Katie Comes To Visit

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Katie ~ The New Foster Child

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As you know, Charlie wants a sister and I want a trial before adding another dog to our collection of animals. So, we're trying the fostering idea. Never done this before.

I called Carole at the Golden Retriever Rescue to tell her that I would possibly, maybe, think about fostering an older Golden Retriever, but none of the puppy stuff.

Somehow, with Charlie, our house has become his ... meaning we live in one big dog house. And now we were considering another?

Carole knew I was still in recovery from my breathless training adventures with Charlie. He had been a large pup when we brought him home to a place filled with ducks, geese, cats and horses.

What were we thinking?

At the time, we had been looking for an older female with perfect manners and then we saw Charles. Well, you know the rest of the story.

He behaves perfectly now, but I'm still in recovery.

So, in my conversation with Carole, I told her that this new foster Golden would have to be an older lady that would fit into our zoo.

I figured that would take quite awhile to find ... and maybe never, then I'd be off the hook.

Only a few days later the phone rang. It was Carole. She was all excited about having found the most perfect, sweetest, most adorable 8-9 year old female Golden that she had ever seen. This girl would be a perfect foster child for me. It went something like this ...

"Oh believe me, she is wonderful. You'll love her and she'll only be there a few days before she'll be adopted by another family."

We dashed over to pick her up. Carole was right. Katie was a sweetheart. She politely jumped into the back of the car. I later turned around to check on her.

It looked like we were driving "Miss Daisy". She was sitting so perfectly in the middle of the back seat, looking straight out the front car window. All that was missing was a flowered bonnet.

It is hard to mention, sad to say and difficult to fathom, but this lovely lass had been left at the dog pound by her former owners and then they drove away. I only hope they at least said "good-bye".

But now, she was at our house and our girl ... until she found her forever home.

Charlie was simply overjoyed! I don't think his tongue stayed in his mouth for more than a few seconds. He hauled all the toys out of his toy box pretending he would share.


Katie was patient with all the activity and tried her best to keep up with the road races up and down the hallway.

We found these two kids entertaining as we watched the rugs being rearranged into clumps and piles, along with toys being thrown in the air. Charlie was in his glory and Katie was a sport.

The two became instant friends. There were car rides together, long hikes on the trails, ball chasing in the back yard and outings along the beach.

My responsibility, other than caring for Katie as a foster child, was sending Carole daily reports as to how Katie was adjusting to her new environment, did she like cats, did she like Charlie, did she bark? All these details were necessary in order for her to find the home that would fit perfectly for her.

A few days later, I wrote up the ad for Katie, along with a photo. It was late at night when I clicked "send" and the write-up was off to Carole to be placed on the Golden Retriever adoption site, so Katie could find her new parents.

The ad went like this:

Katie is a sweet, gentle older girl that came from a local shelter. Sad to say, she was turned in by her owners who could no longer keep her. Katie is the ideal companion. She has perfect manners, is calm and quiet. She does not bark. She enjoys greeting people on her walks around the neighborhood and loves rides in the car. She gets along with other dogs and doesn’t mind well behaved cats. Katie would love to find a new home where she can pal around the house, stroll in the backyard or just watch TV with her new forever parents. If you are looking for a foot warmer that is sweet and adorable, Katie just might be the one.

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Early the next morning, I checked the Golden Retriever website and saw ... our Katie!

I quickly called Carole and said ... "take the ad down! Katie already has a forever home."

Katie is a keeper and I'm a foster failure!
Katie is here to stay.