4 year old male
ADOPTED!

Boy, oh boy, if this guy could only talk.  Please meet Spencer, a 4 year old, soon to be neutered male with some of the nicest manners you'll ever want to see in a dog (or anyone else, for that matter).  Spencer is a bit of a mystery to us - here's his story:

An ECGRR volunteer got a call from someone who said that they'd found this guy as a stray and couldn't keep him.  When our volunteer picked him up, it was obvious that Spencer had not been on his own for very long at all - he has a gorgeous coat, and as you can see from the pictures, he hasn't missed any meals. 

Our first step was to see if he had an owner out there looking for him so we contacted the local animal shelter and placed an ad in the newspaper.  What we found out next was pretty disturbing and we're mentioning it here as a public service.  Sadly, when you place a "found" ad in the newspaper, some pretty unsavory characters can come out of the woodwork.  Our volunteer got calls from all kinds of people claiming that Spencer was theirs; however, they had no proof, and upon checking with the animal control folks, we learned that one of the individuals had actually turned 2 dogs into a kill shelter the very same day she called to claim Spencer as her own, and had turned 2 other dogs in the day before.  We think that this person was a dog broker or operates a puppy mill.  Since Spencer is unneutered (for the very short time being) he would have been very valuable to someone looking to breed Golden Retrievers. 

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon - in the last few months we've heard tale after tale about someone in our area claiming found dogs or "free to a good home" dogs to sell or breed.  So the moral to this story is:  if you ever find yourself in this position, Beware!   And please, if you see an ad for "free to a good home", especially if the ad says the dog could be used for breeding, please alert the nearest rescue.

Anyway, back to Spencer.  The end result to this story is that no legitmate owner came forward to claim this wonderful guy so now he's counting on us to help him find his forever home.  Spencer is truly a fantastic guy - fully house trained, good with other dogs, and affectionate and loving.  He'll even try to cut your grass - his foster dad recently found him sitting on the seat of their riding lawn mower, ready to go!  And did we mention that he will be neutered??  He's in excellent health and absolutely beautiful. 

If you think that you might be the person that Spencer is dreaming about, please complete an adoption application and mention him by name.  This wonderful guy is longing for his forever home.