Tails from Bentley

Special guest blog by Bentley the dog

Greetings, or as I like to say, happy tails! I can’t believe it’s been only weeks since I left the streets of Cairo, flew on a plane and arrived in Canada. A nice man named Kevin greeted me and drove me to meet my new family. We had lots of laughs and pets in his driveway, then it was time to go home.

The minute I walked in the door, I knew I found my furrever home. The oldest girl, Grace gave me a big hug and had a new toy and sign ready for me, saying “Welcome home”.

My new home is doggie paradise. My owners posted pictures of me on Facebook and all their friends said I won the doggie lottery. Apparently their house is known as a“doggie spa” because it is pawsitively awesome and regularly gets five tail wag reviews on PupAdvisor from four-legged visitors.

My new house is all one level and has a wood stove for me to curl up beside in the winter and a beautiful sunroom with all windows. I have six acres to roam on a spring-fed lake. My family keeps telling me we will go fishing and swimming in the summer, but for now, it’s all frozen and snowy. I have already been ice fishing and skating and like to blow bubbles in the ice fishing holes and minnows bucket!

I love watching the birds on my property. I especially love chasing the squirrels. When my owners let me out the front or back door, I go tearing after them and five or six squirrels will go flying off the bird feeders onto the fences and trees in a flourish. It makes me howl every time! My family doesn’t mind because it keeps the squirrels away from the bird feeders.

It took me about a week to adjust to everything. My tummy was off a bit, so my Mom gave me pumpkin in my food for a few days. On Christmas Eve she made a pumpkin pie. She left it on the counter and asked my Dad to get the tupperware container down and cover it up. He got the wrong one that doesn’t close properly and so before bed, I smelled the pumpkin, thinking it was for me and put my paws on the counter and ate half of it.

Another time, a neighbour dropped some apple crisp off at the front door and got stuck in the icy snow in their driveway. When they all went out to help them get unstuck, I helped myself to half a brie and lovely charcuterie board on the dining room table. I know I shouldn’t, but if stupid humans leave food out like that, I can’t help myself. I’ll have to train them better if I’m going to keep my boyish figure.

My family is home during the day and spend their time looking at screens a lot. They take lots of breaks to play with me and take me for walks. They keep using words like “Covid” and “virus” and assure me we will visit more with other people and dogs when those strange words are over.

My favourite place to sleep now is in my Dad’s chair in the sunroom. It fits me just perfect, I can look out the windows and it makes me feel closer to him when he is away at work. Mom says it’s like I’m a prince on my throne.

Grace keeps bringing stuffed toys home for me. My ETTR (estimated time to rip apart) is 24 hours. I’m trying to improve my time to get into the Guinness Book of Dog Records. I figure I have a good shot if she keeps bringing dollar store items. I also like to go around and pick up hats, mitts and socks. Mom is trying to teach me to drop the dirty items in the laundry basket for biscuits.

Grace has a boyfriend and he is a cat person (horrors). I have made it my secret mission to convert him to become a dog person so we snuggle a lot and play together. I think my master plan is working.

I am so happy in my new home. We believe in our hearts we were MFEO (Made For Each Other). I know this wonderful new life of mine would never have been possible without Golden Rescue and my generous sponsor. From the tip of my tail, I want to say thank you so much for bringing me to such a wonderful place.

Happy tails, Bentley!

The best Christmas gift ever

golden retriever

One of the first blog posts I ever wrote when I started sharing a happy act a week to help make the world a happier place was, “Hug a dog”.

There is nothing like the love and licks of a furry four-legged friend to make bad days better and good days epic. When our two large dogs passed away within the same year, we held off getting another dog. Our schedules were hectic and we thought we’d just look after friends’ dogs when they were away.

Then COVID hit and everyone got a dog. Friends who have never had a dog before were getting puppies. We started searching for the right dog online but even mutts were going for $1,200 and pickings were scant.

We were dogless in lockdown during a pandemic. It just wasn’t right. We wrote out our Christmas lists and each made the same wish to Santa: please bring us a puppy.

Our wishes came true this week when we adopted a one and a half year-old golden retriever rescue dog from goldenrescue.ca. He flew all the way from Cairo, Egypt and already has nuzzled his way into our hearts and his furever home.

He is a big, gentle loving soul who loves to play, walk and snuggle. We can’t get over how good he is already. His worst habits are stealing the toilet paper roll off the holder and picking up Dave’s socks from the floor which he always brings and presents to me proudly. My goal is to teach him to put the socks in the laundry basket—one less chore in the house.

But we need help with a name. He came with the name Bailey, but I had a dog for 17 years named Bailey and every dog has their own unique personality. Here are some suggestions that have already come in from friends on Facebook.

This week’s #HappyAct is to make someone’s Christmas wish come true and give the best present ever, or at least help us name our newest family member. I hope everyone has a wonderful and joyous Christmas. Be sure to read next week’s annual year-end wrap up of the best happy acts of 2020.

  • Beau
  • Cairo
  • Tucker
  • Harley
  • Jasper
  • Red
  • Rusty Griswold Swinton (since we got him at Christmas)
  • Nugget (like a gold nugget)
  • Elvis (my choice, the rest of the fam are nixing this one)
  • Duke
Dave and Clare walking the dog
Doing his first Christmas bird count

Always see with your heart

Facebook this morning is full of images and RIP messages for a very special golden retriever: Smiley.

Smiley was born without eyes, and a rare condition that made him look like he smiled all the time. He worked as a therapy dog bringing joy and happiness to everyone he met. His owners had to put him down yesterday.

His owners posted this yesterday, “The little dog with a big heart and a grand purpose left us today at 12:30pm. In Smiley’s honour, please be kind to one another, give back, and always see with your heart.”

This week’s #HappyAct is to always see with your heart and keep smiling. RIP Smiley.