Both of my Goldens have been rescued.
We rescued Smooch from Golden Opportunities Golden Ret. Rescue in 1999 when she was 16 months old. She was the best Golden Girl ever! We had to let Smooch go to the Rainbow Bridge on Dec. 7, 2010. We adopted Tucker from the Golden Ret. Forum. His family had to find him a new home and Ken and I took Tonka to meet him and adopted him on the spot. Tucker is a very special, loving, Golden Retriever, just as Smooch was!!
You can read Tucker's story here:

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...portunity.html (Adoption Opportunity)

The second picture is Smooch and the first picture is Tucker, swimming with Tonka.

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[IMG]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii215

Tonka & Tucker

SNOBEAR at the Bridge
Dec. 23, 1999-March 27, 2010


SMOOCH at the Bridge.
Feb. 14, 1999-Dec. 7, 2010

These stories are all wonderful...thank you for sharing. The one common thread I see running through them all is that there were absolutly no regrets in having adopted / rescued your dogs. They're all so special and are able to give back in ways we never dreamed of. I thoroughly enjoy reading all your stories...please keep them coming. Maybe, just maybe, the need to rescue dogs will become a thing of the past...wouldn't that be nice.

Pete

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Sonny, the black lab, ran ahead to make sure there were no gophers or jackrabbits in the way. If you don't give a dog a specific job, he'll improvise one for himself and it will invariably be fun. There's a lesson there.
John Gierach

No regrets at all in adopting whether from a shelter, a purebred rescue, or from a person!! Rescue dogs are wonderful and are eternally grateful-they are so LOVING! I WILL always adopt/rescue!

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[IMG]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii215

Tonka & Tucker

SNOBEAR at the Bridge
Dec. 23, 1999-March 27, 2010


SMOOCH at the Bridge.
Feb. 14, 1999-Dec. 7, 2010

Our younger daughter took one of the Akita/Golden mixes from a litter my mom's Golden had back in 1993. Annie was a great dog, but died from bladder cancer back in 2001. I was distraught and was looking online for another Akita/GR mix when I finally convinced my wife to let her Shi-tzu go. He was 16 years old, blind, incontinent, deaf, and an evil-mean little ******* with bad kidneys and no control over his spincter. (poop just fell out when he walked)

Well, wife snuck up on me when I was looking at the Tenn Valley Golden Retriever Rescue site and pointed at a picture and said, "Thats the one we want." A little gold fluffball that was found in a coal shed with her momma and 7 siblings. All had distemper and were being treated. We adopted her in May 2001 (the last TVGRR adoption in Memphis) and she was a great dog. Turns out that she was most probably a NSDTR. She would sleep on my chest if I dozed off in my recliner. Played fetch all day with short tosses. In april 2009 she was diagnosed with Mast Cell. With a special diet and suppliments, and vinoblastin chemo, she had a great life until April 2011. When it was time, we both knew it and we both cryed as she went to The Bridge.

The house was just so QUIET, so I was looking online again and saw this blonde, curly, skinny Golden that was an owner surrender to a kill shelter in KY, but had been rescued the day before being put down by Middle Tenn Golden Retriever Rescue. We drove up from MEM to Nashville on Memorial Day 2011 to meet and visit with 2 dogs. The first hated men. And the second, Daisy May, ran across the room and jumped on my wife's lap. She said, "This is the one we want." And so it was. After we adopted her, we received a bunch of paperwork including the shelter surrender paperwork. Owners name and address was redacted. Under "Breed" was, "pure bred Golden Retriever". And under "DOB" was "9-16-2009". She had been neglected and backyard kept to the point that her belly and her hind legs and butt and tail had to be shaved because they were so matted and nasty. On her first visit to our vet , they scanned her and discovered that she had an AKC supplied chip, of the type provided to breeders. The chip was never registered to an owner. I suspect that she was a Christmas gift in Dec 2009 to some kid that quickly lost interest, or the parent(s) got fed up with the chewed up stuff in the house, and she was relegated to the life of a back yard dog until sometime in the spring of 2011 when someone took her to the pound. Once we got her home, she was so regal in her bearing that we knew that she was royalty, so she went from "Daisy May" to "Princess Daisy". She now rules over vast rhelms, estates and protectorates. Her adventures are posted over on the "Fur All Dawgies Only" thread. Yes, we are one of "those" people. A dog people.

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