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You can donate in honor of a success story you see here or to create your own success story. See our on line donation form. Select Success Story from the dropdown. Follow through with all the Pay Pal instructions if you pay by credit card. |
 Clifford (adopted December 2008)
Clifford was almost 50 pounds overweight when Kris Williams pulled him out of the Reno shelter in March of 2008. Kris got his weight under control, and in December 2008 he was adopted by Cathy Retterer and it's been one happy love story ever since. Click here to read this wonderful story of happy endings. |
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My Buddy for the Summer of 2009
This a Success Story in that the love and care for a wonderful dog was returned many times over, even though after all the attention and energy Buddy did not pull through. Click here to read the full story. |
 The Gift of Koda
NGRR, unlike many other rescue agencies, takes in senior dogs and dogs with medical conditions, whether treatable with surgery or not, providing the dog has a good chance of leading a pain free and happy life. Koda, a 20 month old male, came to us with Cerebellar Hypoplasia,a serious, untreatable condition that causes loss of motor skill control and results in uncoordinated and jerky movement and varied degree of loss of balance which can severely affect the animal's ability to walk, run, eat, etc,. often, tragically, leading to euthanizia. However many dogs with this condition can learn to live with it given the right home environment and lots of love and commitment from their new owner. We thought it would be difficult to find Koda a good forever home given the time, energy, patience and understanding required, but Koda was adopted by Garry Pells, an NGRR volunteer, who’s heart could not pass up trying to pitch in. Garry took the time to work and play with Koda to make him feel comfortable and happy in his new home. Koda is now living and loving the good life with Garry with his Golden crew. To read this truly inspirational story, click here. |
 Toby (Adopted Dec 31, 2008)
Toby heard the sirens of the ambulance wailing as they took away his beloved owner. The next few weeks were hard as few family members came by but then left and never had any time for him. Suddenly he found himself in a shelter surrounded by chaos, barking dogs and strangers reaching for him through the bars. He was only 3 years old and he had no idea how or why he was in this cold, dark, terrifying place. All he wanted was to curl up and make himself as small as possible in the farthest corner of this scary cage and wait for his ‘boy, who always had a tennis ball and treat in his pocket’ to come and take him back home. Day after day Toby shrank into himself and became more and more fearful. He stopped eating and turned his face to the wall whenever anyone got close. The shelter was full, Toby’s chances for adoption were low and with Christmas in two days the shelter needed to make room. Toby’s time was running out.
Norcal Golden Retriever Rescue was contacted and given 24 hours to pick up Toby ‘or else’ he would be gone. The volunteer organization went to work and soon emails were flying with pleas to find transportation and a foster home – and to make all this happen on December 23. Toby’s Rescue angels sprang into action and soon volunteers from Santa Clara county, Alameda county and Contra Costa county rescued Toby from death row.
A wonderful Norcal GRR foster family took Toby in on December 23. With love and reassurance from Foster Dad Frank and Foster Mom Sandy, as well as the acceptance and company from their two goldens, Toby quickly came out of his shell. After a trip to the vet and some grooming to remove all of the mats from his coat, Toby was suddenly looking forward to a bright New Year and he felt safe once again. He was happy, but he still kept thinking about his boy and how much he missed him.
The week after New Year’s Day, Tom and his two young boys, Jack and Luke, drove to Oakland to meet Toby to see if he would be a good match for his boys. And indeed it was, as Foster Mom Sandy said, "When Tom came with his two boys to meet Toby I knew almost immediately that they were going to be his forever family! It was a perfect match." Now Toby has two boys . . . double the love, double the tennis balls to retrieve and double the fun! Toby is deeply thankful to all 7 of his NGR Rescue Angels and sends a wet kiss and big nose nudge to the entire team of Norcal Golden Retriever Rescue volunteers! |
 Max (adopted December 20, 2008)
Max was on "death row" at the shelter because he was so afraid. Of course the minute we rescued him and took him outside, he was greatly improved. At first they still wouldn't let us have him so we waited with Max for 2 hours at the shelter while they contacted the main person who finally said NGRR could take him. They were going to euthanize him. Our vet evaluated him and said Max was fine, just scared.
A happy holiday ending for a great puppy as max was dopted by one of our volunteers.
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 Ki and Mark and the 4 puppies (Rescued mid December 2008)
Ki (shown with her husband Mark) is a volunteer with Norcal Irish Setter Rescue (www.ncisrescue.org). Ki was shopping in Tracy when she met a couple in the Walmart parking lot that were selling four male Golden Retriever puppies. The puppies were 10 weeks old. Ki contacted NGRR and we were going to have a volunteer meet her in Tracy. Ki was concerned that the puppies would be sold before our volunteer reached her. So she went into a local bank and took out a cash advance on her Visa for $600. She gave the couple the $600 and loaded the pups in her car. She immediately took them to her vet which is also an NGRR vet. The pups were deemed healthy so she took them home, bathed them and kept them overnight. The next morning she met with NGRR to make the transfer. Ki would not accept the $600 and asked that we consider it a donation to NGRR.
Just in time for the holidays, all four puppies have been placed in loving forever homes. Ki's generous spirit and passion for the animals have made four little guys and their adopting families overjoyed this season.
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 Cassie (Adopted Dec 12, 2008)
Cassie was surrendered to NGRR volunteers in San Luis Obispo on December 9 and placed with a family with 2 young daughters on Dec 12. This is their story as told by mom.
We have all fallen in love with the wonderful Cassie! She is truly "Golden": affectionate, ready to play, eager to please and VERY trainable--plus having a bark that will clearly deter any burgler. I have never had a dog that came so easily when called, walked so well on a leash without much training or responded so quickly to "no". Her energy-level and affectionate nature fit in very well with our family. Max, our small terrier, is really enjoying her company, although he is exhausting himself trying to keep up, so it is convenient that there are other young dogs in the neighborhood. We are moving slowly, at the cat's pace, with feline-canine relations. Cassie seems open to the idea.
Thank you so much for enabling us to add such a special new family member. The timing, right before Christmas when everyone has time off, has been perfect. We will never forget Cassie's homecoming.
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 Lady and Daisy (Adopted mid November 2008)
We adopted Lady when she was 3 yrs old and was not expected to live more than 3 more months. She had a severe heart condition -missing a valve. She had been in 3 homes and no one wanted her because she was going to die. We said that we would give her the best time of her life, even if it was short. Well it has been the best for all of us. She is now 5 + and having a great time.
Yes she won’t live long but what a great companion wonderful girl she is. Now she has a sister who is 3 who was found on the street and picked up as vicious. Almost put down until Golden Rescue got her. She was just scared and has fit into our family great. Now we have 2 wonderful Goldens and they keep us laughing and happy all the time. Our lives as well as theirs have changed for the best because of the Nor Cal Golden Rescue. Thanks so much for enriching our lives and that of our 2 beautiful golden girls.
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 Nellie (Adopted September 15, 2008)
A senior couple who lost a very special Golden about 18 months ago were heart-broken. They found out about NGRR and immediately submitted an application. Because of their age, it would be difficult for them to travel to get a dog and because of recent surgery the dog needed to be well trained and definitely not pull on a leash. We advised the couple they may wait a long time but they hung in there. This summer, a family in tears called us because they had to give up a beautiful Golden due to health problems of the elderly owner. The adult children could have taken Nellie , but she was used to having people around all the time and they didn’t think it was fair to the dog to not have a constant companion. When the senior adopting couple arrived to meet Nellie, our heart sang. The woman had on her Golden Retriever hat, Golden Retriever shirt and Golden Retriever smile.
Nellie has a wonderful new home and we get frequent calls about how wonderful she is and how thankful the couple is to NGRR for our help in completing their family again.
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