Fern was our second Golden Retriever and the first to come from the breeder Maggie who we had become friendly with.
After saying farewell to Bracken in 2004 we went without a dog for about 12 months. In late summer 2005 our breeder friend was looking for a foster home for one of her girls Fern. As a hobby breeder she could only house so many dogs at her home. We knew Fern as we did all her dogs so we jumped at the chance to have her even on a foster basis.
Fern was approaching 4 years old and due to have her last litter so part of the deal was, she would go back to the breeder when the time came to deliver the litter and once they were weened she would come back to us.
All went well and in late March 2006 Fern came back to us. This time Maggie the breeder decided that, as we could provide a good loving home and care properley for Fern she would transfer ownership of her over to us. We were delighted and this as it turned out it opened the door to us taking all our subsequent dogs from her.
Fern was great dog. She had a smallish build but but was sturdy and probably the most feisty dog we’ve ever had. She was always the one that would get in between our other dogs and any other dog that came up to them barking and threatening no matter what size they were.
She was very intelligent, probably the most intelligent dog we’ve had though, her granddaughter who is one of our current dogs comes pretty close.
Though Fern was feisty in the face of threats from other dogs she was an affectionate gentle dog and loved nothing more than to be close to us. She was definitely the top dog of the 3 we ended up having at the time – a definite alpha female she would push our other dogs aside to get pole position beside us.
When it came to food Fern had no equal. She would almost inhale her food and could empty her bowl before the others had got through their first mouthful. As soon as her bowl was empty she would make a bee line for the other dog bowls so feeding times was about constant vigilance to keep her away from the others. If you dropped food it would often not even hit the floor she was so quick to get on it.
One of Ferns many endearing traits was her tail wag. She didn’t wag her tail from side to side when she was excited it went round in a circle at high speed! We used to call it the helicopter tail – it certainly created a good draught!
Fern gave us 9 years of pleasure. A loving dog with great presence and fondly remembered.
Born in Dec 2001 – joined our family in later summer 2005 – said farewell in the summer of 2014.
