The oldest Golden actually belongs to Brad my oldest grandson who received her as a gift after the loss of the family black lab years ago. Brad, now grown and off on his own, left Carmela with his brother and sister and parents and she is now the family dog. Carmela is now getting older and has slowed down considerably. She still rides up to work at the second elevator every day in the back of Dennis's pickup but she now has to be helped into the bed of the truck, not able to leap up herself. Every night finds her beside Brian's bed where she guards his sleep. On weekends, when there is no formal work to be done, she walks up to Galesvilles to visit me and I find her at my back door hoping I will supply a treat. I call her our gentle giant as she is a big dog but gentle as a lamb. Even the thought of losing her, which I know we will before many more years, brings me to tears. I will miss that dog terribly!
The middle girl is our Maizey, who is now three and still somewhat of a pup. She came to us after we lost our Penny at the age of 12. My husband Leon said no more dogs. It is too hard to lose them. Knowing him well, I waited a year and then was lucky enough to find Miss Maizey. He complained and growled around the house for about 2 days and then fell in love with her as I knew he would. She now goes to work every day with him and is in the pickup if he even mentions a "ride". The other day he waited for her to jump up into the bed of the truck and she stood patiently waiting beside the door until he figured out that she prefered to ride inside the truck with him and not outside. Of course he opened the door and in she jumped.
So now, all three Golden Girls are outside in the sunshine, Carmela lying in the sun watching the younger two ones frolicking and jumping around. All three have their summer haircuts, done by Brad, to keep them cool and cut down on fleas and ticks (these dogs all spend time in the woods) and he has left a tuff of hair at the ends of their tails, making them resemble three lions. Sometimes I have to check the color of their collars to be sure which is which at a distance. As soon as coffee time at the elevator is over and the guys head home the dogs will also follow but they will be back and of course I keep that jar of treats full for the next visit!
