How Joshua became the sweetheart of Sun City Lincoln Hills:

        

Dear Homeward Bound,

My parents graciously took Josh into their home while we traveled to Oregon for a week. There is a group near their home that seems to congregate in the evenings with their dogs. Josh couldn't care less about the other dogs, but just loves to be with other people. These people loved on him and said what a good dog he is. My parent's neighbors talked about how beautiful he is and how sweet. One lady would drive up in her golf cart and stop to love on him.

One day Josh decided he was going to climb up in the golf cart. There he was, nearly in her lap on the seat of the golf cart, hoping to go for a ride. They all laughed and somehow convinced him to come down and walk home with my parents. By the way we NEVER say the words "go", "ride", or "car" in the same sentence unless we really intend to bring Josh along. It's getting so we can't even SPELL the words. He's too smart and then there's that FACE. Yes, he's spoiled, but he knows he's home forever.

The second thing that I wanted to communicate to you was that you may give my number to potential adopters regarding the joys of older goldens.

We have so thoroughly loved our old boys. We have had no regrets-even about Jack, except that we wished we had him longer. Losing Jack was hard, but we all still talk about how great it was to give him a wonderful last summer. We look at Josh, with his graying eyebrows and we see he's slowing down a bit, but we still know and hear he's such a great dog. We just realize that we probably have about 5 years or less with these precious dogs, but so much the better than to have not enjoyed their company and the joy they bring. 

I would just remind people about how great older goldens are. When someone surrenders an older golden it is rarely because of behavior issues. They would have been surrendered long ago. They are almost always housebroken and trained and not quite so rambunctious. They demonstrate clearly why so many are named "shadow". My observation is that older goldens are more interested in people than in their toys and playing, although they do have their toys and like to play too.  

A lot of our friends have seen these things and have been re-thinking the getting a puppy thing. I know that when we started our search for a dog that I really didn't think I wanted an older dog, but now I see that with younger kids an older dog is great. They're more gentle and just seem to bond. I'll never forget how Jack and David bonded over a game of ball in the wading pool. Josh and David have really bonded too. David just wishes Josh would follow HIM more instead of me except when having a snack. Daily, I hear, "Mom! Josh is bothering us." in the true tattling tone that only a five-year-old can replicate. On the same day I hear, "Mom. Josh likes this story better. It puts him to sleep." Sure enough, the dog is asleep next to his bed when the story is over and he also has drifted off to sleep too.

Peggy Ridley