A Message from Owen #2358
Dear Danielle and Colin
This past summer has been the best ever. Honestly! It seems like we explored endless new places to have fun and I got to do stuff like fish, swim, run, dig, ride on a jet ski, eat great food (glorious food!), and sleep soundly in a comfy bed. How can I thank you for my awesome life ~ for saving me from despair, for healing my broken spirit and for giving me hope with a second chance. I’ve travelled so far from there to here and will be forever grateful.
It was only a few months ago that I was living on the street in a place called Istanbul. When I think back, I don’t know how I survived. I was isolated, dirty, always hungry and lonely. Bigger, aggressive dogs would steal what little food I could find and I dared not fight with them because I knew I would lose. Sometimes I didn’t eat for days and I drank dirty water from the street. At night, I feared for my safety. I knew this wasn’t a life that suited my gentle nature and I hoped that eventually, I would find a better way to live. And oh my, did I…
I remember the day I was scooped up from the street and placed in a shelter. Life was better there. I got fed regularly and everyone was so nice. But just as I was getting settled, another move came my way. Nine of my shelter buddies and I were gently guided by humans to a place I now call ‘freedom’. It was an airport. And when we were loaded onto the big, big metal bird, I knew life would be forever changed. Anywhere was better than life on the street.
We didn’t know it at the time, but our destination was Canada and you were waiting for me at the other end. From the moment I arrived, I knew I was home. When I felt your arms wrapped around me, all the fear and uncertainty of my past, simply melted away. You gave me a name. You were my family. I had hope. And the healing could now begin. You didn’t know it, but when you softly whispered in my ear, “Owen, we will love you forever,” I looked into your kind faces and knew that I would love you forever too.
Thank you for coming to the rescue.
Lovin’ life at home,
Owen
Please heal a Golden with your donation and give hope a second chance
Rescue has no borders. Whether a Golden comes from a world away in Istanbul, or from a neighbourhood in Toronto or Trois-Rivières, we want to give the lonely, neglected, surrendered, abandoned and abused a second chance to be loved and a safe place to call their forever home.
Golden Rescue is one of Canada’s largest single-breed rescue organizations and has saved more than 2,400 Golden Retrievers over the past 26 years. Most Goldens have been rescued from Ontario and Quebec and 116 have come from Istanbul. With increasing costs for veterinary care, rehabilitation, training, and air travel we have never needed your help more.