# Abby Rose turns 14!



## abbysunnymom (Jul 17, 2015)

Our Abby Rose turned 14 years old yesterday! Her dad was 14 when she was born. The litter wasn’t expected because of her dad’s age, they said. We chose her because she looked just like him, so dark gold, a bit reddish, and she had the cutest eyebrows. She wasn’t the smallest. Some of the 14 pups didn’t make it. She may have been the smallest that survived. But she sat quietly while all the other pups mauled me. My daughter said look, mom, and I said, “I know.” Of course we brought her home, just before Christmas and I cried on the way home, that’s how happy she made me. 

Abby has led a charmed life, especially since I retired from full time work just two years after we got her. She’s had an enormous amount of love and attention and a daily massage. Abby is a ball girl but a leg injury when she was older put an end to jumping for the ball and caused eventual arthritis and wasting of both rear legs. (She has a heart murmur that makes her a bad surgery candidate so her injury wasn’t repaired.) She needs a stair to get on the bed and a ramp for the car.

We spent years walking Abby in every social situation, cities, parks and neighborhoods. She’s comfortable anywhere, with anyone. She’s been the best dog you could ask for. We lost her partner dear Sunny (Here comes the Sun - 4 years younger) a year ago (September 2016) when he had just turned 9 and we are still so sad about losing him. We both still have crying spells.

We almost lost Abby to pneumonia right after Sunny died. I think she was stressed, like us, and she has LP (larpar). But she survived and we have her on a regimen that includes antibiotics when her chronic pneumonia flares up. That’s been hard, worrying about her every time she relapses. The antibiotics work quickly and she’s back to her routines. It’s been a roller coaster this year, losing our boy and almost losing her a couple times. I wouldn’t have missed these 14 years raising these babies but right now I don’t know if I could start again. That’s the hard part, knowing their fate. Maybe as time passes I’ll feel differently, I don’t know.

But for now, I am hoping for Abby to be the happiest goldten girl in the world. She has been particularly playful lately, with my daughter’s cockapoo who lives here with us. When she isn’t in a flare, she’s very finicky about how she eats and drinks and sometimes acts like she can’t hear me, but it may be selective hearing, lol. We love her bunches ❤


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Happy birthday to Abby! 14 years is great and what a beautiful girl. It sounds like she is having a wonderful life and I wish you both many more years. I understand thinking you may not want to go through the pain of losing one you love so much again but for me; I just couldn't be happy without having a Golden Retriever in my home. It took over 4 years but Rukie has made me happy in a way I never was when I didn't have a Golden.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Happy 14th Birthday to your beautiful Abby Rose...


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## abbysunnymom (Jul 17, 2015)

What a beauty Rukie Bear is! I know what you mean. We can hardly contemplate a life without them. But the last year, with Sunny’s (2 cancers!) hospice and Abby’s chronic pneumonia, I’m bushed. I hope we will see things differently later. Did you say you waited four years? Or you’ve had him for four years?


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

No, Tawny died over four years ago before I got Rukie who I got the end of June. I had to wait mostly because I am working 32 hours a week and couldn't get a rescue dog or figure out how to manage a puppy. Then my daughter and son in law moved in for a few months so between us all he is well taken care of. Before I got him, if I saw someone out with a Golden I would hurry over, ask to pet and get all teary and talk about how sad I was--I was a crazy lady!


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## abbysunnymom (Jul 17, 2015)

oh, I see. Glad it worked out for you to have Rukie. He’s adorable. The males are so huggy too.


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## Neeko13 (Jul 10, 2010)

Happy Birthday Abby...you are one sweet looking princess...here s to many more days of living as a princess!!!


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## LynnC (Nov 14, 2015)

Happy 14th Birthday sweet Abby Rose    Love the pictures!


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## Ginams (Jan 20, 2015)

Happy birthday pretty girl!


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## SandyK (Mar 20, 2011)

Happy 14th Birthday Abby!! Love the pictures, looks like you had a great day!!:grin2:


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## swishywagga (Nov 13, 2012)

Happy 14th Birthday Beautiful Girl x


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Happy birthday to a lovely lady!


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## MyMaggieGirl (Nov 12, 2008)

Happy Birthday Abby! You look like a princess with your hat and I see you are still a playful pup! Such a pretty girl.


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