Yule’s in the house

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

Yule arrived last week for a 2 1/2 week stay. Hurray! Even Lilly was excited to have Yule visit. That’s significant as they had some fireworks during their 2nd cohabitation. I like to have the inside dogs out in the front yard when we’re expecting a boarder. Sometimes we have to do an introduction or a re-introduction. But I always like to see how excited Scrappy gets when Yules comes. Both Scrappy and Lilly love to see Maria (Yule’s Mom). There was a time when Scrappy considered Maria to be his mortal enemy. No more.   What happened next was…

Ruffians

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · 4 Comments

Dogs have many different play styles. One of the key elements of effective dog socialization is matching dogs that have similar views on what is “fun” when they hang together. For some dogs — and not necessarily just the older ones — a good time is lying in the shade on a sunny day sipping lemonade. Then there are dogs like Ryder and Decoda that play as if they are mortal enemies. 10 years ago I would have freaked had two dogs started up like this in my presence. This time I just took a moment to make sure they…

Making lemonade

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · 19 Comments

Northern California was the lucky recipient of some prolific rain storms recently. While we are still happy okay with this much water pouring out of the sky, it does present some challenges. For the dog walkers at Homeward Bound one of these is the sudden expansion of the pond making the path impassable without waders. Or a boat.   But Oscar had a different perspective and saw this as a golden opportunity. And it wouldn’t be a good day with out some Oscar expressions. He happily obliged.  

Scrappy meets Chief

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · 18 Comments

The first time I saw Chief my heart did flip-flops. Even from a distance I could see that he is special. I stood and watched hm move about the yard for a while. He didn’t seem quite right. That’s not unusual for new arrivals at Homeward Bound, of course. Many of our dogs have been through a lot by the time they make their way here. I found out later that Chief had endured the soul-crushing experience of being dumped by his owner. The next day I went looking for Chief in the kennels. Turns out he was not at…

Shaggy goes home

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

My beloved Shaggy has left because his Mom returned home from her trip. I’ll miss him but I was thrilled to have Shaggy here for just over a week. He seemed to feel comfortable from the start — not terribly surprising as he lived with me for several months a couple years back. The other night was much like old times. I was lying on the floor with Shaggy watching TV. I was watching TV. Shaggy was having a great time fidgeting and putting his legs on me in awkward ways. That boy is not a respecter of personal space…