22-022 Cali Girl , a beautiful red purebred Golden, ruptured her left ACL at age 10-1⁄2. Her owners could not afford to get the leg fixed, nor did they have the time for the necessary post-surgery rehab, so they surrendered her to  AGR . After the surgery was done, this sweet, mellow old girl was fostered by a foster mom in Phoenix for 8 weeks. She took her walking daily and found that  Cali  loves to swim, which was also good exercise for the leg. Placement found what they thought would be a good home for  Cali  with a couple who had adopted several old dogs in the past, but when Deb transported her to this home, she found it wasn’t going to work well for  Cali , so she took  Cali  home thinking that Placement should not have a difficult time finding a forever home. Deb related: 

Cali  came to our house as a way-point to elsewhere and never left – we in  AGR  call it “foster failure,” but it really isn’t a failure, it’s a WIN. I was the only transporter available when [our regular AGR transporters] went on a two-week cruise, so it fell to me to move  Cali  from her foster, who was also going on vacation, to her new home. We offered the foster the opportunity to adopt  Cali , but she declined, as she has other dogs and felt she could  be of greater service to  AGR  as a foster, i.e. a temporary home. So,  Cali  came to stay with us for a while. After 4 days with us, Larry said, “Are you thinking of keeping her?” Well, when the husband asks that question, the answer is a given: YES!  Cali  is nothing like our last female Golden,  Dolly , whom we adopted at age 9.  Dolly  was stubborn, independent, and had a mind of her own, which often did not agree with mine.  Cali  is a lovely, sweet, compliant, well-trained senior girl who wants nothing more than affection any time someone wants to give it to her. She doesn’t interact much with any of our three male Goldens, although several times recently I have noticed her trying to get into the melee when the three boys get going with each other. She likes to carry around soft toys, but I’ve never seen her try to tear one up. Other than that, she just likes hanging out. Her leg has healed well, thanks to the foster's ministrations, and I walk her and one of the boys around our 2/3-mile circle several times a week – she’s great on leash and sets a good example for the boy, who usually stays right next to her when walking. We are really enjoying having her with us.