In the ‘Boo’ginning !

We had never really considered a Golden Retriever before we fell in love with Boo.

Our beloved Mollie, the Golden Labrador, had died alone in a cage in the vet’s surgery overnight after suffering a series of kidney and liver problems.

As a result, it was at least 2 years before we considered the possibility of bringing a new, four-legged friend into our hearts and home again.  The local Labrador rescue network had no dogs for re-homing that would suit us, at that particular time, so we had a chat about what to do next. We looked up what we thought was the next best thing – Golden Retriever Rescue – and contacted the nearest one. After answering a few questions over the phone, we were informed that there was a ‘nice young fellow’ who we might like to meet.

To cut a long story short, that led to our discovery of Boo – a bouncy, nervous and very excitable young Golden Retriever. Our first encounter with him demonstrated his frantic ability to stand on his two back legs and attempt to put his paws on our shoulders and any other human who was nearby.  He was probably frightened, bewildered and terribly lonely.  His rather brief back story was that he had been a pup in a household belonging to a young family with a little boy.  When we met him, he was a juvenile and almost fully grown physically.

We were allowed to take Boo for a walk down the country lane near to the rescue centre, and that’s when we first encountered an incident that could very well have put us off forever – the Boo Poo! Suddenly he squatted and then ‘let one drop’ – well it was like three actually – three huge sausages! The boys began to wretch and hold their noses and me and the husband turned to each other and laughed heartily!

Did you know?  
The average healthy Retriever pup can need the loo around two to five times a day. As the dog matures, it usually settles to around twice a day.

According to other Retriever owners, Boo’s poo sizes are no different from any other of his breed.  I am sure, however, that they would have knocked Mollie’s poos into a cocked hat when it comes to size!

Going home…

When we took him home, Boo settled in like he had lived with us for his whole life.  Within a couple of hours, he was playing excitedly in the garden with our two sons and a friend who had dropped by.  From that moment, we knew he was for us and we like to think that he was feeling the same.

We were overwhelmed by his gorgeous face and especially his beautiful, bright, friendly eyes.  We were informed that he was around 14 to 18 months old. We had a good chat with the rescue centre staff about his preferred menu and daily routine – apparently it was important that we continue his dining regime of breakfast at 8am and dinner at 6pm. All these years later it has remained the same and there is no shadow of a doubt among us that Boo knows 8am and 6pm to the exact second.

We were told that Boo had been chipped and were given the relevant information. We were able to update the information on the chip online. No promises were made about whether he was house-trained or not – thankfully, he was extremely well house trained.  once we had decided to adopt Boo, we were given his lead and permission to take him home with the proviso that we would get in touch immediately if we were worried about him or, God forbid, we had changed our minds.

Boo, the name given to him by his previous owners, soon settled into our routine at home and, as a result, we have had many, many years of great joy and everyday life with Boo. He soon got over his nerves and began to do all the usual doggie stuff, such as greeting us at the door, playing tugging and rough and tumble games in the garden and eating, eating and more eating.

One of the first things we noticed about Boo during those first few weeks was the fact that he did a lot of dribbling. This occurred mainly in the vicinity of food, but it didn’t matter whose food it was! Any Golden Retriever owner will tell you that they know the “Dribble Formula” very well :

Human Food + Delicious Smell = Bucket load of dribble.

At the time we had wooden flooring – and the mop became very well used!

We also soon discovered that Boo did not know how to ‘retrieve’ or had any interest in learning how to retrieve anything, at all, not even a ball or a stick! He would only run after something you threw if it was edible or smelled like it was edible.

We wondered if, as a pup, he had never engaged with anyone who wanted to teach him or encourage him to play such games. Boo would only want to play with something that he had found. Then he would, rather hilariously, try to tease us with his precious ‘find’ by prancing around us with it dangling from his jaws and using some very swift head moves to prevent us from snatching it.

As he settled into our home and our family more, Boo began to get better at responding to play instigated by us – he loved his rubber ‘tugger’, his squeaky pig, his rope with a knot at the end and his red plastic bone.

Boo was incredibly trusting of us and we soon realised that we could be the same with him. It seemed that he was so grateful to have a new family and home that he did not want to leave our sides. So much so, in fact, that he was better walking off his lead than on it within a few weeks. And that continues to this day.  He has never attempted to leave our sides, walk off to greet another dog or distance himself from us at any time.  He remains the exact same to this day – although somewhat slower.

Now, Boo is aged about 13 to 14 years, he has lost some hearing and his eyes are becoming a little cloudy. His legs are much stiffer and, as a result, it takes him a few seconds longer to get out of his bed once he has decided to do so. His partial hearing loss also means he is no longer immediately woken by the sound of the fridge door opening. Totally different, of course, from the deliberate and selective deafness he has mischievously used throughout his life.

We love him so much.

Coronavirus: Boo has eaten Tesco’s own brand dried dog food for the whole of his life with us. His coat has always been shiny, his limbs supple and his digestion unproblematic. As I write, we had been unable to get Boo’s usual favourite sack of chicken and veg for more than a fortnight thanks to panic buying. 

However, one day last week,  I stood in a staggered but very amicable long queue to get into our local Extra store to discover that Tesco had got it sorted – only a small number of lone shoppers were allowed in at any one time to enforce social distancing.  As a result, the shelves were well stocked and I was able to load Boo’s favourite food into my trolley.

What a relief and well done the fab staff at Wigan Tesco Extra!

Next Blog: Travels with Boo.