One of my puppies is retiring after 10 years as a service dog. She was a joy to foster and train. Together we learned the incredible power of positive reinforcement and it changed my life as a trainer. She was also one of Wally’s babies so that made her extra special to me. Her partner Sam loved and cared for her as I would have myself. I could not have asked for a better partner for her. So proud of you Ebony!!!
Filed under Foster Puppies, Service Dog, Wally
We’ve had Wally’s ashes for almost a month but I have not been able to force myself to spread them somewhere. I woke up this morning and knew today was the day. What better day than Father’s Day to celebrate my Golden boy’s 17 beautiful years of life. He sired 7 litters of guide and service dog puppies (over 50 puppies). Although he has outlived many of them, there are still numerous Wally babies working with their partners to make their lives better. His ashes joined our beloved Tango’s ashes in a beautiful wildlife park. They are back together again. I know they are both waiting faithfully for me to join them.
Filed under Wally
I can’t believe that Wally, our old Goldie, is celebrating his 17th birthday today. We are so very blessed to have had him in our lives for this long. His favourite treat in the world is a Timbit so every year on his birthday he would get one for each year. As he started approaching his double digit birthdays we began cutting the timbits in half. This year we cut them in quarters and then gave him one whole one to make 17. As usual, he inhaled them all.
Filed under Wally
Last week we took Wally to the Vet because he was vomiting and had bloody diarrhea. He has a sensitive digestive system and he gets these tummy troubles every year or so. We were not panicked but at his advanced age (16 year and 10 months) we wanted to get things settled and resolved quickly. As we were waiting for our appointment we were shocked to see that one of his testicles had ballooned in size. It was not like that the previous day. It was 11.5 inches around and the size of a softball. We went from being mildly concern about diarrhea to being panicked about an extremely fast growing tumour.
At his age surgery is extremely risky but leaving the tumour posed its own risks. We made the very tough decision to go ahead with surgery. I’ve been stressing and having nightmares for the last few days but for some unknown reason I felt strangely at peace when I dropped him off this morning. I got a phone call two hours later and he was alive and well. The Vet said that he gave them a bit of a scare when they tried to insert the tube down his throat and encountered an obstruction. They found a dangling tumour (he’s sure it is benign) that they had to remove before they could start the planned procedure. They kept him all day so that they could keep him on IV fluids to flush the anesthesia drugs out of his system as quickly as possible. They sent me this picture to show me how well he was doing all snuggled up in warm blankets.
He is home with us now and we feel so blessed.
Filed under Wally
This is Christmas morning in our house. Wally has always been the one to deliver the cards but now Brodie wants to help too. Gosh I love my fur kids. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
Little Brodie is 16 weeks old and of course Wally turned 16 years old in April. They may look very different, my old man is a rich copper and the other is a silky, soft, creamy white but they are both gentle, sweet souls…..true Goldens !!!
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Filed under BlogPaws, Brodie, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
It may be grey and dreary outside but our lives are filled with sunshine today. Our beautiful golden boy is 16 years old today. The average life span for a golden retriever is 12 years…..we are incredibly blessed to have shared our lives with this amazing boy for 16 years. He had a delicious birthday breakfast of fresh ground turkey with pumpkin and fresh berries. Then he got to lick the empty pumpkin can. We have a long standing tradition of using Timbits (Wally’s favourite treat) to celebrate the big moments. On birthdays he would get one Timbit for every year and when his puppies were born he would get one for each baby. When he started getting into double digits we had to start cutting the Timbits in half. Later today he will get his 16 Timbit halves.
We had an early birthday celebration at Patty’s acreage on Thursday. We had a lovely lunch and nice walk on a beautiful, sunny spring day. We even managed to avoid Wally rolling in the horse and cow poop which he loves to do (as you will see below in the picture from his 11th birthday celebration at Patty’s).
Wally, Boomer, Stark, Hope, Spirit and little Tilly
To commemorate the big day I put together a series of images of Wally from 12 weeks to 16 years old.
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Now and then……..I can’t image a life without this amazing boy. He is my heart dog!!! (He looks so serious striking a pose in both pictures.)
15 years 10 months old
10 months old
As a thank you to my Golden Valentine we went for a walk (just Mom and her boy) to Tim Hortons to get him his favourite treat. He usually only gets a Timbit but today we went for the whole donut.
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McMullin snuggling in the kennel
My beautiful, gentle old man Wally. He is almost 16 years old now. Over those years he has shared our home with more foster puppies and four-legged family members than I can count. Without exception, each one has gone to him to cuddle and seek comfort. He has always obliged. For an intact male he is truly amazing!!!!
Just a few more pictures to tug at your heart strings:
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Wally
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Filed under BlogPaws, Tilly, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
I love it when we can start our mornings out on the deck enjoying our morning coffee/tea together.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Spirit, Tilly, Two legged family, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
On Sunday I attended the graduation of one of Wally’s children. I have a very special spot in my heart for Garnet. Of the 51 puppies that Wally’s sired, he is the only one that really looks like his Dad. He spent the first few years of his working life as a guide dog for a wonderful gentleman. Sadly he passed away suddenly and Garnet was returned to the school. They decided that he was too young to retire so they retrained him and placed him with a psychologist to act as a therapy dog for her clients. Garnet is 7 years old now and watching him and his mannerisms….OMG he is definitely his Daddy’s boy. He has the same loving and gentle personality. Here is a picture of the whole graduating class. Garnet’s beautiful deep golden colour makes him stand out in the group….”one of these is not like the others”.
When they arrived, Garnet’s nose went up and he started air scenting and wagging his tail wildly. He knew we were there and he was excited.
I was able to get up close and snuggle with my beautiful grand-puppy. Isn’t he just beautiful.
A blast from the past…..in 2010 we had this photo taken (courtesy of Laughing Dog) of Wally and Garnet just before Garnet went into final training to be a guide dog.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
To say we are blessed to have our beautiful Golden Boy at the ripe old age of 15 is an understatement. Not only is he still with us but the quality of his life is really good. He is my “heart” dog. I love all of my fur kids but he and I have this very special bond that I just can’t put into words. I can’t imagine life without him….
Wally’s favourite treat are Timbits. Traditionally he gets one for each year. Once he got into double digits I started cutting them in half. Today I cut two ends off of each one and left the slice in the centre for the other dogs. It didn’t take him long to polish off 15 ends.
Ready and waiting
Patience
Here we go….
Going…..
Going….
Gone!!!
Nothin’ left but a pile of drool
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Filed under BlogPaws, Foster Puppies, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Did you know that Sept 13th is National Hug your Hound Day. To celebrate, Wally and I participated in the Bockman Foundation Wheel, Walk or Run for spinal cord injuries. My old boy was able to do the whole race with me. I would have liked to have included Spirit but she is too young to do that kind of pounding and she has had a bout of panosteitis (growing pains) so we just do gentle walks together. Just as we were about to cross the finish line the generator stopped and the inflatable start/finish line balloon came down on top of us.
Way back in October 2003, when he was only 2-1/2, Wally’s first litter of puppies were born. There were 12 beautiful, pure bred Golden Retrievers. I was drawn to one of them immediately because she was a lovely dark red/golden colour like her Dad. I named her Bella and I was lucky to foster her until she was 6 months old.
Father and daughter snuggle time
Play time!!
The last time I saw Bella was when she was 2 years old but Wally has not seen her since she left us in April of 2004. That was until now. Wally is 14 years old and Bella is 11-1/2. They took one sniff of each other and it was like they were long time buddies. Bella is a little slow moving and has some trouble with stairs but the two of them ran around and played like puppies. It was so wonderful to watch.
Beautiful Bella and her handsome Dad Wally
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Tilly death stare
Say goodbye to the Canada Day headband
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Filed under BlogPaws, Spirit, Tilly, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
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My handsome, golden boy is 14 years young today. There is nothing he loves more than Timmy Bits so he got 14 Tim bit ends. Here is a cute video of him inhaling them to celebrate the big day. Spirit offered to help eat them but no deal!
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Filed under Wally
Last weekend we went to Patty’s acreage to have some fun and give Spirit a chance to meet some new dogs and people and give her the first real opportunity for an off leash run. She is a bit of a timid little girl so I wasn’t quite sure how she was going to react. I was prepared just in case she was overwhelmed and decided to take off in the opposite direction. I have to give credit to the power of a group of wonderful dogs. She was totally relaxed and immediately joined in with the group. She made appropriate play signals and I never saw any fear or anxiousness in her body language. It was truly a beautiful thing. After our walk we all headed inside to enjoy a meal together. It is wonderful to be able to have a house full of dogs and never having to worry about any dog aggression issues.
The gang….6 two legged and 6 four legged adventurers (David the missing camera man)
A tired and content puppy
Taking a wee nibble of Boomer’s jowly cheek
Hope and Wally relaxing after a beautiful afternoon outdoors
Did I mention that Spirit was exhausted….
Tilly looking rested and relaxed because everyone took turns carrying the princess….she sure knows how to work a crowd.
Spirit kept trying to lick Wally’s tongue
Beautiful, shiny black Hope
It doesn’t matter how many dogs we have had in our lives, I always forget how much work a new puppy is. I’m not sure I will be making my Feb ALYoF goal. By the time I get Spirit settled in my sewing room, it is time to take her out for a potty break. Don and I tag team who is watching her.
I did manage to finish the borders for my Quilts of Valour top. I hope to get them sewn on this week and maybe get the backing finished so that next week I can start on the FMQ before I head back to work on the 23rd.
Thank goodness the Feb BOM is a very quick and easy one so I managed to get it completed. That’s two months in a row….only 10 more to go.
A
Here’s a couple of pictures of my sewing room helpers. I love that Wally is holding a pink stuffy between his paws and Spirit is snuggled up next to him. The second pictures shows why I can’t get much sewing done. Spirit is all wrapped up around the legs of my chair so I can’t move it to get up and shift between my sewing machine and iron. I love that cute, fat belly (you can check out Spirit’s blog here).
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Filed under A Lovely Year of Finishes, ALYOF, Block of the Month, Quilts of Valour, Spirit, Wally, WIP
Squeaky Toy Love
I just love those big, fat, jowly cheeks.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Merry Christmas from the Dog House to your house. Linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Blogpaws.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Tilly, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
The temperature went from being almost +20 degrees celsius to -17 in just a few days. It was such an abrupt temperature change that we did not have the chance to gradually adapt to the colder temperatures. I went for a run and my boy wanted to come with me so badly that I just couldn’t say no to those big, beautiful brown eyes. He got geared up with fleece booties, a jacket and a makeshift fleece ear protector held together by a hair clip. The second day I switched to a long neck warmer and pulled it up over his ears and that worked a lot better.
As you can see by the expression on his face…..he was not amused….but he was warm.
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Sleeping Beauty
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We spent a beautiful fall day at Patty’s farm/acreage. The dogs always have a wonderful time running free in her fields and eating as many cow pies as they can find. Wally does enjoy eating a few of them but his first love is rolling in them. My boy has never met a pile of poop that he didn’t want to roll in. We dressed him in a long sleeved t-shirt to try and keep the poop out of his beautiful golden locks. Unfortunately we had to take it off when it got too loose around his belly and he peed all over it. Then the dogs found the dug out and went in for a quick swim and drink. The other 5 dogs got out fairly clean but our Wally got stuck in mud half way up his body and had to be pulled out by Patty. Talk about a mud bath…..now he has to have a ‘real’ bath…but he was pretty happy with himself. I’m still amazed at how active and agile he is for a old man of 13 years…..14 in April.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Filed under BlogPaws, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
The ‘kids’ love licking the empty yogurt containers. I used to buy 500ml containers so they got to ‘clean’ one every 3 days. When I switched to the 1 litre containers they had to wait a whole week. They still join me in the kitchen every morning hoping that today is the day that the container is ready for their pre-wash cycle.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Tango, Tilly, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Linking up to Sepia Saturday with Ruckus the Eskie:
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Life In The Dog House 