Oshie's World

“Don’t touch the dog!” My mother would say when I was growing up. She had this idea that all dogs were dirty and carried diseases. So I never touched or played with dogs. If I went to a friend’s house and they had a dog, I wouldn’t run away or avoid it. I would simply try to push it away when it came near me. If it touched me with its wet nose, or licked me, I immediately wiped it off and would wash my hands once or twice to wash away the germs it just passed on to me. I wasn’t crazy about them. Yeah, sure I saw puppies on TV or in person and thought they were adorable and cute, but I wasn’t the first person to go over and pet it.

I do remember being fascinated with the Golden Retriever in the Air Bud movies. He could play basketball, football, baseball and was so well-behaved. I knew I loved Golden Retrievers, but never saw one in person. Never did I imagine that I would have one some day.

Fast forward to 2013. I graduated from The United States Naval Academy and commissioned as a 2ndLt In the United States Marine Corps. After completing 6 months of training at The Basic School and moving to North Carolina where I got stationed, my husband and I decided that he would finish his degree before he looked for a new job. We talked about getting a puppy (even though in the back of my head I questioned if I really wanted one).

The Marine Corps mascot is a bull-dog, so I figured we could get one of those. Bull dog puppies are extremely cute, but they have a history of health problems and were not that cute past their puppy phase. So, jokingly, I said, “What about a Golden Retriever?! we could teach him how to play Hockey!” we both laughed and decided to do some research. Besides, Golden Retrievers are probably the happiest looking, and most beautiful creatures on this planet.

We found a breeder near Charlotte, NC and paid a visit after multiple e-mails from Kary (the breeder). We got to meet 4 puppies that weekend. It was sooo hard to choose one. They were all soo little, soo fluffy, and soo playful. There’s something about Golden Retriever puppies that makes you smile from ear to ear. Their little puppy bark, waggly tails and facial expressions fill your heart with happiness. We ended up choosing the puppy that I held in my arms like a baby, and looked up at me. His eyes met my eyes, I smiled at him and he laid there for a little while just looking back up at me. I immediately fell in love!

Unfortunately, because he was still only 6 weeks old, we couldn’t bring him home with us that weekend. We’d have to wait another long week before we could finally bring him home. When we left the farm, I washed my hands with hand sanitizer because my mom always told me that dogs were dirty.

A week later we drove back down to pick up our little guy. I was sooo excited to hold him in my arms again and to finally take him home. And we did. We brought him home. He slept most of the way, but that’s okay. He was just so beautiful!

We played with him, gave him his first bath,

cleaned up his accidents, stayed up late at night comforting him because he cried and cried until he fell asleep. And of course, I constantly washed my hands after touching him because my mother always said that dogs were dirty. We named him Oshie. Which we still have to explain where we came up with that. I’ll let my husband explain it.

-Nancy

A little over a year ago Nancy and I decided we should get a dog. She had just finished her training as a Marine Corps Officer and we had moved to North Carolina where she would be stationed. I had to leave my job and decided I wouldn’t look for work again until I completed the degree I was working on. This made it the perfect time to get a puppy as I would be home all day to train it and clean up the inevitable messes.

We weren’t immediately certain on what breed we wanted. Nancy thinks English Bulldogs are cute as puppies but doesn’t like them as they get older so we ruled them out. She also thought Golden Retrievers were adorable and there is no arguing with that. I had grown up around them as my Grandparents always had one or two so I loved the breed and knew they make excellent companions and family dogs.

We did a little research and decided a Golden it would be. The next Step was to find a reputable breeder that wasn’t too far away. I did a bunch of google searches and found forums that listed breeders but unfortunately there were no litters planned for any of the ones I found as soon as we wanted. The search continued and it seemed like we were just going to have to wait. Then one afternoon I was searching again I stumbled upon a site called Seasons Gold. I wasn’t immediately impressed with the look of the web page but the dogs were beautiful and it looked like they might have pups available. We live on the coast of North Carolina and Seasons Gold is in Harrisburg right outside of Charlotte. It is a long drive but it was looking like our only option for getting a puppy in the time frame we wanted.

After some emailing back and forth with Kary Love (the owner) we decided that despite the drive we wanted one of her dogs. They are well socialized with lots of daily visitors to her farm and she really cares about the breed. The next step was to make a deposit and get on the waiting list. We were anticipating a 2 to 3 months wait but to our surprise we received an email saying she had some males that were not chosen and we could come and pick one if we would like. That weekend we made the 8 hour round trip to pick our new companion. The puppies were 6 weeks old on our first visit and were so adorable. There were 4 males left to choose from and it was so hard to pick the one we would be taking home. Eventually we noticed that one was more active than the others and had a small white blaze on his forehead. He was very curious about us and we decided that this is the one we would take home. Kary releases the puppies after 6 weeks which many people say is too young but we were happy to get him as soon as possible.

Fast forward a week and once again we were making the 8 hour round trip but this time we were taking our Oshie home. You are probably wondering where we came up with that name and that is something we will explain later on. There you have it. The story of how Oshie became part of our family. Here is a link to Seasons Gold. Check them out if you are ever near Charlotte NC. They accept visitors daily.

-Jesse