The Golden Girls---Laverne & Shirley

Today was seven weeks that sweetfaced Achilles had to say goodbye. Not ONE day has gone by that I haven't thought of him or have been reminded of him in some way. And it will remain so for as long as I live. I know this because it is true of my old Nick as well.

These are the dogs of our lives and they remain with us forever after their farewell.

As difficult as the passing of Achilles has been, it has been that much more sad for Milo. He spent the first couple of weeks not really eating and he lost weight. When we did coax him into eating again, he still didn't snap out of his funk. He looks for Achilles, under the deck stairs, by the wall, and at night before he stumbles off to sleep. I'll never, ever forget the day I came home from work to find that Milo had placed a bunch of my socks under the deck stairs for Achilles, thinking that might bring him back somehow.

When Achilles was alive, Milo had something to do. He had his bestest bud to follow around the dog park, his older brother to protect from hyper younger pups or ornery older ones, and he had a fellow companion during the day while we worked.

We have realized in much more real way that Achilles not only left us behind, but he also left Milo. And Milo feels Achilles' absence in a much more profound way than Ed and I do. If I never truly believed that there was such a thing as "doggie depression", well, I am convinced of it now. I figured Milo would have an adjustment period, but I never thought his morose, dragging behavior would last THIS long.

Over in Italy, as you all know, little Achilles Sirius "Aki" was born as our Achilles died. Simona has graciously offered to accompany him to San Diego for us. We cannot explain how touched we are by that gesture. While that process is being worked out though, we needed to do something for our Milo now. It may be months before Aki can get here, if he does at all. I am praying that he can somehow make it here in October when Simona visits. It is an arduous and expensive process, but I pray that it works out in the end.

In the meantime, we returned to the very same Golden Retriever rescue where we got our Nick, Achilles, and Milo from, to see about adopting another sweet canine soul. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that the process would be so quick, but everything works out a certain way for a reason in the end. The folks over at this rescue are angels walking amongst us.

Well, before we knew it, literally, "another canine" ended up being TWO, and so I introduce you to the new addition to our little family, the Golden Girls themselves..... LAVERNE & SHIRLEY!

These two little ladies are 10 years old, and you can see that they're not all that "little"....tee hee. They had to be adopted as a pair since they are absolutely bonded to each other and have been together their whole lives. We couldn't bear to split them apart, nor would the good folks at the rescue allow them to be split up, and it didn't look like anyone else was going to want to adopt two elderly little ladies, soooooo Milo now has TWO little sisters to romp around with. And they are little in frame, if not in weight. Gosh, they are soooo petite!

A neglectful prior owner allowed them to balloon to almost or over a hundred pounds each, which is frankly a frightening sight to see. They are female dogs and much smaller than most Goldens, so being that overweight is deadly. They were rescued by GRCGLAR (please go over and link on their site) and fostered by an angel on earth, their foster mother, also named Shirley. She worked with them for the last three months or so, exercised them in her pool, got their diet under control, and they've each lost 40 or more pounds. That is simply amazing to me. They have a few more pounds to go, but there is NO shortage of activity in our home, so we'll get them to their healthy goal in good time.

Shirley is one of those animal lovers that has no rival. We actually felt bad about adopting Laverne & Shirley out of her foster home since they had it so good over there. But, she told us that with them on their way to their forever home with us, she can now take in more rescued dogs. She addresses special needs dogs, so I know how much the rescue needs her.

That is how Laverne & Shirley have come to be with us today. They're peacefully resting right now after a long drive home with us, an outing to the dog park, and a nice dinner. We're getting to know them and we hope they like it here. What's important is that Milo gets along with them and I hope that their presence will bring back his "Golden spark."

Please help me in welcoming Laverne & Shirley to our home....our very first "Golden Girls"! I think it's a hysterical riot that their names are Laverne & Shirley. Does anyone have a spare doggie sweater with the letter "L" stitched on?????

Tonight they were loving all over their new papa at the dog park ... They ran around the whole park. Shirley is the red one, and her uncanny resemblance to Achilles takes my breath away. More than once today I found myself crying as I watched her. She even walks like him.
They made dog park friends with Monica and her labs. Monica is also a foster mom for lab rescue here in San Diego.

They ran around in circles, sniffing every nook and cranny, hopping and skipping to and fro...
Here they are in the car on our way from foster mommy Shirley's house to their new home...it's Milo in the forefront snoozing, Laverne, and then Shirley sitting up in the back there:
Another one:

Yet another...

Here's Milo when he first met and greeted Laverne today. They splashed around in the pool together and got along 'swimmingly'....ha!
Laverne's tiny little face smiling up at me. She looks like a little lion.

I want to post more and put up more photos and videos, but I'm beat. It's been a looooong day and I want to lie down with my gaggle of Goldens.

Check out the available dogs at the rescue's site and read about Laverne & Shirley here:

http://www.grcglarescue.org/RP_Adoptable.asp?cid=All

We thought about adopting Eggerton, Gunrock, or Stella as well, but for one reason or another they were ruled out (like Stella possibly wanting to have our Captain Morgan for a snack), and in the end we were meant to cross paths with our new little ladies, Laverne & Shirley.

Tomorrow morning we're taking them to Ocean Beach Dog Beach. Milo loves it there, I hope the girls do too.

To my beloved Nick and Achilles up there in heaven, I pray that you're at peace and ever happy. I hope you know how much we miss you and love you. May your Golden spirits guide these new members of your family. We wish you were here with us too.