Golden Bond Rescue of Oregon

Adopted January 2, 2012

I fell in love with 3 year old Charlie Girl, (#2145) whose cute picture and information were on the website for only a few days. I haven't had a golden for 15 years, and my last girl, Penny, was also from Golden Bond. When I decided it was time for another and sent in the application, I asked what had become of Charlie.  I was told she had issues with her eyes, and had the first operation while with her Foster Mom, Darla, but would be available in the near future. Charlie had a condition that prohibited her from making tears, so Golden Bond paid for her to have special surgeries on both eyes, which moved salivary glands from inside her cheeks to below her eye lids.  She  is doing fine, even though whenever she eats, one eye will always be "juicy," but a huge improvement from having no tears.The day I got her and 3rd birthday are the same, October 28, 2011. She and I also had the privilege of having several lessons with Dog Behaviorist, Helix Fairweather, to work on some of Charlie's issues.  She now is becoming the Golden Girl she was always meant to be. She loves balls! She would stay in the backyard all day catching and NOT bringing them back.  She is an Artist, and likes to arrange her balls in her own Dog-Impressionistic style .... especially when it is pouring down rain or snowing! I have 5 cats, and Charlie treats them as if they are little dust balls, which is great. My boyfriend is Swiss, and when I went to visited him this Autumn, he bought Charlie a beautiful red Swiss collar, so she also is now a Swiss Girl! I'm very grateful to Golden Bond Rescue for all they did for Charlie to make it possible for me to adopt this clever Girl. We will have a wonderful life together! 

Jill

Charlie's Avaiilable Story

Charlie (#2145) may be a boy’s name, but I’m a big gorgeous 2.5 year old girl! I’m about 80 pounds, and while I could stand to lose maybe 5 pounds, I’m a pretty fit young lady. My fur is a gorgeous strawberry blonde, and I have a thickly feathered tail that is a real attention grabber. I hear you’re looking for a dog, so let me tell you all about me!

I like kids, cats, chickens, and of course you wonderful humans. I’m not always so fond of other dogs, however--especially if there’s a fence between us. While I’ve learned to get along with my foster brother and another dog who visited here for a month, it took a few weeks for me to like them being around so much. I didn’t have a lot of socialization in my first home, so this is something I’m working on. I’d like to be an only dog, though in the right situation I could probably manage fine with another canine around.  I’d like it best if the other dog knew I was top dog and was okay with that, and if we pretty much could keep to ourselves.

I have good manners and won’t get up on your furniture. I walk quite well on a leash and know basic obedience commands. I like to ask for a head and ear rub by dropping my head into your lap and closing my eyes (If you stop before I’m ready to be done, I’ll just wag my tail to nicely ask you to keep it up for a little longer. Oh, it just feels so good that I can nearly go into a trance!).

The best thing in the whole world is a ball. I can’t get enough of it! Sometimes I just lie in the grass on my side with my front paw stretched out and resting on a ball and I just roll it forward and back under my paw, gazing at it’s perfect round beauty. If I lose my ball under the couch or fence, I’ll talk to it and act silly, trying to get it to come back to me. When it doesn’t come back, I’ll lie down and stare mournfully at it until one of you humans is kind enough to get it back for me.

My foster home has one of the most amazing things in the world: a DOG DOOR! Oh, this has to be the next best thing in the world. In, out, in, out--wow! I don’t know why humans ever choose to be inside on a perfectly fine day. I keep going back in to see what they’re doing that could possibly be better than being outside, but I fail to see what’s so good about being in the house.

When I first had to leave my original home I was very sad, stressed, and unhappy. I hate to admit it, but I got kinda snarly to my foster brother and my temper flared at him pretty quickly. I had to start taking some medication for my irritability with other dogs. My foster mom thinks I can probably be weaned down or maybe even off that medicine, but she tells me it’s a better idea to do this after I get settled in at my new forever-home. I don’t mind taking pills at all--my foster mom just puts them in my kibble and I gobble them right down with my breakfast.

I do have a hard time with my eyes. I had a chronic infection that has now been cleared up. My eyes don’t make tears very much, though they’re now getting a lot better with the help of a really wonderful eye specialist that Golden Bond has let me go see. I do need my humans to help me put some drops and ointment in my eyes for the treatment she has prescribed for me. Right now that’s about 4 times a day, but I’m hoping that as my treatment continues this will be less, because my tear production has been improving (that’s great news for me!). I hold still nicely for you to put in the eye drops--they only take about 30 seconds to do and I know I get a great head rub afterward. I don’t mean to sound demanding, but I do need to live with humans where someone can be around regularly enough to do the eye drops. I can go eight hours between eye treatments and in the future hopefully even longer. Oh, and I’m on my best behaviour if you have to leave me home alone.

So what do you think--can I be your girl?