by Christy M
(Hoschton GA USA)
Cassie Girl
Our story, hmmm. It's not a very exciting story but it is about a Golden Retriever. Well, 1/2 a Golden anyway. My husband and I purchased a home and settled in June of 2009. With the expanded yard, came a decision to expand our family. We were a family of 5 (2 humans and 3 dogs) and we decided to add a young Golden to our pack. That's where the story of Cassiopeia began.
The Christmas holiday was quickly approaching and I had no idea what to get my husband for a gift. His response was "a Golden puppy." I had been looking for awhile but I am also a huge believer in "fate" and "Karma." As fate would have it, I had written a story for my company newsletter about an event that an employee held to raise money for a shelter where he volunteered. Good Karma kicked in and after searching for a few weeks, I found the shelter had just taken in 3 Golden mix puppies! Not only were they cute as could be, the shelter was close by and held adoptions every weekend at a local PetSmart. I showed the pictures to my husband and of course we could not agree on one of the three pups so we decided to complete the adoption application and meet the pups in person.
All the way to the store my husband and I reinforced each other's decision to just look and not adopt right then and there -- to wait and think about this lifelong decision. When we got to the store, there were 5 potential families waiting in line! Our first puppy choice, we later learned, had been adopted out to a family in Connecticut (we live in Georgia). That left my husband and I at odds on a decision on the last two Goldens so we took each of them for a walk around the store. We had also brought our 9 year old Golden "Georgia Kaye" with us to get her very valuable opinion. Amazingly enough we all agreed on "Cassie" -- a five month old Golden/German Shepherd mix or "Golden Shepherd."
Since we had been pre-approved to adopt and had a reference (remember that article at work? I contacted my coworker who was happy to vouch for me) we were able to take Cassie home right away but not before she said goodbye to her litter mate by going over to the crate and laying on the floor beside him for a few minutes. It was very touching!
Cassiopeia, or Cassie for short, is a great dog! We had some concerns as she didn't have the best start in life. She had been one of an accidental litter of 6 Golden mixes and the owner kept all dogs outside (mind you it's cold in GA in December) so she had no inside manners. We thought for sure she'd destroy the house and wouldn't be potty trained. As it turned out, she's shy but she has pretty good house manners.
From December until May she was a perfect dog. I don't know if she didn't see it before, or wasn't interested, but one day in May she discovered that the cushions on our rather expensive leather sectional sofa were pretty tasty! In fact so tasty that she chewed up 2 of them! How did I know? My 9 year old Golden (Georgia Kaye was written about in the Golden Oldies section) met me at the back door when I got home one day shaking from top to tail! She's a tattletale and she was happy to take me directly to the scene of the crime.
Cassie is in training now to follow in her big sister Georgia's pawsteps. Georgia is a pet therapy dog who accompanies me to nursing homes, hospitals and schools for handicapped children and we are hoping that Cassie will be suited for this type of work. We know she has the disposition for it and she is a real lovebug! We just have to get her past her shyness and her taste for leather!
I'm happy to say that our 4th dog truly is a golden addition to our family/pack. She gets along great with our elder Golden, and our two 3 year olds: a Shih Tzu and a Schnoodle and she just celebrated her first birthday in June.
Nancy's Notes: What a beautiful story, Christy! Thanks so much for sharing your adorable Cassie with us. I'm sure she'll be a wonderfully loving therapy dog, with Georgia's help and your training. Keep us posted!
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