Wanted: Your Golden Retriever Stories

Shaun Mullen over at Kiko’s House — a certified Friend-of-1115 — is soliciting help with a story he’s researching about golden retrievers:

But as I have written here, many American golden retrievers are also ticking time bombs because an extraordinarily large number of them — perhaps one in four — succumb to cancer well before living to the once typical 12- to 16-year life expectancy.
[...]
Prompted by the continuing stream of heartbreaking comments from readers who lost their goldens long before their time, we’re researching a story on what work is being done to try to breed cancers out of goldens, as well as put unscrupulous breeders on notice who fail to alert buyers to the high risk of cancers and other fatal diseases in the breed.

To that end, we welcome your personal stories about your goldens — or those of family members or friends. Photographs in the form of .jpgs also are most welcome.

Please send them to kikokimba@gmail.com

Comments

Kate Hadd says:

October 20, 2010 at 10:45 am

Hello, are you still working on this story? Our 7 1/2 year old Golden recently passed of hemangiosarcoma. It was an extremely dramatic and violent death. When we brought him to the emergency hospital the vet on duty said his Golden passed at 6 of cancer and he would never get another Golden because of it. Later his remarks haunted me. I started doing research and came across your blog post. Why isn’t there more education to owners and vets about widespread cancer in Goldens? I didn’t know of the risks until it was too late. Why does the Golden kennel club still list hip dysplasia and not cancer on their website as what you should be watching for? Why does their site still list that most Goldens live until 12 – 16, when this is no longer the case? Golden owners need information on this cancer epidemic so they can watch for it in their dogs and to keep their expectations in check. Would love to help you on your story.
sarabeth says:

October 20, 2010 at 11:23 am

I’ve passed your comment on to Shaun.
Rebecca Watson says:

January 14, 2011 at 5:54 am

Hello! I have a 9 year old Golden Retriever named Heidi. She joined our family in the Netherlands as a puppy and has been a joyful friend for our children and a wonderful family dog. She is slightly smaller than the US Goldens and is white and cream colored. She was recently diagnosed with cancer, and had surgery to remove what cancer the vet could find. Someone posted on your blog saying they were thinking of getting a European White or Cream Golden as they are less prone to cancer. This may be true- I only have our one dog, Heidi, to judge from. But it could also simply be under-reported in Europe.
lisa brush says:

May 18, 2011 at 5:11 pm

We just lost our golden on Monday. Bailey was only six years old. We were told last month that he had cancer and were told that he had two months to live. We have been treating him with predisone in hopes of cheating the cancer. He started to have trouble breathing and our fears came true. We feel as if Bailey was cheated, six is too young to die. He is greatly missed by his family. He was a loyal companion, gentle, and loved by anyone who knew him. We probably will never get another golden, it is too hard to deal with the heartbreak.
Todd H says:

May 28, 2011 at 3:51 pm

On Mothers Day we lost the most wondrous soul. Never have any of us encountered such unconditional love, as if from God himself. He was only turning 9 years. We feel cheated. How can something so angelic be taken so early. He was running and playing 24 hours earlier, quit eating and suddenly kept fainting. An X-ray, ultrasound plus Hgb all told the same story here.Thankfully, I spent that last morning with him. I laid on the cool tile facing him. I held his hand in mine, felt him grasping at me with his paw. We gazed deeply into each others eyes for an hour as the sun came up. He had always stared into our eyes and communicated with more intelligence than many people we’ve met. We were finally able to meet all of our kids at the ER, and while we all praised him, held and stroked him, he was let go. There were unstoppable tears, I wailed as if I had lost a child. Even now, three weeks later, I still cant stop crying. I am 6 foot 2 and 240 lbs but his love and loss has reduced me to a babbling little child. How we will miss our Cosmos until our very last breath. I know his soul is eternal…how could it not be?
Wait for me Puppa, Daddy’s coming soon…..