Tuesday's Tails: Goldie, Goldie, Goldie...

This post is a longer one than my usual Tuesday's Tails, but please, please...read through to the end and share if you can. <3

(Photo courtesy of HSNI)

I have mentioned Goldie - an 11-year-old Golden - on this blog on four separate occasions:

In a post about the amazing work local shelters have done to rehabilitate traumatized/abused animals (one of my most popular blog posts to date, called The Angels Who Save Animals)

An April Tuesday's Tails feature

A June Tuesday's Tails in which I updated readers on the status of previously featured animals

I even wrote about Goldie (without mentioning her name) in my published article in Dog Fancy.

And now today's post, in which I beg - no, implore - you to please share Goldie's story.  She arrived at the HSNI in January of 2013, twenty pounds underweight and severely traumatized.  Her previous owner had abandoned her in an outdoor kennel for over three weeks - out of fear, hunger, and stress, Goldie had chewed off and ingested her own tail.

Goldie cannot be in a home with any other animals.  She cannot be adopted to a home without a fenced-in yard.  She also cannot live with a family who will leave her alone for long periods of time.  Goldie is also not house-broken.  For these reasons, she has remained in the shelter for what's coming up on two years.  Two years!  Goldie is nearing the end of her life, and she has never once known what it is to be someone's pet.  

The amazing Susie's Senior Dogs has featured Goldie THREE times.  Each post has garnered thousands of likes, hundreds of comments and shares.  The comments typically range from sympathetic ("That poor girl!") to just plain unhelpful ("If someone is going to get a dog that's not house-broken, they'd probably just get a puppy, not an 11-year-old dog...").  Most of the comments are something along these lines:  "I wish I could take her, but..."

So many buts.  It's totally understandable - Goldie is not an easy case.  However, she is a great dog.  She is smart, playful, and in great shape.  To be honest, she acts more like a puppy than the senior dog she is.  The great loves of her life are walks, water, and tennis balls.  She could make someone a great pet.  But each day I grow more and more terrified that Goldie's life will end with her still behind bars at the shelter.

The last time Susie's Senior Dogs featured Goldie, the HSNI received one phone call asking about her.  One.  Goldie deserves more than one phone call.  These are the types of cases that make me feel so helpless and so worthless - it tears me apart that I cannot make a difference, that I cannot help this girl.  I so wish that someone would step up and give Goldie a chance.  Is that someone you?

Please share.  I apologize for the depressing novel of a post I've just written...but my heart is breaking for Goldie.  Please share. <3

To end things on a slightly more positive note, check out these AMAZING photographs of adoptable dogs that Love & Luck Photography recently took at the HSNI! (All photos courtesy of Love & Luck and the Humane Society of North Iowa)

Lizzie

Millie

Milo, whose fur was so full of painful mats when he arrived that the staff had to stop for a break halfway through!  Don't worry, his furry head is now shaved down and he is super handsome :)

I absolutely love this photographer's work.  Amazing, right?!