Six weeks is long enough to go without a Golden around! Our ten year old Golden succumbed to a neurological disease that caused him to lose function of his hind legs and bowels. Is progressed rapidly and he went from being normal at the beginning of June to not being able to walk by the end of June. We sadly made the decision to humanely end his suffering.
He was such a great dog and perhaps we were fortunate considering we knew absolutely nothing about him when we adopted him. The only thing the nice country folks could tell us at the shelter is that he was found swimming around in some old ladies pond. He did in fact love water.
So we are this weekend going out to visit a breeder who has two retired girls ready for adoption. We love adult Goldens and can do without the whole puppy stage. They are cute to play with someone elses, but not a fan of the constant chewing and potty training.
I'd like to hear some advice or experiences of those who have adopted retired girls from breeders. The two I am consider are six and seven years old. They either stayed in the kennel or ran around the farm. Not spayed and not house trained. I know, I just said I didn't want to deal with a puppy to house train. How different would it be to house train a dog like this? Any other concerns I should have? I feel like I am truely saving these dogs and will be tempted to take both of them. It doesn't sound like they have had much human love or attention, so I want to change that. Here are some photos...
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzLvVe4N8zL7ZDNMTHYtSU9oQ28/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzLvVe4N8zL7R3ZnekhvNlA4RU0/edit?usp=sharing
He was such a great dog and perhaps we were fortunate considering we knew absolutely nothing about him when we adopted him. The only thing the nice country folks could tell us at the shelter is that he was found swimming around in some old ladies pond. He did in fact love water.
So we are this weekend going out to visit a breeder who has two retired girls ready for adoption. We love adult Goldens and can do without the whole puppy stage. They are cute to play with someone elses, but not a fan of the constant chewing and potty training.
I'd like to hear some advice or experiences of those who have adopted retired girls from breeders. The two I am consider are six and seven years old. They either stayed in the kennel or ran around the farm. Not spayed and not house trained. I know, I just said I didn't want to deal with a puppy to house train. How different would it be to house train a dog like this? Any other concerns I should have? I feel like I am truely saving these dogs and will be tempted to take both of them. It doesn't sound like they have had much human love or attention, so I want to change that. Here are some photos...
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzLvVe4N8zL7ZDNMTHYtSU9oQ28/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzLvVe4N8zL7R3ZnekhvNlA4RU0/edit?usp=sharing