Good-Bye to Our Sunny-Sunshine

Thursday was a sad day for us as we said good-bye to who I called our "problem child," Sunny. 

~A last and favorite photo of Sunny~

Sunny was a bit of a stubborn soul, with a sometimes short fuse and he would snap when you grabbed his collar or when he didn't want to do something or be fooled with.  

Longtime readers of this blog may remember that because of how reactive Sunny could be, the rescue knew that he could not be safely placed in another home -- and at the time, I didn't want to keep him. So, a decision was made by the rescue to euthanize him. It was a decision that I respected, understood and supported. 

But in the end, to put it simply, my heart took over and I couldn't go through with it. I felt that there was a lot of good in Sunny, and that he deserved a chance. A chance to live his life.  And so, Sunny became ours. 

We knew Sunny's limits.  And we respected him and those limits. Because we knew that with some space and a moment for him to decide, he would always agree to do what we asked of him. I know he would do it because he trusted and respected us. And if it was something he didn't want to do, like have his nails trimmed, or see the vet, we always found a way to keep him and everyone safe. 

Sunny loved meeting the newcomers, and he got along well with them and his packmates, especially Max. Being independent and a bit of a lone dog by nature, he stayed mostly in the background, not liking his picture taken, or being the center of attention, or part of a lot of activity - Sunny loved one-on-one attention, and our best moments together were just the two of us, not asking for anything from the other. 

And so, at about the age of 15, and for exactly 8 years + one day, Sunny lived his life with us totally on his terms; and when we kept him, we agreed to those terms. I would have lived no other way with him. 

God speed to our boy, Sunny Sunshine, who like the others before him, is missed and I will look forward to seeing again one day. ❤❤

~Sunny on the day we met in July 15, 2013~

Sheeba Arrives at Golden Pines!

In the early months of coronavirus lockdowns, a lot of people found themselves with extra time at home -- leading many to finally welcome a dog or cat into their family. But unfortunately, with lockdown restrictions lifting, many are now surrendering and rehoming their “pandemic pets.” We're hearing on the news that some animal shelters are reporting increased rates of people surrendering their dogs and cats. Whether that's true or not, what I do know is that Lab Rescue the past several weeks has been bombarded with Labs in shelters that need a place to go.  Despite all of that, and a shortage of foster homes, I'd thought because we have Cooper, Jack and Shelby that we wouldn't be asked to take another dog.  But we were. 

On Saturday, we welcomed 14+ year old Sheeba. Her family lost their home, and surrendered her to a local shelter. She was being cared for by another foster home, but a busy summer schedule left them unable to continue to care for her -- Unfortunately while Sheeba was with them, she had to have surgery to remove a mass that was found to be malignant. The vets have given her a prognosis of 6-12 months .... So, she is a "hospice foster" and will be with us for the remainder of her life. 

On the bright side, Sheeba is an easy going and nice girl, that has easily fit in with our crew. After 3 days, she's still trying to get into her new routine - Which is really important because for the past two nights at about 2:30 in the morning, I woke up to find her standing by the bedside, looking at me and wagging her tail. When she sees that I am awake, she starts barking at me. I'm not sure what she was trying to tell me. Is she having bad dreams, is she lonely, are the cats causing some mischief?  Whatever it is, she doesn't want to go outside, but she is happy to get a treat and some attention. I'm hoping that this doesn't become a nightly routine. I'm hopeful we'll get it all figured out.

Welcome to Golden Pines, Sheeba. We're glad you're here, and we look forward to getting to know you.... At a decent hour!  

Back to the Routine

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ Hi friends and happy July 4th weekend! I swear it feels like last week that I was talking about Memorial Day! Can we push a giant pause button, because as I always say, the time keeps going by way too fast. 

I've been back from Tennessee for a couple of weeks now, and I am still “getting back” into the routine. 

My time there could not have been any better, unless it was for a few more days. A longtime friend that dated one of my brothers in 1975 spent a couple of days with me. We ate too much of all the wrong things, and stayed up too late. All the things needed to recharge your batteries. 

Back at home, for the most part, things have settled back into a routine. We had a bit of a setback with Cooper and his separation anxiety that unfortunately caused a bit of damage to the house. Thankfully Cooper was uninjured. We could only think it was because of the change to his routine. So, the next day instead of leaving him at home alone while we were at work, the rescue arranged for me to take him to a doggie-daycare for the day -- I think the photo below says what Cooper thought of it all!

He had a great time and he got a good report too!

I decided that instead of leaving Cooper at home alone on the days when no one can be with him, my peace of mind is worth the price for him to go to daycare. So, I'm going to ask the rescue to let him go at least one or two days a week while we are at work. 

Summer really is flying by all of a sudden and I hope we can all take full advantage of every day that we can. ❤