An absolute must read news article!!

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

For all of us dog lovers. You have to read this news story I have been reading. Thank God! Thank Koda!

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/09/05/bc-lost-toddler-yukon-dog....

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Love the dog helping the little boy but why in the world would a family just give their dog away? What am I missing?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had a newspaper article on my refrigerator for years about a similar story of a toddler who wandered off and was finally found sleeping in the woods snuggled up to the family dog to stay warm. This kind of story always amazes me. Thank Dog!
(I'm not too sure what I think about Koda's owner giving her kids' dog away, though.)

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly!

[Adina P]

That's a really neat story...don't know that I'd give my dog away to the boy, but really sweet rescue story!

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I was so heartwarmed and overjoyed that the toddler was found safe that I didnt give that part much thought. Who knows, who cares. Maybe the people werent close to the dog, maybe it was a sled dog... As a mother of young children, and the fact that the toddler is regional brings it too close to home. I was praying for the baby's safe return from the moment I heard about the disappearance.

I am so grateful the dog was there, it is the baby's guardian angel and probably is meant to be with him. Maybe that is why the woman gave the dog away.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Great story. Several years ago our three year old Down Syndrome son wandered into the woods and was missing for several hours. Our Golden Retriever followed him and stayed by his side the whole time. Thank God the searchers were able to find him before nightfall, but it always warmed my heart the way our "Dusty" watched out for him. Needless to say, Dusty became the family hero, and we never let our son out of our sight again. Our son is now 24, and I must admit I'm still a bit overprotective. The instinct of our dogs is totally amazing.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Back in the day when I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, I was shopping with my older one buying her 'big girl bed linens'. She walked away from me - lost in a huge home furnishings department store for 1/2 hour. I remember that panic 26 years later as if it was happening right now!! I cannot imagine how you stayed sane those hours!!
TG for Dusty!!!

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I hear you! I too lost a toddler. We were visiting my Aunt in Edmonton. There were so many adults, including my husband that were "watching" *said with bitter sarcasm and anger even after 18 yrs* (I was indisposed). Anyways all those adults let the baby wander into the fully fenced backyard where an 11 yr old decided to leave via the backyard gate and leave it wide open. I came back from doing my business and asked where the baby was. Within seconds we knew what happened. He was gone. There was a busy road behind the house and I lost my mind. The panic is indescribable. I was screaming, I felt like puking, dying! I ran into the middle of the busy road just wantng to slow traffic down incase he came that way. DH went the other way out front into the neigborhood. Thank God Joshua decided to get on the sidewalk and keep going on the sidewalk right around the block and my husband went the right direction and found him. I never lost another child again and unfortunately I never let anyone else watch another of my babies again. Except DH and big brothers. But I have to say my DH is a negligent sitter and if a baby were to wander away from a campsite it would be on his watch, then unfortunately I would have to kill him. Once bitten twice shy. Now the kids are all old enough to keep themselves safe for the most part, but just 2 years ago, if I was somewhere and I had to leave DH in charge I would be in his face "dont take your eyes off him even for a second, lecture lecture lecture...." And he has still lost them! (minorly) He gets distracted if he is talking and chatting to other adults.

The amazing part of the story about this toddler in the Yukon is there is a variety of large predatorial animals there who would happily chow down on a succulent baby. The fact that it is summer and food is still abundant, and the dog being there were the only hope that the baby had of not being a meal to a variety of bears and mountain lions. And the terrain is so treacherous, not the sort of place to get lost in the woods.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Great story, but I wonder why the owner gave the dog to the family?

[Richard Crowe]

Stories like this literally bring tears to my eyes. I love to hear them.

Like the story of the dog in 1920's Tokyo who would wait every day by a train station for his master to come home. Then after the master died, the dog spent his entire life returning to the train station at that same time each day to wait for a master that never came back to him. There is a bronze statue in memory of the loyal Akita near that Tokyo train station.

I just heard of a family that was involved in a car accident, the entire family was taken to the hospital but, their Rottweiler ran off in panic. A lady who raised Rotties kept seeing this Rottweiler waiting near the side of the road and stopped to aid him. The Dog had made a nest and brought remnants of his family property there, including auto insurance policy papers. The dog was reunited with his family through those papers due to his careful conservation of the family mementos that he had carefully saved.

Then there was my the story of my great-great-great grandfather who was murdered along a Texas trail in the 1830's by outlaws. His loyal dog stood over his body for two days until it was found by a search party. The dog had defended his master's body against wolves, coyotes and buzzards.

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

Wow Richard. Those are great tales! I am amazed and envious of people who have "way back" roots in the old west. Fascinating stuff for a first generation Canadian. LOL. I grew up with shows like Gunsmoke - and my Dad (RIP) always watched all the old Westerns. Love that stuff!

[Richard Crowe]

Family Stories

I am really into history and genealogy as well as Goldendoodles and I have been very fortunate to have been able to trace many lines of my family back pretty darn far.

My G-G-G-Grandparents came from Ireland and settled on a Mexican Land Grant in what is now Bee County, Texas in 1829. A little known fact is that when Stephen F. Austin was settling East Texas with American settlers, the Mexican Government was trying to counteract the influence of the "Anglo" settlers by installing Catholic Irish on land grants in South Texas as a buffer between the "Anglo" settlers and Mexico.

Using the Irish as a buffer didn't work... The majority of the Irish sided with the Americans; in fact, my G-G-G-Grandfather's brother signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at Goliad, Texas at the beginning of the Texas Revolution.

Other lines of my family came over to the New World from Scotland, Ireland and England as early as 1634 but, there was already a line of my family already here in what became America. Believe it or not, several of my recorded ancestors were Cherokee War Chiefs. Another ancestor came from Germany in the early 1700's but, the English Governor of South Carolina thought he was a French spy and tossed him into prison in Charleston where he died. He sired a daughter with a Cherokee maiden before he was imprisoned and from that daughter, there are now literally thousands of descendants. She had 8 children and each of her children had at least eight kids. All of them appear to have lived to adulthood and that extremely fertile line increased geometrically.