My gold haven

Sophie was a very special dog. We lost Sophie on 5/14/08. She would have been 13 in October. We got her when she was 6. All of her life had been spent outdoors in a kennel. We were told that she ran away constantly and that she was uncontrollable indoors. When we got her she had never been groomed or to a vet. Her nails were so long that she had trouble walking. She was unable to walk up and down stairs or across hardwood floors and she was not housebroken. During her first grooming we noticed mammary tumors. At our first trip to the vet we were told that she had hip displasia. We had Sophie spayed and her tumors were removed. After we got her she never spent another night outdoors. She only had one accident in the house and remained housebroken until her death. She learned how to go up and down stairs and to walk across hardwood floors and the only time she ever "ran away" was when we came in the house and forgot her in the backyard. She would tunnel under the fence and come around to the front door and wait for us to open it. (We called her Houdini) Sophie, like all goldens, craved attention. She was happy to follow us around the house and lay at our feet. She loved to play with the puppies and retreated to her crate when she had had enough. Sophie lived with two remaining fears that she was never able to overcome. She was scared to death of thunder and she hated to have her picture taken. Most of our dogs love to pose for the camera but the minute that we took the camera out Sophie ran away. That is the reason that there are so few pictures of Sophie on this site.

Sophie is the reason that we are so careful about the puppies that we place. We wouldn't want one of our puppies to have to live the life that Sophie was forced to live for 6 years. We also don't want to see one of our pups end up at the pound or abandoned by the side of the road. Each new puppy owner is required to sign a contract. When you adopt one of our puppies you become a member of our extended family.