Newcomers

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · · 13 Comments

A couple new dogs arrived in the last week. One is a boarder named Charlie. I worked with Charlie in 2015. He was surrendered to HB because of excess anxiety if I recall correctly. He was diagnosed with pica — regularly eating nonfood items such as pebbles. He was taking Prozac when we got him. Turned out his problem was really just that he was a puppy. We weaned him off the Prozac, worked with some of his behaviors, and he was adopted right away. Charlie is now a very happy and healthy boy enjoying what life has to offer….

Daisy

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

I’m grateful to people who recognize that they simply can’t provide a proper home for their dog, and make the difficult decision to give up their friend. Most people do not realize how much time and effort it takes to do right by a canine companion. Many of them, unfortunately, do not discover the truth until after they already have a dog. Ideally, people realize their limitations early on and work to find a new home for their pet. Or let a rescue like Homeward Bound take care of it for them if they cannot. Daisy came to us from such…

Bear

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · 12 Comments

Bear is one of the dogs we had a few months back that was highly reactive to some dogs. Scrappy even spent some time hanging out together in a yard just to show Bear that he didn’t need to be afraid of other dogs. Bear was used for back yard breeding so he missed out on so much of what makes a dog a dog. He was a very affectionate boy with us but certainly not overly needy. Strangely, one of the things his previous owner didn’t like about him is that he wanted too much attention. Yeah. I’ll only…

Winston

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

Winston was out on a stroll when he and our stupendously dedicated volunteer, Amy, happened upon me in the garden. I was trying yet again to capture a good image of the daffodils. Those little devils torment me for some reason. I rarely get a good shot of them. So I was happy to stop and say hello to Winston. I don’t know him well but somehow he managed to get on my lap while I was still crouching low to the ground. Definitely an affectionate boy. Sadly, Winston won’t be made available for adoption. You wouldn’t know by looking…

Max goes home

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

You might remember Max. He’s the impossibly handsome Lab with the shiny eyes who’s made several appearances in my posts. He went home on Sunday, Valentine’s Day. Yes, he sure has my heart. Max is a joyful boy with an intense curiosity about everything in his world. He is big and strong and sometimes a lot to handle. On the outside. On the inside he is still just a little boy. But that little boy could put up a ferocious front when faced with a situation that scared him — like another barking at him. Max worked through his issues…

Scrappy’s Story – Part 3: The Healer

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · 21 Comments

This is the 3rd installment of Scrappy’s Story. In Part 1: Descent I explained what brought Scrappy to my house for work on some issues. Part 2: Recovery described how we helped Scrappy interact better with people and other dogs. Although he became a much more confident and relaxed dog, he would still occasionally revert back to his old behavior. I reluctantly decided that we could not never put him up for adoption. So I agreed that he could stay with me. After a while BoBo and Shaggy moved on and Scrap and I shared the house. Scrappy continued to improve, letting go of…

Scrappy’s Story – Part 2: Recovery

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue · Rescue DogsTags: · · · · · · · · · · 20 Comments

In Part I of Scrappy’s story, I explained that he came to my house after he was returned by his first adopters. The family did not feel they could keep him because he barked and growled at outsiders. He didn’t seem safe. After he came back to us, some of the volunteers at Homeward Bound were uncomfortable with him, as well. This was partly due to his inordinately large eyes and his habit of staring. Worse, he would unexpectedly lunge at strangers and even some other dogs. I take some of Homeward Bound’s dogs with challenging behaviors to work with…

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…

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…