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After Scott and I got married, we knew we wanted to get a dog as soon as possible, but we waited until we bought and settled into our house. That's when we adopted our first 'rescue,' Max from the SPCA. He was part Lab, part German Shepherd. I was pretty sure that he was also part 'wild dog,' because he was pretty out of control, anxious, and disobedient. We taught each other a lot...he taught me that consistency, patience and understanding yielded results and I taught him that he could trust me and that he would never have to suffer through the mistreatment of his previous owner again. He ended up being a loving, calm, obedient dog and a valued member of the family. Once we realized how much Max needed us, and that Max was just a very small representation of the millions of dogs that need rescuing, Scott and I decided we would never have another dog that was not a rescue dog. Unfortunately, Max's life was cut short because he had a congenital tumor that started affecting his health just before he turned five. We had the tumor removed, but it grew back in a few months and we had to let Max go after only 4 years with him. His early departure was very difficult for us.
Our newest addition to the family, is Richie, a Golden from GB that we adopted in the summer of 2007. We love everything about him, even when he puts his retriever instincts to work and brings random things to us from around the house. Technically, we are a one dog family, but we get together so often with the rest of the family that sometimes it's like we have three dogs - all Goldens!
Joanie Patrick 
Life already revolved around young Travis, a ten-month golden pup. But
in 2003, when a friend in rescue asked me to pick up a stray from a
local shelter, I discovered the behind the scenes world of rescue and
my commitment to golden retrievers went to another level.
Shari Patrick 
From the age of about nine until my senior year in high school my family lived on four acres outside of El Paso, Texas. My sister and I showed horses and were involved in 4-H. When I was 11 and my sister was 14 we lost our dad in a house fire. After losing my dad my mom felt we needed to take in, spay or neuter, and find a home for every stray dog and cat in our community. I guess it was cathartic for her in some way and helped heal the wounds from the loss of my dad. For me it became a life-long interest.
After hurricane Ike last year I applied to become a foster
parent for a golden displaced as a result of the storm. My first two
fosters got adopted very quickly. My third foster, Monte, came to me
right after Thanksgiving 2008. He had been locked in a foreclosed home
and left behind by his owners. On intake he was 20 pounds under weight
and was heavily HW positive (see Monte’s write-up). Later issues included
a wired jaw, kidney disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and a total
lack of appetite. Dr. Brice at Fry Road Animal Hospital diagnosed Monte’s
RMSF – a tick borne disease not often seen in Houston but that could
be treated with doxycycline. With a lot of love, hamburgers, and boiled
chicken (often all he would eat) Monte has become the picture of health.
He is still waiting to begin HW treatment, pending the results of his
next kidney function tests in another month or so, but one thing is
clear… Monte is going to be my dog. I guess you could say I have become
a foster failure.
Mike and Nadine Patterson
Lynn & Glenn Perrine
In September of 2005 we found a stray Golden mix running around the neighborhood without tags or chip (of course) and called our “Hot Line” list attempting to find the owners. Barbara Holly was the only one of a long list who responded. Although we had already found the owners who lived near by, Barbara and Lynn spent an hour discussing Golden Beginnings and trading dog stories.
We both feel very fortunate to work with this wonderful group of people, and through GBGRR to share our deep love of the Golden Retriever breed. In addition to the above, Glenn is also the architect,
along with GB volunteer Ann Burke, of our yearly "Tree of Hope"
which has become a GB Christmas tradition and major fund raiser.
Toni Ritsema
Ty Smith
Erica Walsh 
I am a recent addition to the adoption team, and our family is planning on providing a foster home for Goldens in need in the near future. My husband, Jamie, and I have a precious baby girl, Peyton Kathryn Walsh. She is such a blessing and keeps us very, very busy. I am so excited to be a part of Golden Beginnings. One
of my dear friends and roommate in college, Beth, told me about her
love for this organization and how she volunteers with them. Our Golden,
Gracie Rae, is the reason I got involved with rescue. We adopted her
in April 2007 (before our daughter was born) and she is incredible.
She is SO wonderful with our daughter and the most loving and loyal
dog you can imagine. Golden Beginnings has so many different volunteering opportunities
available. The people involved in this organization are truly passionate
about their love for Goldens and finding the perfect home for each and
every one of them. If you want to help, I would engourage you to contact
us. You won't regret it!
Kathy Yarnick 
After my first golden, Tiffanne, died from cancer, I wanted to adopt another golden. I had just moved to Houston the year before, so I went online to try to find a golden. There it was...a website for Golden Beginnings! I thought "how perfect"...for not only was it a golden beginning for Mattie (one of the "Fab Five"), but also for my daughters and me...new family, new city, new job, and now, a new dog! I was approached to become an Adoption Team member. I quickly said "yes". I wanted to help any way I could. I was so thankful for the beautiful golden that GBGRR introduced me to. After a few years, I became a member of the hotline team. I still cover hotline twice a month. At the annual GBGRR picnic held every May, my daughter fell in love with a puppy named Holly. She carried that puppy around all day......well, you know who that puppy came home with! Mattie is now 9 years old, Holly is now 4. We also have another mixed dog, Nikki, who is 9 and a cat, Oliver aged 1 1/2. The joy our animals bring us is amazing. So, I have covered the gamut....adoption team, hotline team,
fostering, Meet and Greets, and the proud owner of two alumni! I can not
say enough about the kind people involved in this organization! Home
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When I was born, my parents already had 2 Irish Setters, and since I was an only child for almost 10 years, they were my siblings. I loved playing with them and even decided at a young age that I wanted to be a vet when I grew up. It did not take long to figure out that I would never be able to handle the death of a patient, so that dream was short lived. However, my love for dogs never waivered.
We went a few months without a dog. This is when I started volunteering with Golden Beginnings. I knew about GB because my family had adopted Lily Ann from them in 2005. Anyone who has visited the website knows how addictive it is, so even though it had been 2 years, we stayed very well informed about GB dogs and events! Anyway, I saw that GB needed volunteers for the picnic and decided to offer my assistance. After the picnic, I joined the adoption team and I've been volunteering with this team for almost 2 years.
Outside of rescue, Scott and I both work full time. We met while we were in school at Texas A&M and got married in 2000. He works for the National Guard and I work for a privately held IT staffing firm. We are both very busy, but the great thing about volunteering is that you can dedicate a little or a lot of time to it. GB has so many great volunteers which makes the events a lot of fun, and it is very rewarding to be a part of the success stories!
Of
course I adopted that shy and scrawny golden and named him Pecos. He
has grown into a beautiful and confident dog, and went on to serve as
the model forJim Tweedy’s “Golden Retriever Self-Portrait” to benefit
Golden Beginnings. We continued to foster without “failing” until Shiloh,
an owner turn-in with severe mange and an auto-immune disorder, came
along. I tried not to become too attached, afraid that she wouldn’t
make it, but she too soon blossomed, and became an energetic girl with
loads of personality. 
People
were unable to see beyond her ugly duckling exterior, so, of course,
she became part of the family. That made 3, and they are a constant
source of joy and laughter, a daily reminder of what's important, and
inspiration to do everything possible to help dogs in need, especially
in the areas of event planning, education and public awareness, and,
most importantly, fund-raising. The dogs enjoy representing GB at events,
and being part of this wonderful network of volunteers and their dogs
could not be more rewarding.
As
a kid I was the odd person out in my family, my sister, mom, and dad
always had their noses in a book. After graduating from college my mom
figured out a way to get me interested in reading. She would tell me
just enough about the characters in a book to get me interested and
want to know what happened. I remember the first mystery/thriller book
she told me about which involved a golden retriever named Einstein (The
Watchers, by Dean Koontz). Einstein was super smart, loving, and fiercely
loyal. While I’ve long forgotten the rest of the details of the book
my love of goldens was solidified.
In November 2004, after the death of my beloved cat Bandit
(who died during a teeth cleaning surgery at the vet) I decided it was
time to get a dog. I had a house and a yard and I was ready. Thanks
to Einstein, I knew the dog would be a golden, and because of my mom
the dog had to be a rescue dog. I looked up rescue groups for golden
retrievers on the internet and contacted Golden Beginnings. While in
the process of being considered as an adopter, a co-worker found a golden
for me at the Houston SPCA. It was from the SPCA that I adopted Maddie.
I remember my adoption coordinator at GB telling me that you can never
have just one golden and she was right. After hurricane Rita hit in
September 2005, I contacted GBs and adopted Kipper (formerly known as
Ted). My love for these two dogs grows a little more every day.
Mike
and Nadine will do just about anything to help a Golden in need. Their
devotion clearly comes straight from their Texas-sized hearts. Dogs
and people are instantly drawn to these two, and it’s easy to see why.
From driving long distances to bring dogs into our program to fostering
some of our sickest, including young 
We were first introduced to the Golden Retriever breed in 1985 when a stray showed up at our house; a six-month old Golden in pretty poor shape. He immediately adopted Lynn and after an unsuccessful search for his owners, we named him Galahad (he was a reddish gold and we decided he looked like an Anglo/Saxon) and he was here to stay. In 1987 we got a companion for him, a young female we named Nimue (both names from the Arthurian legends). They were super dogs when it came to training. Both went through basic obedience training in six weeks and qualified for their AKC Companion Dog certifications at three subsequent shows right after that. Each lived to be 16 years old. We had hardly healed from losing our beloved Galahad, when we lost Nimue. After that, we went without a dog for a few years but often spoke of getting another dog…of course, a Golden!
We thought that fostering sounded like a great idea, so we attended a Meet & Greet the following Sunday. Monday evening we received our first foster dog, Happy. He was rescued from Hurricane Katrina, was totally wild and heartworm positive. It didn’t take too long for him to steal our hearts so we renamed him Tristan (following in the Arthurian legend tradition) and joined the “foster failures” club, formally adopting him just before Christmas of 2005. We continued fostering other GBGRR dogs and experienced the happiness, although sometimes tearful, that comes with seeing your foster go to his or her forever home. In August of 2006 we decided Tristan needed a permanent companion. We fostered our beautiful Tinkerbell through her heartworm treatment and adopted her in February of 2007. With two dogs in residence, space became an issue, so we don’t foster a lot any more. We joined the Adoption Team so we could continue helping these wonderful animals. We also are very glad to do intakes and transports when we can. Life can be very interesting for Adoption Team members, and it is very rewarding when we match one of our families with the right golden.
I
love dogs, all dogs, and hate the abuse and neglect they suffer from
humans. As much as I want to stop that and save everyone of them, I
can't. However, I lost my heart to a wonderful breed of dogs called
Golden Retrievers, and fortunately for them-and me-there is Golden Beginnings
Golden Retriever Rescue. An unselfish group dedicated to saving a breed
of dogs whose only objective is to love and please their owner. This
group gives their time, money, talents and mostly their hearts to making
a big difference in the lives of goldens, who find themselves homeless,
hungry, often with health concerns that seem insurmountable. GBGRR doesn't
just put a band aid on these wonderful dogs, they turn their lives around.
This then turns around the lives of those of us lucky enough to adopt
one. Money is always needed, a lot. But opening your home to foster,
answering a phone call, offering a service, handing out a flyer, these
are all areas that "pass it forward". Plus, if you find a match and
adopt..you hit the jackpot! Our jackpot, "Reese", foster, then adopted
2007. Please consider lending your talents and resources. The rewards
are priceless. Pix, Callie and Reese, our rescue from GBGRR.
GB volunteer Ty Smith says that Goldens have been running his life for
more than 16 years. He refers to his home, which he and senior goldens
Sandi and Shadow share with a rotating cast of foster dogs, as "Camp
Grey Hair." In addition to fostering, Ty volunteers at events and adoption
days, and his dry sense of humor is much appreciated by his fellow volunteers.
Ty is also a member of the Greater Houston Golden Retriever Club.
She
actually lets Kirby (one of our cats) sleep on her bed and she sleeps
on the floor next to him! You can't find a dog more loving than that!
She completes our family. I have been told by just about every member of the organization that we will have a minimum of two more Goldens as additions to our family as soon as we start fostering, and I don't doubt it. I love working with Golden Beginnings and helping these beautiful dogs that in a lot of cases have been through so much find their forever home.
A
few weeks ago, I tried my hand at fostering. Trey, an 8-week old
puppy born without a paw became an instant part of our family. It was
with many joyful tears that he went to his forever home last week. Guess
what? I get to babysit him for a few days when his new mom goes out
of town this week!