22-054 Christy  is a beautiful 6-year-old purebred Golden whose owner breeds  AKC -quality Goldens in California. She decided that  Christy  had had enough puppies and wanted to retire her. In the past, we had rescued several dogs from this breeder, so she called us. She actually ended up giving us 5 dogs, which made the trip to CA worth the cost. Three AGR transporters  drove to California, stayed overnight and drove back to AZ the next day with the 5 dogs in one van (one of them had been gifted to one of the transporters by the breeder, as he had adopted two dogs from her before) . An adopter in Phoenix had recently lost his Golden and he and his Cocker Spaniel,  Bailey , were lonely. He came to the AGR Health Care Manager's house to look at the male Goldendoodle puppies she was fostering but decided a puppy was not a good choice for him. When the CA group arrived, he was first in line. He related: 

Christy  came into  Bailey's  and my lives at just the right time. We had lost our Golden,  Kona , after almost 13 years.  Bailey  basically shut down, stopped eating and waited at the laundry room door, never leaving till I came home. I knew I had to do something for both  Bailey  and me, as we were missing a big chunk of our life. I just didn’t want to go the puppy route again, as I wanted a more mature dog somewhere close to  Bailey’s  age. So I reached out to  Arizona Golden Rescue . They came out, looked at my place and said I was a perfect candidate for adopting one of their rescues. It took about a month. They received four dogs from a breeder in California, one male and three females. I had asked for a male but they had told me that the male did not get along well with other male dogs. That just wouldn’t work, as the rest of my family has males and female dogs and we all need to get along. My daughter and I went over to see the two females. When they let the two out,  Christy  came running over and dropped right at my feet wanting to be petted on her belly. I think it was a sign, as the other Golden was curious but didn’t come that close till we started playing with the ball. My daughter and I looked at each other and said, “That’s the one!” When she was brought to our house and met  Bailey , it was truly as if she melted right into the family like she had been  here since a puppy. By the time I left for work that first Monday,  I let her have the run of the house with  Bailey . I had to pin the  doggie door open as she just could not get the flap, and it is still that way today. It didn’t take her long to find the dog toy box – she  has taken a few of the toys and made them her own. She and  Bailey  have learned to share all the bones and dog toys with  no fighting over any of them.  She learned quickly not to play in the water bowls as we put them up high, and she never once tried to get in the pool in the backyard. She basically  took over right where  Kona  left off – it was meant to be. We went  on our first trip in the motorhome. She was a great traveler – lay  down right next to  Bailey  and would come up next to me every once in a while for that pat on the head. We got to San Diego and  this was her first time being on any leashes and she was perfect. I  had a single leash with a double lead – they both walk right beside each other never pulling like she had been doing it all her life. We got to the dog area and she got along great with all the other dogs, did her business just like she had been traveling and doing it forever. We took a day and went to dog beach in Coronado and as we got up to the beach I let her off leash. Both  Christy  and  Bailey  stayed right together, ran down to the water, and we played ball – she didn’t try to run off, stayed right close, and loved the ocean  and lay in the water. She has filled the void in both  Bailey’s  and my life after the loss of Kona. You would never know that she was a breeding dog and was in a kennel all of her life. She is now on permanent vacation and every day is a holiday for her.