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Mail bounce… sorry if this is a duplicate! ;-)
-----Original Message-----
Hey there,
Welcome to the Brierpups list, Sweetie! <vbg> Gina succeeded in getting my *better half* to join the list! Yeah! Rick is actually much more knowledgeable about dogs than I am. I’ve learned most everything I know from him! After getting a solid foundation from Gina to begin with… from which I was able to grow! So seriously, Rick is really a great additional source of information to draw upon! After Gina & Judy and all the other great people on this list!
Rick mentioned us being active in golden rescue locally & nationally. The local rescue is RAGofAZ… and Gina has been instrumental in helping to place a couple of dogs for us here as well (Bear to Astoria & Forrest to Alaska). In addition to the intakes/transports we do of the surrendered goldens locally, I am also the Asst. Intake Director and take 2 week revolving shifts on keeping the database updated for all the dogs coming in, interview & take all the profiles for one week shifts and write the weekly “Sunday Summary” for the various teams within our rescue, when it is my “shift”. As well as going and picking the dogs up from their surrendering owners (along with Rick) and taking the dogs to their new foster homes. I also review, interview and approve/deny all the faxed adoption applications for RAGofAZ. Our application is 7 pages long, so it is a huge commitment!
We truly are in LOVE with this breed! There is no better animal on earth (in our opinion)! We are obsessed and very dedicated to the future of golden retrievers! I would have many more, but Rick says the limit is 4. Dang! As I so would love to have a SeaJay boy puppy! We also do pet therapy visits with two of our dogs (Chelsea & Michelob), who are both TDI registered. These babies are our KIDS! And they are spoiled absolutely rotten!
The last thing I wanted to comment on is that I agree 100% with Rick about Gina! She is an incredibly dedicated & caring breeder! She was not the breeder of either of my goldens that I purchased in Oregon (Jake & Chelsea were both from two other breeders in OR & were born 2 weeks apart). She was “the breeder of record/co-breeder” on the AKC registrations for both litters, however. Gina really had no “obligation” to me… other than the fact that she loves the breed! She took me under her wing & mentored me! She taught me a lot! She has always cared MORE than either of Jake or Chelsea’s breeders! Heck, they don’t even write, e-mail, call or anything… they never inquire about the dogs I purchased from them. SAD. Gina, on the other hand… even adopted Rick’s two rescued golden kids (Michelob & Austin) as her own “grandkids” along with Jake & Chels. She deeply cares about them all and keeps in touch to see how Mich has been doing, etc… This woman CARES! And she is so incredibly knowledgeable about our breed.
Everyone on this list that has a Brier pup… you are all very fortunate! If all breeders were only half as caring & dedicated as Gina… we’d have a lot less issues with our breed in the future!
Sorry that this is so long… I just wanted to share our deep respect & fondness of Gina with you all. She is the BEST!
Yanna
-----Original Message-----
I am going to try and introduce myself to you.
I am Rick (better know as Bif the kennel boy) the other half of Bif and Blondie. As you already know we have 4 goldens. Michelob (9), Jake, Chelsea and Austin all 5. We have been struggling lately with Michelob and his auto-immune disorder. But we seem to be heading the right direction on that. We hope to have his latest test results back later today.
Yanna and I met 4 years ago via another golden retriever email list. I was doing private rescue here in AZ. And she was contacted about 3 puppies in Oregon that needed homes. Yanna arranged to fly them to me as I had homes waiting for puppies and one of them (our Austin) stayed on with me.
We are very active in local and national rescue. We both do intakes and transportation for our local rescue. I also run an ongoing action on ebay to help a national rescue called Golden Retrievers in Cyberspace as well as Goldentown a hospice for unwanted goldens.
Here are the links to both as they good references.
http://www.golden-retriever.com/
We will also be going to Goldstock http://www.goldstockonline.com/index.html in a couple of weeks. It is at a children’s camp in northeast PA. We usually have around 250 people and at least 300 golden retrievers at Goldstock over the Labor day weekend. Even though most of you are on the west coast we would encourage you to go to Goldstock. Last year we raised over $35,000 during the weekend and all of it went to various golden retriever rescues all over the country. There is lots to do and lots to shop for, not to mention having a great time with 300 + Goldens!
I have known Gina for 4 years now and must tell you all that you are very lucky to have such a caring breeder. Gina sincerely cares about each and every one of the dogs she places. Something that is hard to find these days! Gina also has a wealth of knowledge about Goldens.
I will probably be a lurker on the list for the most part. But if you have a question please feel free to ask it. I have a fair background in dogs and especially Goldens. I don’t have all the answers but may have run into a similar problem over the years and may be able to point you in the right direction. Funny thing is Gina and I usually agree!
I look forward to reading your posts!
Rick
Rick Reid, Yanna Jorni and The Golden Menagerie - Jake, Chelsea, Michelob and Austin
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