Golden Retriever Puppy Wonderland!

Willow, our golden retriever, has a fresh new litter of puppies. What a joy they are providing along with ample laughter as they learn to walk, play and puppy bark.

Willow is now 5 years old, and this will be her final litter. All the more that we are enjoying this batch of pups. She seems to be too- she is spending more time with this litter then her previous litters and is an incredibly attentive mother-playing, feeding, cleaning and watching over them.

Willow is a dark golden and comes from a hunting line of retrievers that specializes in waterfowl and upland game bird retrieving. She loves just about everything-hunting, swimming, playing with the kids, going for hikes and walks, riding in the boat and airplane and even lays down on the back of the ATV, aka four-wheeler cruising around town with me. During blueberry picking season, her favorite spot is on the back of the wheeler hitching rides back and forth between the house and berry fields.

Other litters have gone to families as pets, hunting dogs, avalanche & search and rescue dogs, flying companions, and therapy pets for autistic spectrum kids. Goldens are such a versatile breed which is the main reason we selected the breed for our family.

Tragedy Strikes-the winter we almost lost Willow

For those who know her story, Willow is truly a miracle pooch. Surviving against all odds, she lived a week in the wilds of a bitter Alaskan winter cold snap to emerge alive but having lost about 40% of her body weight.

At one year of age Willow stayed with our friends at their homestead about ten miles from McGrath as we were away on vacation. One frigid January day, at minus 35 below zero, their husky took off on a “runner” and Willow followed. In the evening the husky returned, but without Willow. Days progressed and we grew increasingly worried. Where had she gone? Was frozen….hurt….dead?

The next day, a friend flew his airplane and looked for signs. He did not see her. Other friends searched on snowmachines (the term Alaskans use for snowmobiles) along the rivers and through the woods. No Willow.

We all prayed she’d be alright and hoped that somehow the kid’s beloved friend and pet would re-emerge alive from the barren white landscape of frozen snow and ice. Day after day ticked by filled with worry. Five days passed of -35 to -40 degree temps plus a brisk wind chill to top it off. Still no Willow!

On the fifth day, we arrived home. It was sad to walk in the house and not be greeted by our friend and family member. Josh preheated our SuperCub airplane and flew in the afternoon. It was still windy, cold and clear. No snow had fallen during the week, providing a good view of animal tracks. Still, no Willow was seen.

By Saturday, Josh and I felt sure she could not survive the elements. She is an inside dog, not a tough, thick-coated outdoor husky. Her thin coat would be no match for the subzero temperatures. Even if she did survive the cold, perhaps a moose had trampled her as they do in Alaska. Did a wolf get her? Did she fall through thin ice and drown? Had hypothermia taken her? Did she starve? Was she caught in a trap somewhere on someone’s trap line? The questions went on and on.

Despite the doubt, the kids held fast with great faith that she was still alive. More prayers were said. Josh and I decided to go look one last time via snowmachine. As we headed out the door, our son exclaimed, “Go find her and bring her.”

The wind was fierce, and the cold was so deeply penetrating it felt like a heat burn to any exposed skin. We needed to put “heat”, i.e. preheat the snowmachines before we could start them. The kids had to stay home for their safety.

About a half an hour into the ride while cruising up the Takotna River, we spotted a tiny form of a dog sitting on the riverbank. At first it looked like a fox it was so small, but no wait, looking closer, it was Willow! Seeing something you think is impossible is quite a phenomenon. I saw her with my eyes, but my mind was so convinced she was dead, that is felt surreal. I told myself, “Am I seeing things? That must be a fox.” But no, it wasn’t, it was Willow, skin and bones, staring at us. At first, she bolted, then when we turned off the snowmachines, she cautiously approached us. Then we called to her. She ran up to us and jumped into our arms, whining and shivering. The kids were beside themselves with delight when we brought her home. There wasn’t much of a dog left, but she was alive and somehow miraculously survived her ordeal.

We took her home and warmed her up. The kids were beside themselves with delight as we staggered through the door. Our friends even drove all the way to McGrath to see her despite the cold and we all hugged, laughed and cried a little in celebration of her life.

We fed her small amounts of food at first, and she ate and slept and slept and ate for three weeks straight. All her fat and most of her muscle was gone. She weighed a fraction of her normal weight, and it would take over two months for her to get back to her muscled weight of 55 pounds. She had a full recovery and given the impossible circumstances; we attribute that to the Lord’s miraculous hand.