Hi from the Arizona Golden Retriever Connection in Phoenix. I am the webmaster of www.azgrc.org. I was very impressed with your Taking a Bite out of Cancer mnemonic – it is timeless. I would like to ask your permission to display it on our Health and Education page (giving you full credit of course) and to make handouts available at our adoption events. So many of our rescued dogs succumb to this disease and making more information available might help prevent or cure someone’s beloved pet. I enjoy all your topics and I passed along the treating dogs with their own stem cells for hip dysplasia to our members since many Goldens possess this affliction. Hope to see more information on this become available. Thanks for all the information on your wonderful website. You set the standard for other rescues to follow. — Debbie Hoffman

I can't remember how I found your site but I am glad I did. I have shared it with others and recently passed it on to the president of a Golden Retriever Rescue in south Florida. I wish I could give more financial support, and someday I hope to be able to give more, but right now funds are quite limited especially since I decided to adopt my foster (before her medical care has been completed). A sweet senior Golden Gal I pulled out of a high kill shelter who was literally not even hours away from being euthanized. She was so very ill and could hardly walk. She has multiple mammary tumors and has not been strong enough to undergo anesthesia and surgery yet. I could not bear to part with her even though I need six dogs like I need a hole in the head. So, I have been working to build her strength and boost her immune system. Realistically, she probably has cancer. Her needle aspirates were inconclusive, but I did not want to wait until she could tolerate surgery to start fighting what may very well be cancer. I will continue to pray all turns out well. Surgery is scheduled three weeks from now. But, why I tell you all this is to thank you for all you do. And, to Thank You for helping me with such wonderful information I found on your site. I have Maggie Mae on several of the supplements listed in your cancer aware section. I am grateful for all the "help" I can get as I am sure sweet Maggie Mae is. — Rebecca

[August 11, 2009] I just had to write and thank you for getting me through the last 10 months and even before that by reading your site everyday, being in the same disabled situation as you and my Golden obsession, and your daily quotes have been lifesavers. But I received a miracle today with my Bailey that I had to share with everyone. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma last October at age 11 and my world fell apart. My vet told me she would not suggest amputation at her age, just go home and love her for the time she has left. That was not acceptable to me, so I called a good friend of ours who is a veterinary surgeon in Phoenix, and told him her diagnosis. He said we needed to get her leg off immediately. I read everything on osteosarcoma I could get my hands on and scheduled surgery for the next day. He removed her right rear leg. It tore my heart out to see her after the surgery, but the report came back it was osteosarcoma so I knew we had done the right thing. We had already decided we did not want to put her through any other treatments because she is my Velcro dog and I just knew she would not handle it well.

We were ready to love and cherish her for whatever time we had left with her. Our surgeon also told us her time was limited, but she was out of pain with the leg off. Long story short, every day since then has been like waiting for the ball to drop. We had a huge 12th birthday party for her, thinking this would be her last. By today, we were wondering why she wasn't getting sicker. She is still eating, loving her car rides, still being the same Bailey, just slower getting around.

We made the excruciating decision to take her into the surgeon today to have a chest x-ray done to see where she was at. After the longest ten minutes of our life, he came in and told us she has no mets in her lungs. She is in the 1% who survive! Well, we cried and couldn't believe the miracle we had just been given. Our surgeon said she is one very lucky dog.

My point in writing this is every day since her diagnosis, I would think about you losing Darcy, and I kept telling my husband I don't think I will ever get through losing Bailey. She is such a part of me. I know that day will still come sometime, but I wanted to let people know to not give up hope until you absolutely have to. I sent a picture of her into the gardener's contest laying in the flowers in my yard, and that is Bailey. I knew she wouldn't leave me yet. Who would I have to garden with?
 
Okay, I'm crying now, so I'll stop. Just thank you for creating this wonderful site where I can go everyday and feel a kinship. I don't know how you do it, while also dealing with the ups and downs of having a disability. G-d bless you and your family for it. — Deborah Johnson

[June 6, 2009] It has been such a horrible year for ticks. I have had numerous searches in Virginia where my Golden Salsa and I were bitten so badly that I look like I just got over the worst case of chicken pox. We're positive for Lyme Disease, but at the moment our bodies are successfully fighting off the disease and we are without symptoms .

I just feel bad for Salsa because her fur is so thick and fluffy that the ticks are just all over her as soon as she goes through the first field of tall grass. We had one search in Ashburn, VA where I pulled nearly 100 ticks off of her after only three hours of tracking. It was disgusting. When I ran my hand down her front legs they felt like washboards from all of the ticks. She has been on Frontline Plus and then I switched to K9 Advantix and neither has stopped the ticks. The only comfort is that any ticks I miss will die as soon as they bite her. I would love something that actually repels them and can be used on both of us. So I'm really looking forward to trying Liquid Net for Pets Ultimate Flea, Tick & Insect Repellent. And, BELIEVE ME, if it works as well as it says, I will be letting you know.

[Ten days later] I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The two Liquid Net for Pets bottles I just purchased are gifts for rescue managers that I work with who spend a lot of time out chasing lost foster dogs in Virginia—which has got to be one of the most tick-ridden places I have ever searched. I can put Liquid Net for Pets on my face (I'm allergic to EVERYTHING and most repellants cause me to break out in a rash), in my hair, on my clothes, on my DOG (which is so fantastic because I worry about causing her to not be able to smell when I use chemicals on her), and my gear. 

Last night we were tracking a little Italian Greyhound down in Richmond that got away from a boarding kennel. We were in woods and in a field with grass and weeds that were up to our chests and when we got home there wasn't a tick on either of us! The owner of the dog who has been looking for her little dog for two weeks now — and has been plagued with ticks every time she goes anywhere off of paved areas — called me this morning and begged me to send her the link for the spray, because she didn't have any ticks either this time. This is a wonderful product and I will be recommending it to everyone I know. Thanks for introducing this to us. I'm going to take a picture of Salsa wearing her tracking harness sitting next to the bottle! — Sam Connelly

[August 9, 2010] Our poodle girls love their non-irradiated bully sticks, and chewing them proves to be better and infinitely more pleasant than teeth brushing for their dental hygiene. Their teeth and gums look beautiful since they have been chewing on these regularly.

It is also a good boredom buster and has stopped―and I do mean stopped―baby Vivi's erstwhile counter surfing and destructive chewing of all things which were not hers to have, but which she used always to covet and take!

Clean mouths and no more naughtiness gets our 5 star rating! Thanks, Rochelle, for making this world a better place for so many of us. We appreciate all that you do. — H.M. Austin, TX