a couple dog introductions recently so I’ve been wanting to bring Scrappy over to spend time with him. Max and Scrappy have played hard several times before so how they interacted now would be instructive. No problem! They played just fine for half an hour. But … Lori was there. You remember the story…

WPC: Demon eyes

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · 10 Comments

A friend suggested I offer up Scrappy for this week’s photo challenge. You may have seen Scrappy in previous posts like this one. One look at him and it’s clear that his eyes are his most  distinctive feature. Scrappy wasn’t always the calm dog he has become today , and I’ll tell his story soon. It will suffice for now to say that some of the volunteers at Homeward Bound swore he had demon eyes. No so anymore; everyone that meets him compliments him on his beautiful eyes.