A beautiful, loving and intelligent breed, Golden Retrievers also need the most support

They are a true gift to any dog lover – or animal lover – in the world. Often sporting smiles, wagging tails and a propensity for human affection, Golden Retrievers have the looks and the characters to charm almost anyone.

Almost is the key word in the previous sentence. Even though they are such beloved creatures, Golden Retrievers also happen to be the breed that needs the most support from mankind.

Golden Rescue is one of, if the, largest single-breed rescue group in Canada. Since their inception over 33 years ago, they have rescued almost 5,000 Golden Retrievers (Goldens for short).

Indeed, in 2022 alone (2023’s full count was not yet available) there were 525 Goldens rescued by this charitable organization alone.

Muskoka Unlimited had a chance to catch up with Golden Rescue co-chair Viive Tamm recently to discuss why so many of these beautiful creatures need help.

“Every single story is story is different,” she explains. “Sometimes the reasons for surrendering are not horrible reasons. They’re reasons that are sad perhaps, such as older people moving to a home and they can’t take their dog with them. Sometimes a family member passes away and they have to relocate the dogs because other family members can’t take them.”

Other times people surrender their Goldens because of newborns that take up too much time, allergies that develop, or moving to a new country for work.

“Those are all surrenders that I would call understandable,” says Tamm. “Then there are other ones.”

These “other ones” range from ignorance to idiocy and in some cases are downright criminal. It’s hard not to choke up when listening to some of them.

On the ignorant side of the pendulum are owners who contact veterinarians (vets) to put their dog down because of a broken leg, or because the owner is moving . . . in each case, the vet knows there is nothing terminally wrong with their dog.

“And the vet says to us, we don’t want to do that, would you take the Golden,” says Tamm. “And we say, ‘of course we will,’ and then we pay to get them fixed and then we put them in our program.”

Goldens also find their way into the rescue when animal control services raid a puppy mill or a backyard breeder; or when animal shelters call to help alleviate the pressure by taking their Goldens into the rescue program.

Tamm goes on to discuss more heart wrenching stories such as a pair of Goldens (aged 12 and 13) who were found in a northern Montreal forest; they were dumped there and whoever did it cut the dogs’ microchips out before leaving them.

But that’s not even the worst situation. A few years ago, Casino Rama phoned the rescue to report Golden running around the parking lot. Whoever let them loose had spray painted “FREE” on either side of the dog’s torso.

Then Tamm talks about the time they had to rescue a 10-year-old Golden named Asher because he had been thrown out of the window of a moving vehicle on a highway.

EXTENSIVE PROCESS

Though a single-breed rescue exists for almost every breed, Golden Rescue has become the biggest organization in Canada due to the need. With over 70,000 supporters nationwide, they are entirely volunteer run by over 500 dedicated people located coast-to-coast, which means that every dollar raised benefits the Goldens directly.

Volunteer positions include the board of directors, foster families, a team doing social media, drivers who bring the rescued goldens where they need to go, and more.

While 100 percent of money raised goes towards helping the Goldens, over 80 percent of the funds are used for vet care and behavioural training. This is especially helpful when finding forever homes (hopefully) for the Goldens.

Tamm is not only the co-chair of the Golden Rescue board of directors, which has representatives from throughout Canada, she is also the head of the placement team. While the organization also helps rescue international Goldens when the need is great and time allows, first and foremost they work to rescue Canadian Goldens.

Tamm explains the process when a Golden is brought into the program. The dog goes through the intake team first and are then placed with a foster family.

Side note: they have about 150 fosters but are greatly in need of more. Any families interest in helping should contact Golden Rescue.

“Our goldens go to foster first so they can be assessed to see what type of family would be a good fit,” says Tamm. “We’re a matching service. While they’re in foster, they are checked out by a vet, could be spayed or neutered, and other important health and safety protocols to get them ready for adoption.”

Before any adoption takes place, the foster fills out a very extensive behavior evaluation that is around 10 pages long. They find out and mark down the answers to questions such as, do they like other dogs? Do they like children? What are their good and bad habits?

It’s a very detailed behaviour analysis and evaluation that is sent to the placement team. They then look for the best family.

“For example, if we have a golden who’s a bolter, or has no recall, or who will chase anything, then we demand that you have a fenced-in yard,” says Tamm. “If they don’t get along with cats, then we don’t put them with a family with cats. They could be too exuberant for a family with young children.”

If the dog has separation anxiety, then the rescue finds a home where at least one person is there most of the time.

“We find the right fit that ticks all the boxes,” says Tamm.

It’s also important to note that those looking for a furry family member should be exploring the adoption route. Golden Retrievers can be especially loving and are among the more intelligent breeds.

We’ve listed the Golden’s names only in the following gallery.

WISHBONE LOTTERY

Those wanting to support the Golden Rescue can donate at any time or take part in a variety of fundraisers they hold.

On that note, Tamm says their biggest fundraiser of the year (not counting private donations) is the Wishbone Lottery.

The grand prize is as fantastic as it gets: dinner for two anywhere in the world. Really, it’s a $30,000 travel voucher and $1,000 cash … but, yeah, that gets you dinner for two anywhere in the world.

Second prize is a $5,000 travel voucher and $2,000 cash, while third prize is a $2,000 Viamede Resort voucher.

Tickets are $40 each or 3 for $100. There are only 5,000 tickets printed, and the sale ends Jan. 10.

Buy your tickets and learn more at: https://www.goldenrescue.ca/wishbone-lottery/