Golden Bond Rescue Success Story Lucky 466

Golden Bond Rescue of Oregon, Inc.
Golden Retriever Rescue
For the Love of Goldens

In Memoriam: Lucky (#466)

Lucky Crossed the Rainbow Bridge on August 11, 2007

This weekend I walked Lucky to our side of the Rainbow Bridge.

If you know me, it is likely you know my dogs. They are a huge part of my life, and I talk about them constantly. Lucky came to us at the age of about 7. We were fostering with Golden Bond at that time, and Kimi, our adopted darling was the only permanent canine resident of the house. I had several conversations with Golden Bond over months about how I was looking for a "big ol block-headed male". One Sunday we returned home to hear several panicked messages from one of Golden's placement people about an emergency "reentry" into the program. A lady had adopted Lucky, then found that her dog did not like him. When I spoke with the lady myself, I tried to convince her to give them a week so they could work it out on their own. She was quite insistent. She had too much going on at the time to deal with that. I told her she could bring him by and drop him off.

I remember seeing her car pull up, and walking out to get Lucky from her. She opened the back door, and out calmly walked a big ol block-headed male. I think I knew the minute I saw him, but I thought I should just lay low and see what the rest of the family thought over the next several days. I did manage to wait a week, after which I sent Golden Bond a note that said we'd like to adopt him. He fit right in.

I usually referred to Lucky as a tank. For his size, he was very fast, and even at 7 could clear the back stone wall in a leap. He was always very stoic, pretty independent for a Golden. He loved being with you, but he also loved his alone time. He's my only dog who really swam. He didn't dog-paddle, or slap the water with his paws. He kept them underwater and just swam. He loved being with me at the beach and to tow me in from the surf.

When Lucky's regular vet took a look at him months ago because I thought he was having trouble with a rear leg, he took x-rays of his hips and back. There were issues with some irregularities along the spine which were causing neurological problems. He wanted to check his hips to see about any severe dysplasia which could cause other neuro problems. Doc showed me the x-rays and shook his head. He had no explanation how Lucky could walk at all. The dysplasia and hip damage was so severe, he said any other dog would not have been able to stand the pain and remain mobile. We tried some anti-inflammatories, but nothing really helped. The Doc felt terrible because there was really nothing he could do. He begged me to see a neurologist, which after much deliberation I determined a reasonable thing to do. The specialist said what we assumed he would. There was some kind of degenerative issue in the spine. They could put him under, do a milogram, then if they found something a Cat Scan of the precise location. If they saw something they thought they could surgically repair, they would go in right then and there. The milogram was $1500. If surgery was performed, $5000. It is really terrible that money should come into a decision like this. In the end, Lucky's quality of life after trying to bounce back form a surgery at his age kept me away from entertaining the idea any further. He steadily got worse, less and less control. One of his rear paws was constantly "knuckled". As he got worse little by little, I told myself so long as he was happy, and not in pain I would keep working with him — carrying him up stairs at night, supporting him as he tried to walk. Sandi took some pics of he and Huan in the back yard, and that was the first I noticed the pain behind his eyes. He was finally telling me that he was hurting, and seemed to be saying this was really no longer worth doing.

I sent Sandi and the kids to NC for a vacation. I was so worried that Lucky would not hold out till they returned, and they would not be able to say goodbye. Today they were to due to return at 6 p.m., and Lucky seemed to know. He had a terrible afternoon and could not control any of the functions or either of his rear legs. Lucky seemed unable to loosen up enough to take care of business. He was very embarrassed about "accidents" in the house. When everyone got back, we all had a talk about it and decided we needed to take his pain away ASAP. I gave everyone the option of going along to the Vet or staying home. Lindsey and Willie wanted to go, Jared not. Sandi stayed home with Jared while the rest of us took him to the clinic. That went as well as these things could have gone. The doctor was perfect. The kids talked themselves into staying and watching and I think it was a really important experience for them. We were all on the floor with him, his head in my lap. As I spoke to him softly of my admiration for him, I can tell you this, Lucky was ready to go. It took only drops of the injection for his heart to stop and his head become like a stone in my lap. Even in the end he wanted to reassure us the time was right. The vet left us alone, and we cried for awhile, talked about what we had just seen, and just got ourselves settled. I went to get the techs to let them know we were leaving, then we said goodbye to Lucky for the last time. I was really proud of the kids for talking themselves into experiencing this final part of the full spectrum of caring for another living thing.

As cynical as I am, I do believe in the Rainbow Bridge. With Lucky though, I can't wait to see how it plays out. He came to us because he lost the lady who raised him to cancer. She should have been there at the other end of the bridge waiting for him. That thought makes me very happy. I only hope they stick around, or keep watch on the bridge so that we can all meet, laugh and love. I will surely miss his irrefutable joie de vivre.

The only other story I'll tell about Lucky was his experience with the killer kitty. Lucky has always been a security minded fella. Every evening before bedtime he made sure the perimeter was secure. There are several neighborhood cats that are allowed to roam loose, so they sit under the feeders in our yard to kill birds. They can all clear the fence in back, and so Lucky never could catch one. One day I saw a cat in the backyard, and let Lucky out to send him on his way. It looked like one of those cartoon fights with the big ball of participants and sounded the same. By the time I ran out there (I'd never actually let Lucky harm a cat) the little white kitty had Lucky cornered, and he was just trying to get the hell away. As I created an escape route, the kitten was on Lucky again, grabbing and slashing at his hind quarters. I got the kitty settled down to see that it had a badly broken rear leg, which Lucky hadn't caused it as the damage was obviously hours old. (That was why she couldn't clear the fence.) I sat with her, gave her some milk and removed Lucky's fur from between her toes. I called the vet, who would not see or treat the cat without my prior agreement to pay the bill. I decided to go door to door and see if I could find an owner. Sure enough, a couple of streets over the lady said they had been looking for their white kitty. She said she had been walking the neighborhood looking for it, but could not call it by it's name for fear of offending others. Seems the Paki family believed walking through the neighborhood shouting "Whitey!... Come on out Whitey" through our predominately WASP neighborhood was not such a wise thing to do. Kitty went to the vet and was fine. Lucky had bad dreams for months.

I'll miss ya, buddy.

Tod Sefton

Success story: Lucky (#466)

"He's been here a few weeks and he just fits in." Those are the words of Lucky's (#466) foster dad. So Lucky won't have to pack his bags. He'll be staying with Tod, Sandi, and their children Willie, 10; Lindsey, 7; and Jared, 5. He even gets to sleep with the boys. Tod and Sandi are not only a Golden Bond foster family, they are a return adopting family. Kimi (#207) moved in about a year ago. She has been showing Lucky the ropes and, also, impressing on him that she is the queen golden. Lucky, being the laid back guy he is, says that's okay with him.

Lucky, we know this will be a very special Thanksgiving. Just remember, the big bird on the table is for the humans!

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