Webster 04-149

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Webster is a 2 year old neutered male. He was a stray that had been residing at a vet clinic for 2-3 months. Webster is good with kids, loves to play with people and other dogs, but has no cat history.

At a Glance #04-149

Golden Retriever Born: February 2002
Male Weight not specified

Status: Deceased

Profile

Webster is a 2 year old neutered male. He was a stray that had been residing at a vet clinic for 2-3 months. Webster is good with kids, loves to play with people and other dogs, but has no cat history.

Updates

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

 

We adopted Webster in May 2004 (he was estimated to be 2.5 years old) in the Twin Cities area, where he had been fostered. He had been found as a stray in Iowa in January and wound up in RAGOM's care and then came to us.  We were living in Wisconsin in the time.

Webster was a wonderful dog, a beautiful dog in appearance and in his soul.  He was always sweet and gentle and had a very powerful tail that he loved to wag and show his happiness.

He howled in happiness and made us happy with his howling.

He loved kids of all ages and I always had to warn the little ones that he might kiss them.

He loved other dogs but clearly had a special preference for other golden retrievers.  We thought that fondness might have been developed from his time in the RAGOM foster families, where he had foster brothers and sisters.

He never liked fetching inanimate objects:  we had to demote him from "golden retriever" to merely golden.

He loved romping in the dog parks where we lived in Wisconsin and in Pennsylvania (where we live now).

He loved snuggling with us and he could always cure a bad mood with a glance, a tail wag, a lick, or a nuzzle.

Here are a few short video clips we love of our time with Webster...Running at the dog park, howling in delight, and wagging his tail

He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma about a month ago and last week the pain medication for that finally caused him to develop ulcers in his gut.

We were unable to keep up with his pain and we eased his crossing of the rainbow bridge tonight.

We miss him terribly already but we are so grateful to him for the wonderful life he shared with us (nearly 10 golden years) and to RAGOM for making that possible.

Sincerely,

Ben R and family

 

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

From Webster's forever family...

We are all so happy. Webster is a wonderful dog, friend and companion. He loves people, he loves other dogs. He is especially interested in little children, eager to present himself for them to pet him and delighted at the opportunity to lick their faces. (I have three nieces and nephews under the age of 7.) He is a great friend to my kids, ages 16 and 13, and I have seen him in close nuzzle with my wife as she whispers sweet nothings into his ears.

In the past two years, he has become more protective about his home and family, barking at the doorbell or a knock at the door, which we have encouraged and rewarded. But as soon as the guest enters, he is all wagging tail and the bark is gone, let alone any bite.

His favorite position is lying on the floor with all of us petting him. If he has only 6 hands stroking him, he'll look at the person who is not contributing to his bliss and give his guilt-inducing look. Within a minute or two, there will be 8 hands on dog.

I love watching him play at the dog park, especially when we have snow – he loves to romp in the snow. Of course we have a million nicknames for him, including Sir Webalot, Webworth, Webby, Webbington, Web-guy, Web-dude, and Webley.

He's so smart. He's learned "wait" for us to go upstairs or downstairs before he does. (He's not the most graceful dog – another way of saying he's a klutz – so while he wouldn't mean to knock us down on the steps, he doesn't quite know how not to do that, so he has learned to wait on command.) He's learned to howl when he wants to go out or wants water or just needs to have his tummy rubbed. He sleeps in on the weekends and is completely over the separation anxiety he had in his first year or so after we adopted him. We love his howl, we call it his "happy noise." He eats dinner after we've finished, so when we get up to clear the table, he sits up on his bed (he is not allowed near the table when we're eating) and starts to howl to remind us that it's his turn. It's very charming.

RAGOM, thank you for bringing Webster into our lives – he is a source of great joy and happiness for our family. Here's a picture of Webster proud of the dictionary that bears his name.

The R Family
Formerly of Madison, WI now living in PA

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Dear Ragom Friends:

If you don't remember: My family adopted Webster in May 2004 when we were living outside of Madison, Wisconsin. We moved to Pennsylvania in July 2005.

I am writing to give you another update that Webster continues to be a wonderful dog. He gets along with EVERYONE. When I take him to the dog park, he not only wants to play with all the other dogs, but he also wants to be pet by every human in the park.

Last week when we were at the dog park, there was a 2-year old girl there, wandering around on her own (her parents, I assume, were in the park, but not tending closely to her). I was concerned because this kid would easily be bowled over by a happy, friendly, energetic dog much smaller than Webster, let alone Webster (now at about 85 lbs).

Webster trotted over to her and layed down in the "sphynx position" right in front of her. He wagged his tail and looked at her as if to say, "It's okay to pet me, you should pet me, that would be nice." She patted him on the head and he got up and trotted on to meet his next person.

Webster has been vocalizing much more often. When I come home from work, he greets me with something like a howl of delight. It's wonderful He's talking to us.

Of course he also talks with his thumping tail.

When we go away for a few days we have him stay with a dog sitter. She always says, "He is such a good dog. I wish they were all like Webster." When we're away, I miss him terribly. There's an emptiness at my side - just where I need him to be.

Lately he's been showing off his hunting instincts. Our neighborhood has a lot of rabbits and deer and especially on late night and early morning walks he wants to get some game to supplement his kibble.

Thanks to all of you and to all of RAGOM for bringing Webster (and so much joy and love) into our lives!

I'm attaching a few pictures so you can see some more of him. He's about 4.5 years old now, in excellent health, not overweight (wish I could say the same about myself!) and a very happy dog.

Fondly,

Ben

Sunday, May 9, 2004

Webster has arrived safely in his new foster home. He is beautiful. We stopped at his new Grandmother's home and he was so well behaved. He is still getting used to all of his foster brothers. He likes to run and play with them, they just don't know each other very well yet. He ate a good supper and is now resting with one of his new foster brothers, Vincent.

Webster is a big boy. The clinic says he weighs 74 pounds. He makes my dog look little and he weighs 86. Webster has a big head and huge feet. He may be big but he has a super sweet personality. He loves to cuddle and be with you all of the time. He is learning how to play in the backyard with his foster brothers. The clinic says he jumps fences. My thoughts are that he was just bored being outside by himself. He is doing fine here with my fence. However, he has toys and other dogs to keep him entertained. He is very well behaved in the house. He is overly excited when he first gets out of his crate but then settles down. He is absolutely beautiful.

He is interested in my cats and likes to chase them but does not hurt them. He has gotten slapped a couple of times so he is gaining respect for his new feline brothers and sister.

More to come as we get to know Webster better.