River -
The early days

Going back to our pre-River days, my first Golden was an American bred dog.  This dog was an amazing friend and working partner.  I am a mental health professional, and he was my registered therapy dog.  I had no idea that the Golden Retriever breed would so completely take over my heart.  I watched him change lives on a daily basis.  His last day on this earth, while he struggled to breath and walk due to rapidly growing cancer in his heart and lungs, he was more concerned with comforting others than his own ailment.  Sadly, his life was cut short by cancer as happens far too often in certain types/lines of the Golden Retriever breed.  ​

After going through the loss of my partner, I was simply unable to consider another American Golden Retriever.  Divine intervention brought our little Blue Boy, an English Cream Golden Retriever into our lives.  He has brought that golden joy back and marked our lives with so many wonderful adventures and new friends.