Annie

Annie came into my life through my connection with the agility community in Los Angeles and the GR Rescue of LA. She was 11th months old and quite the pistol. Afraid of stairs and other dogs and abandonment, she quickly warmed up to her Golden mix sister, Sophie, and they were soon best buddies. She was a therapy dog the last 8 years of her life. I especially remember the joy she brought to children at a Red Cross Evacuation shelter established for people displaced from their homes after the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs. My normally "ball obsessed" dog played a quiet game of toss with a group of children. Soon, the kids were laughing and smiling and pulling their parents into the game. The shelter director said it was the first time he had seen the kids smile and laugh since they had moved into the shelter. After surgery to remove her spleen in July 2014, she was the same crazy golden she had always been, but soon the spreading cancer took its toll and she crossed the Rainbow Bridge in September 2014. She had a really great and playful day the day before she passed almost as if to say "this is what I want you to remember". She will always be remembered as my golden clown.