When my dad was in his last stages of cancer and we had just put my mom in a nursing home with advanced Alzheimer's, and I had moved back in to his house to take care of him and keep him company, I knew that getting a dog would be great therapy for both of us.  We always had dogs in our family, and it had been too long since there had been a dog in the house.  It's a big house with a big fenced yard so I figured it was the right time.

 

So I started on a search for a Golden Retriever or Golden/mix dog.  This is the picture that I saw on Petfinder.com of "Ashley" (who was guessed to be a 1-1/2 year old Golden Retriever/German Shepherd/Collie mix who had been rescued from the pound) that just grabbed my heart, and I knew that she was "the ONE."   Just look at that tongue!  LOL

 

I called about her, and my brother (who was visiting from out-of-town), my dad and I went to meet her and we all fell in love and took her home that day.

 

The name "Ashley" just didn't sound right to us, so I named her "Jackie" after my last Golden Retriever named "Crackerjack."

 

 

Jackie was thin and shy when I adopted her, but very affectionate. 

 

With some healthy food and lots of TLC, she filled out, got a healthy coat and a vivacious personality.

 

Jackie is the one who got me started in adoption, and from now on, any dog I get will be from a rescue shelter.  Jackie is the mother hen of my three dogs.  She's the one who usually will instigate the playing, but she always makes sure her "siblings" are okay.  She's always the last one to go outside and the last one to come back inside. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jackie.  And it wasn't even posed.  She just happened to have her Jolly Ball in between her feet like that.  You can see that she's even smiling with her eyes.  I wuv my Jackie girl!

 

Peg (the other one)