Has anyone "lost" their dear Golden Retreiver recently?

[serryjw]

write me if you did?

[Kolesar]

1. Yesterday, actually

She was 13 and ill and it was not unexpected. We kept ourselves busy throughout the day after that, doing home improvements and shopping for tiles. I had a hard time sleeping last night, because my thoughts would keep going to the dog and I would wake up thinking about her. When you nurture and feed love and attention to a dog for years, you establish a strong bond. I never had a dog before. Now I know why people love them so.

[livetohike]

2. I'm sorry TheBorealAvenger

I hope you and the family will remember all the good times you shared with your Retriever and it will help ease the sadness. :hug:

It's hard to watch them decline :cry:. I've been through it many times.

[Kolesar]

3. 100 nights and 1000 miles

She was a great trail dog. She would stay with us or between us while we hiked. We even took her on multi-week camping vacations out West. I quit sailing and took up backpacking because the dog was so much fun out in the woods camping and hiking. She kept the camp-raider birds away from the campsite.

Thanks for the kind words. I have been too busy to post much in the pets forum and I kind of came here for solace.

[livetohike]

5. Then you all have many great memories!

All of my dogs for the past 35 years have been livetohike dogs, too.
:-)

[serryjw]

6. I lost Einstein on 3/29

On 4/1 I dreamed that when he crossed the Rainbow Bridge he was greeted by a beautiful Golden Retriever. I wanted the 'parent' to know their furrbaby' was doing great.....but unfortunately it wasn't your furrbaby. I am so sorry to hear about your lose. I now know how difficult it is. I'm sure she enjoying herself with all her DU sisters and brothers.

[Kolesar]

7. My condolences on the loss of your Einstein

I loaded the pages of the local Golden Retriever rescue organization's website a few days ago and read about their rescued dogs who had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I read about half of them and came upon the story of another golden retriever named Einstein who was born about six months before my dog and died about six months before my dog. I started imagining another puppy who was tearing around the house in 1991 and thinking about how my life was practically defined in the period since my dog was a puppy, too.

I have lived half of my adult life with that dog around and figured out what I liked about life in that period. I came to appreciate the simple pleasures of just taking my old dog for a walk in the park and when she got tired of walking just sitting down in the mowed grass to sit for a spell while she sniffed at the breeze. I can still feel the afternoon sun bathing us while we passed the time.

I missed a day of work and when I came back a coworker who I barely knew came by and said he heard I had lost my dog earlier. He lost his sixteen year old golden retriever a year and a half ago and just somehow wanted to talk about it. Those memories don't just go away in that period of time. Our losses are much more recent. I wish you the best getting through losing Einstein.

[ernstbass]

4. A coworker of mine

just lost her dear golden, Dusty, age 11. They thought she had a respiratory infection but it was cancer. The family is devestated (they have 3 kids). My friend has found several goldens at our local shelter but her kids need some time to grieve. Dusty has been in the family since the kids were born. I'm sorry to all of you losing pets - it's so sad.

[janx]

8. February 18.

It still hurts to talk about it.