Our boy is 5!!!!!!!!!!!!

Five years ago today, our beautiful Golden Retriever, Jackson, was born.  His Mom was a small lovely honey coloured Golden and his Dad was a large white or cream Golden.  He had 9 or 10 litter mates.
 
Jackson’s Dad & Mom

We always wanted another dog.  We had our precious Maggie, a yellow lab, she was now 7.   She was suffering from a torn cruciate ligament and major surgery and we couldn’t take her to park any longer to run and play with the other dogs, something she loved to do.  Once I retired in 2006, we decided to get another dog as company for Maggie and someone for her to play with and have a buddy.  Boy was that a mistake!

Maggie

We went to the breeder, a drive of about 2 hours, to pick out our new furkid.  When we got there, there were 5 puppies in the whelping pen.   We had no idea if we were going to get a male or female, we just thought we’d just go with the flow.
 
Jackson and his brothers & sisters
(I think he’s on the far right)

We played with the pups for a bit and they were all nuts, jumping and yelping all but one.  He sat there, was quiet, and just plain sweet.  I asked about him and was told that he had always been the quieter one among his siblings.  Bingo!!! this was the one for us due to the fact that Maggie was what we called the ‘puppy from hell’ !  Man she was a bad one.  Papers were signed, instructions given and we were off.  In hindsight I should have put him in a crate but I thought he would like to sit on my lap on the drive home.  He wasn’t comfortable on the ride home, proceeded to upchuck on me.  Poor guy, must be hard, never away from his family, all he knew was that whelping pen and the house and all of a sudden, he’s with strangers, in a weird moving vehicle, no wonder.   As soon as we got home I took him right outside into the backyard where he threw up again, but then once his feet hit solid earth he was fine.

We introduced him to Maggie, she sniffed him and walked away.  Jackson was kind of excited, I suppose thinking, ‘great, a 4 legged buddy’.  Maggie, I’m sure, was thinking, ‘when are you taking this guy back??!!’  They had a few buddy moments now and then over the years but not often and only when Maggie felt like it.  Maggie was a bossy, dominant girl and she wanted us all to herself.  She had a beautiful personality, but she had her own mind and once it was set, it was set.

But there was a kind of truce between them, Jackson adored her and Maggie tolerated him, barely.  But he never seemed to mind.  He’s a happy guy, and his main world is Ken and myself.  He did miss Maggie a lot when she died, he moped around, sighed a lot, but in a few months he did get over it.

Everyone who meets Jackson, seems to fall in love with him.  Not only is he beautiful (I am after all his Mom you know so what else would I think?) but he has the most amazing personality.  There is not a mean bone in his body.  He’s just a big love bug.  He listens well, is a joy to be around.  If I had to find one fault with him it’s that he’s not the greatest of travellers.  Not always the greatest when you RV.  In the RV he’s not so bad but in a car, oh my goodness.  Probably due to the bad start when he arrived home.  He fusses and whines and just is a royal PITA.  He’s a major, major foodie, but then a lot of retrievers are.

He has brought such joy to our lives over the past 5 years.  He was a blessing to have around after Maggie died.  He helped us heal.  Can’t imagine our lives without him. 

Happy Birthday Jackson..we love you.