A Letter From the President

August 2026

Dear Golden Family,

We have been very busy this past year. We have had more owner surrenders than we've had in many years.

Amongst the dogs that we have taken from the public, Amos is one of those dogs that I will never forget. His family called us to surrender this two-year-old because they were no longer able to take care of him.

Myself and another volunteer went to see him and shockingly we found him chained to a tree in the backyard. When we took the chain off of him, he walked past his two people and jumped on the volunteer and then gently came to sit in front of me. I bent down and whispered in his ear that he was not going to stay there and the next time he saw me, he would be going somewhere wonderful.

Amos went to a home with a couple that had another golden retriever. The man in the home has been doing agility with Amos in his backyard. He often posts pictures and videos of Amos' adventures. This dog's life was changed with one car ride.

We were asked to take a bonded pair. They had three young children and the youngest one had developed a serious allergy to the dog and couldn't breathe around them. Fortunately, they called LIGRR and we were able to find them a home together where they go to the beach often and have a wonderful life.

In spite of the owner surrenders we received, we were also still able to take a good number of mill moms and their puppies from the Amish. The puppies come to us without too many experiences and are often fearful of many things. It's a pleasure to see them grow and begin to enjoy being dogs.

The moms learn to be appreciative of the new lives that they were given. Many of them need to go with other dogs so they can learn how to be dogs and love life. The mill moms can often need a little time to settle in and adjust to their new surroundings.

In the past, we have been asked by the municipal town shelters to take in golden retrievers that were surrendered or found as strays. One dog that we recently took had showed up to the shelter with an opened wound that needed medical attention. We worked together with the shelter to get him the help he needed. He was a timid and scared dog in the shelter not understanding what was going on. He then got extremely lucky because he went to one of our fabulous foster homes who had other dogs, and guess what?! He never left.

As you can see, rescue keeps us very busy, but we are rewarded with doggie licks and tail wags.

Never Miss a Golden Opportunity.

Melanie