Hello dear reader. My name is Benjamin Franklin. Yes, that’s honestly my full name. I’m sure you’ve all heard it before. And it’s true, I am named after our early forefather. But you can just call me Franklin. I am an extremely handsome and incredibly intelligent cream-colored Golden Retriever. This might sound decidedly immodest. But, […]
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It wasn’t until I was 24 and living in San Francisco that I got to experience the joy that a puppy brings. It was just before Christmas when my partner Rick and I picked up the runt of a litter of my friend’s Golden Retriever. We brought the little guy home in a shoe box […]
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I still remember the day I took my first Golden, Nicholas, to visit my alma mater, the University of San Francisco. As I snapped a photo of him with my old graduation cap atop his head I thought about how important his own education would be. And for dogs, that means good training. Before making […]
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Back in the 1700’s Christmas was known for a time of excess drinking, disorder, begging, misrule and chambering. It was a time when social roles were reversed. The workers told the bosses what to do. The servants acted like the masters. Men dressed like women and women dressed and acted like men. Often people darkened […]
I had never rescued a dog before but friends of mine had and they seemed very happy with their new furry adoptees. So when the great Recession hit in the mid-2000s, and foreclosures were widespread with people abandoning their dogs, I decided it was time to pay back the Golden breed for all they had […]
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My sweet Goldens Franklin and Morgan will always be indelibly linked to one another. James and I were deep in distress after we lost our boy Morgan, a year ago February. We really didn’t know how to move forward. Morgan had been unable to walk for the last year and a half of his life. […]
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It hardly seems like a year since Morgan left us. On February 12th at 3 am in the morning, while lying next to me in bed, he took his last breath. I have thought about him every day since. Some evenings when I go to sleep, I recall that night. He was having difficulty breathing […]
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As we were driving to Boston, Franklin stared out the side window curiously. I turned and explained to him, “Franklin, that’s snow.” James wondered out loud, “Do you think this might be the first time he’s seen snowflakes?” “I doubt he ever saw snow in south Florida.” When we arrived in Boston the flurries had […]
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Hello friends. My name is Franklin. In honor of my first New England Thanksgiving, and in keeping with a tradition, my dads have let me write this holiday message. I’m told that all my Golden predecessors have written columns and blogs in the past. Now it’s my turn. Firstly, I’m grateful to be in a […]
Before making the decision to bring a puppy into our home, my partner, Rick and I had talked about the responsibilities that went into having a dog. Since I didn’t grow up with them, Rick wanted to be convinced that I understood what I was getting into. He thought it was a good idea, under […]
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