We had raised two dogs for Guiding Eyes. the first actually went to a blind man. since our daughter had raised our interest in the Guiding Eye program, we considered the dog to be hers while we all (entire family) kept and trained the dog. When the dog was finally assigned to a blind man, our daughter communicated with the man for a year or so, until the man sort of disappeared from view. Our next dog for the blind we got to keep, as they decided to use her for breeding. We whelped two litters with her. they decided to discontinue her as breeding stock, as she had a skin problem during hottest weather that was carried over to several of her puppies. we got to keep her again as long as we had her spayed. We kept her for 12 years before having to put her down as a result of cancer.
Our next puppy we got when she was 7 months old. We got her from Rescue Goldens organization. She had been abused. Why? Her owner decided that no man should have a female dog. I knew, the first nite she was in our house that she was probably beaten. Goldens like to be close to people. My wife and I were caring for our daughters Cairne Terrier that week while she was away on vacation. That little terrier was a dog with personality and was very active, going from one to the other of us people and worrying Maggie, our new addition. Maggie, being in totally new surroundings was not realy upset, but she was a little uneasy with so much activity. I soon reallized that whenever she got close to my feet, if i so much as moved, she would cower away to other side of the room. If I raised my hand to scratch my ear, she was cowering away as far away as she could get from "that horrible man". As soon as she would run, or slink away, I would get off the couch and crawl over to her, putting my arms around her and talking quietly with her until she calmed herself down. Soon, she would be close once more. I would make my ,to her mind, threatening move again, and the scenario of retreat and loving would be repeated. By the end of that first evening, Maggie was MY dog. She was friendly with anybody, but in any strange situation, if there was any question in her mind, she was at my side for the next 16 and a half years.
She had hip displaysia that I noticed within days of her arrival. The vets wanted to break her hip in three places and put her back together. she was apparently not in pain and i insisted they were not going to put her into any painful situation. I read up on the problem, very common in many of the larger breeds, and with careful, and not very domineering supervision, we got her thru the malady until she was not noticeably affected. (another long story about that special treatment for another time maybe.) Maggie, being a retriever, was prone to the inbred habits of her breed. ( sorry, but this part, just thinking about has started a waterfall. got to take a break for a few minutes) Every afternoon, when i would come home from work, I would be greeted by Maggie as she would run to my truck, wiat for me to get out. I would give her my hat and she would joyfully run to the house and await my arrival at the door until I would open. If anybody else opened the door for her, she would await my arrival before going into the house to wait til the rightful owner of that hat was ready to receive.
She went thru that ritual for 16-1/2 years. Towards the end, as she ran towards the house with my hat, there was a corner in the driveway that gave her a little problem. As she would be running around that corner, her back end would end up going a little faster than her front end and the momentum would roll her over. as she rolled, it was almost as if she had practiced the move for years, she would just roll with the problem, coming back onto her feet as if nothing had happened other that to straighten out her rudder, and continue with her responsibility. My wife would get upset and want me to stop with the hat biz. I told her that was what Maggie enjoyed. It was as much a part of her as barking or getting her neck scratched. At some point, she could no longer handle that ritual and within a few days, we had to put her to sleep.
As the vet left out house after giving our dear friend the needle, I called my son to bring his backhoe while i built a casket. By the time i had completed construction, my son had arrived and dug the grave. He helped me put Maggie into the box and we carried her up to the garden. We had dug the grave at the spot where Maggie had always loved to lie so she could keep watch over, not only her property, but almost the entire neighborhood, her domain. As David and I lowered the casket, it fit perfectly into the hole. That ole was not one inch larger than it needed to be, We did not need to get into the hole tot remove one extra shovel of dirt. David had not looked at the casket as I was building it. As I had shown David where to dig, i had never thought to mention any dimensions. He dug as i was constructing and somehow, the communications had been carried to perfection.
For anybody who has lost their pal, there are many avenues to travel to replace a lost dog. We have been given replacements by good friends, inherited new dogs from family members, Guiding Eye For the Blind and "Breed" Rescue organization. There are many sources for replacement to carry on whatever a loss. After Maggie left us, my wife and I decided not to replace. Not due to sorrow, but to our own inability to carry out our own responsibilities properly. We are still blessed with family members who are not a bit bashful about leaving their babies with us, or asking that we go to their house to take care of the family member who must be left at home while the rest of the household goes on vacation. We still get our much needed puppy fixes.
Take care and God bless
Tinker
