Weekly I travel this long stretch of 2 lane highway in rural east Texas with 2 dogs to go to the boat. Yesterday was different. I added a third dog from the Polk-Liberty Countyline.
Flash floods and horrible thunderstorms had torn through this area only five hours earlier. There running by herself with nothing but pine trees for miles was an older looking golden retriever (white around her eyes like my Golden). She was carrying a purple fuzzy slipper along this busy highway, smiling and running across the road. My heart sank.
I had to get that golden retriever out of the hwy before she got killed. So it was life or death in my mind. If I left her, then she would be dead. I turned around to get her. She came right to me tail wagging. My dogs were going crazy in the car. She had a nice discolored collar with paw prints in the metal, but no tag. I bent to put a leash on her and she rolled over in her back. My heart sank again, "oh she wants me to rub her belly."
While logging trucks and cars flew pass me at 70+ mph, she got up and I put the leash on trying for nearly 30 minutes to get her in the car. No, she sat down and refused (apparently never been inside a car), but she kept giving me her paw to shake, too big for me to lift her in the backseat (while my dogs barked in the back). I drove down a bit further to see if she would follow the car to some place safer for us both. She just sat and watched me drive off. I stopped again and called her to come. She smiled and ran right to me. Dog food didn't help either. I became desperate, so I tried to flag someone to help me.
20, 30, 40 cars and trucks blew by; none of them stopped. Finally someone turned back to help, and of course they had a dog in their vehicle. Quickly I told the story to the couple, and they agreed that she was probably dumped. Up she goes as the man put her in my backseat floor, I ran around to close the window. I thanked them immensely for their gracious help, and told them, "hopefully you will see her in the Houston Golden Retriever rescue website". I got his business card, jumped in the car, and drove off, with a thousand things on my mind. I never looked at the card.
Calling my mother in north Houston, I asked her to google Houston Golden Retriever rescue and call about getting a foster family for this dog. More than two dogs living on our boat is too much. As time passes, I know that my backup plan of taking her to Seabrook Shelter is running out of time. Finally as I get into Liberty out of the dead zone, I get a call from my mother who contacted Golden Beginnings and will be calling me for details. After the volunteer called, she started looking for a foster family in Clear Lake area. I made it to our marina with this beautiful golden, who was the perfect traveler, still with us. We unloaded our dogs, but she wanted to join them on the boat. She followed them to the edge of the boat as JT told her NO!
Golden Beginnings called to say that they found a foster family on the Bay. JT, the Golden, and I climbed into the car to go find the foster family. I thought that I would loose JT. He loved the house and the location. The foster family were so sweet and loving, and I knew that she would be safe and cared for. She began to lean to me, as most GR owners know about but we had to go back to the boat. The Golden refused to go into the house, sat down just as before and refused to move. Working my magic, I coerced her into the house and again said our goodbyes. Such sweet loving eyes...
Today I heard from the foster family, Sadie (new name) is about 3 yrs old, intact female golden retriever with some Great Pyrenees mixed in, no microchip, heartworm positive, 72 lbs., and is doing great. Thank goodness for all the choices that I made that day lead me to protect her. By the way the couple that helped me was the president of a fine Beaumont, Texas University... where many of our boat neighbors are teachers. To Mr. and Mrs. James Simmons, thank you for stopping and your help.
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