Golden Oldies
Old Goldens
by Lori Whitwam
One of my RAGOM dogs is a senior boy, and he was BY FAR the easiest golden addition we have ever had! Seko (don't remember his case number, he was January of 1999, I believe) was 8 when we got him, obese, bilateral ear infections, a huge polyp in one ear, filthy, matted and with kennel cough. But he never had a housebreaking accident, mellowly settled in with my other two male goldens with a minimum of dramatics, healed up and lost weight, and is the nicest boy ever!
MYTHS about adopting an "old dog":
They don't bond to you like a puppy. OK, excuse my French, but bull puckey. Take one look at Seko with my husband and tell me they don't bond! Maybe some breeds don't, but these are goldens, and believe me, they BOND.
They're going to die any minute. Again, bull puckey. There is NO guarantee with ANY dog, and I've seen plenty of people adopt puppies or young adults and lose them to unexpected illness or accident. Life is not certain. No, a 10 year old dog won't be with you for 14 more years. But he might be with you for four, or five, or six.... you don't know. An 8 year old could easily live with you for 4-8 years. And hey, 8 years is the MAXIMUM TOTAL LIFE EXPECTANCY for lots of giant breeds.
You can't train them: Again, these are GOLDENS. They love to learn, anywhere, any time, any age. I've seen senior goldens do great things in obedience!
So bottom line, is quantity more important than quality??? Nope. Enjoy that already-housebroken, sleeping through the night, not chewing your house to bits, mature enough to have a brain in his head, "grateful as heck to find you" Senior Golden! Just LOOK at those sweet greying faces and say no! I can't!