Ben was our first Golden Retriever and kicked of our love affair with the breed.
The story around Ben is something of a sad one but we’ll get to that in another post.
A bit of background –
I’m from a village called Scone in Scotland and was brought up with dogs – a Rough Collie and a Sheltie. My wife is from Surrey and was brought up with cats! I guess what pet our family would have was one of the debates I won! – but it worked out well as my wife was soon smitten with dogs.
Circa 1987 due to work, we found ourselves living in the West Midlands in a place called Elmdon very close to fields and green belt. With 2 toddlers and established in our home we decided in 1990 to get a dog.
Since moving to Elmdon we had come in to contact with Golden Retrievers frequently. A lady in the next street was a breeder. We often bumped in to her and her dogs when out for walks.
Having some knowledge of the breed as a result of having been brought up in the country side of Scotland we decided to get ourselves a Golden Retriever.
We’re currently living with Golden Retrievers numbers 5 & 6. During the time we’ve had our Swamp Collies we have also had one other breed.
After our first Golden Retriever Ben we took on a rescue dog we called Bracken – a first cross Rough Collie / German Shepherd. We’ll do a post about Bracken as, he turned out to be a lovely dog.
As many people discover, once you’ve had a dog in the family it is difficult to be without one despite the work involved and the heartbreak every time one passes away.
You just can’t get away from the fact that having a gentle affectionate dog in the family is great for keeping you grounded. I also believe it does wonders for helping keep good mental health.
Always pleased to see us and non judgemental our dogs are great companions and a wonderful addition to the family.
If your interested their is a good article “The Psychology of Why We Love Dogs” by Joe Duncan that you might enjoy.
