By Peggy Gachet

Ever considered adopting a new pet?

Many people did during the Pandemic and have now experienced a new found bond they never thought was possible. We are on our 6^th rescue and each time we say, “how could anyone give up such a great dog?”

Most of our adoptions start with me showing Tom pictures of rescues I’ve found on Facebook.   Of course, we have a preference and specifics of what we are looking for.

Our last rescue came after the loss of “My Big Boy Bubba”.  He was an 8 year old, 80 lb. black lab. A gentle giant who loved everyone and every other dog he met.  Social time was very important to him. Based on that experience we thought we’d like to have another large dog, preferring a female black lab this time.

We always seek a 7 year old but will consider older.  We are just too old to have a young dog.  Their energy amazes me!  Anyway, we found Chance.  He was perfect and just what we were looking for we were told!  A male, 45lb, blond chow/husky mix, age 11 and most of all “he needed us”.  We teased the vet who found him saying what she really needed was more money to pay for the next daughter’s wedding. Well we blew that but had 2.5 great years with another great dog. 

I start looking immediately for the next rescue but it takes Tom a little longer to agree.  I showed him hundreds of pictures of rescues on Facebook and suddenly we found just what we were looking for again: a female, 50 lb (we’ve gotten a little older and decided large dogs may be too much), 7 yr.+ black lab you say?  Oh no! 

This time we found the perfect 73lb. female Golden Retriever/Ridgeback mix. A beautiful coat of the many shades of brown with just a little white and black mixed in. This one came with the name Roksha but found she responded to Roxie just as well.  What she probably responds to more is the new found love she gets vs. the constant barking from the kennels. 

Now we embark on learning the quirks of a new breed but, I’m sure that within 3 months she will have adapted to our schedule and life.  Most of all she will have figured out that she is here to stay!