What If Community Starts With A Dog Hello

Seven pets. Two brand-new Golden Retriever puppies. A black kitten who barely makes an appearance because she’s still settling in. And one legendary Chihuahua mix who apparently has a social calendar downtown. We sit down with Melissa and Durski in Ackworth, Georgia and quickly realize their “furkid” story is equal parts hilarious and deeply human. 

We talk through how Leo and Commander Riker come home from the same litter, why naming a dog can feel like fate, and what it’s like to manage the real-life chaos of puppies, cats, and the everyday mess that comes with a full house. Along the way, we also touch on the hard stuff: missing pets, the anxiety of not knowing, and how that changes the way you protect the animals you love. If you’ve ever searched for a lost cat, worried about an escape artist, or made the call to keep a new rescue strictly indoors, you’ll feel understood here. 

Then the story widens from one home to a whole community. Melissa shares how a Golden Retriever Day meetup turned into a monthly golden retriever meetup with dozens of dogs and new friendships, plus a big vision for a Southeast Golden Retriever festival inspired by the famous gathering in Golden, Colorado. It’s a practical look at how dog-friendly events get started and why “show up with your leash” can turn into something that genuinely supports your mental health. 

If you love Golden Retrievers, rescue stories, dog meetups, or honest conversations about pet grief and the unconditional love that keeps us going, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a fellow pet person, and leave a review with the one thing your pet does that instantly resets your day.

1. Purchase the Book that inspired the Podcast
2. Want to share your pets story on a future podcast?  
   1. Send us a message: SUBSCRIBE
3. All new, the first ever Pet Journal - start logging your memories with your Pet
   1. Click -> Pet Journal

Transcript

Welcome To Every Fur Kid

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Every Pop Rent, Every Story. I am your host, Dan Popovic. And for those new listeners to this podcast, you're probably wondering what the heck is this show all about? Well, simple enough, it's all about the fur kids. We bring families in, invite families in to talk about how many fur kids they have in their family. And hopefully, my southern 20 isn't going the wrong direction. When I say fur kids, we're talking about pets, right? Dogs and cats. Um a lot of these episodes, hopefully you'll you'll laugh. You may cry because we do occasionally talk about loss and the impact that that is on us. Um hopefully get inspired. We've had some pretty amazing inspirational episodes. Um, but you know, but most importantly, feel supported, you know, supported along whatever journey and path you are with your fur kids. And I'm super excited today. I've got a dynamic duo on the show. Uh we recently met and come to find out. We're not too far. I think we're two, three cities uh separate from each other. So welcome to the show, Melissa. See, I'm already I already got your name already messed up. I Melissa and Darsky. Darsky. And you guys are in Aquarus, Georgia, right?

Counting The Pets In The House

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Excellent. Um let's get into the fur. How many fur kids do we have part of the family today?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Four dogs. I got one, but no, four dogs and three cats.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Oh wow. I like how you guys looked at each other too. You're like, I don't know how many do we have?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

How many do I keep bringing home is the question. And he didn't know what.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Garski's giving you that look, like, uh, I see how he's sitting behind you.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

Um Yeah, well, you know, they they sometimes, especially when they're puppies or kittens, they create a certain amount of uh mess or aggravation for her that um I don't want to remind her of. So this this time I didn't. She brought home two more goldens.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Puppies.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Puppies. And then uh a kitten.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

And then a kitten last week or the week before.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

And it was like I mean, look, I love uh I love golden retrievers. In particular, animals, they're innocent. I love them. They you know what I mean, but it's just like there's there's a point where like where we need fire where she needs where she needs to go run an animal shelter.

unknown 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. It it's an op. So alright, so two new family members, two, two golden, and then you said one cat?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Well, two, yeah, those are the new ones. Two new puppies, two boys from the same litter, and then that was they're four months, five months old now. So we've had them for a few months. We got them around like 10 or 12 weeks old, and and the kitten we just brought a coup I just brought a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

But how so how

The Surprise Second Golden Puppy

SPEAKER_00 3:05

did the okay, so let's talk about the two new ones, the two golden treaters. How did they Darcy uh Darcy's gonna probably interject on this, but uh how did they how did they enter the home? How did they become a part of family?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

So what had happened was I saw one and it they it was uh a sweet family just down in Macon, Georgia, and I was like, I think we need another golden because we have one, we have a two-year-old golden too.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

And I wasn't opposed to this.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

You weren't. So he was okay with me bringing one more because we had Kiva, which is our two-year-old golden retriever. We have a 11-year-old Chihuahua Mix, which is my daughter's dog since she's had since she was five years old. Um, and my daughter's now about to be 16 this year. So Lily is our old lady at the house, Chihuahua puppy Chihuahua Mix Mutt. Um, but the two Goldens that came, we were just gonna get one, and we went down to meet meet the puppies, and um, I wanted to name it Leo, and when we met this new puppy, Dersky loves Star Trek and was like, I don't think he's meant for Leo. How about Riker? What is it, Captain Riker?

SPEAKER_04 4:15

No, I mean Commander Riker.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Commander Riker. And actually, it that fit his personality much better. And I was like, dang, but I really want to name a dog Leo. Well, guess what happened? The other puppy that was going to be adopted, that mom was gonna name that puppy Leo, and when she backed out, that was my Leo. I had to bring him too.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Oh, that just sounded like too much of too much of a coincidence, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

That's it.

SPEAKER_04 4:41

At least well, this one she at least talked to me about three days before it happened, and you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Well, the the breeder lady was like, you know, the and I didn't know it was Leo at first. She's like, you know, one of the other puppies moms backed out. Do you know anyone that might want to adopt the last one? You know? And I I was like, Who is it? And I was like, Is it Leo? And she's like, Yes. I said, Okay, I'll take him.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Without talking to him. But then I did talk to him, but I had already told her yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

And she thinks this is funny.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

So Rik Riker made it home first, and then he went down to get Leo.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Oh no, they both came home at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 5:17

We we have to It was right before we were supposed to go pick him up.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah, we were going to go pick up Riker anyways, and that's right when she said, Hey, there's one that still needs a home. They backed out. I was like, Oh, I'll pick up Leo with Riker.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, it's perfect though. You they're they they're bonded, they're family, they knew each other, so that just made it so much easier, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

That's how you sold it to Darski.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yes, that's how I sold it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Until they're until they until there's multiple poops from both of them, and you know, they're they're getting better. They're getting better.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So Le so I'm curious on Leo. What how what what's the inspiration behind that name? Why did you yeah, is there a story behind that name?

SPEAKER_02 5:59

No, I'm just a Leo. Like that's my that's my sign. I'm born August 1st. And so I always say every good uh Leo that's born in August or July, they have a lion tattoo and an animal named Leo.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

She tries to name everything Leo. She named my my my chat GPT is my friend. I call her Molly. So she started calling her chat GPT Leo. So it's like everything's Leo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

That's funny. And then uh the other one, Commander Riker, right? Did I get that right?

SPEAKER_04 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

And that's from Star Trek?

SPEAKER_04 6:31

Yeah, uh, Next Generation with uh Captain Picard.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Uh I'm not as up on it, I hate to say. Um I guess uh uh is it true? You're either a trackier or you're a Star Wars, you're not both, or right?

SPEAKER_04 6:47

I you know what's funny? The only thing that's actually in common with them is that they're both set in space. I mean, I don't I make no correlation between them other than that. There are some, you know, I mean, like they don't have lightsabers in Star Trek, right? I mean, there's I mean, uh they're both to me they're both cool. I just I happen to agree with the or I I I would love to live in the time and philosophy of where humans have come to because Star Trek is more evolved, I guess would be the way to put it. You know, I mean the As a community. Yeah, they're they're out trying to help even when people even when people uh do them wrong, they still try to understand them and help them, and it's just like wow man, if we could just be there.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Alright, m Melissa, sounds like you guys might need to start up a Star Trek type of podcast or get them on a Star Trek podcast.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

That would be fun. That would be a fun podcast.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Alright, so back to the back to the fur kids. So then, alright, so we got Ryko Leo, um,

Leo And Commander Riker Origins

SPEAKER_00 7:55

and there's a new edition cat, you said.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yes. Her name is Panther.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Oh, black cat. Okay, very cool. Love it.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

I've only seen her twice.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

She stays mainly in my daughter's room because the other two cats we have are indoor-outdoor, and my daughter does she lost a cat last year from it going indoor outdoor. We're not it was right around this time, 4th of July. He was amazing, black cat, and and he was good at going in and out, but he went missing. Either someone took him, because a lot of people walked past our house to get to the lake, and so either someone took him or he got spooked and took off. But so she just got a new black cat, and instead of a boy cat, we got a girl cat, and she came along from someone that I saw on Facebook that had saved her from being at a dump place pretty much. I saw this on Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Yeah. Oh.

unknown 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Love it. Um okay, cool. So let's get and you said key Kiva is the two-year-old, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Kiva, yeah. K-I-B-A. That's my name. K-I-B Astersky's baby.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

That's a unique name. Tell me about that name.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

How did we even come up with that? I just I think we just started searching on the way to get her.

unknown 9:13

No.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

It was I I I always said that if I had a daughter, I would name her Kara.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:20

And um it was like I don't know. It's a dog. You know, it's just a little different, obviously. I actually don't have any human uh children of my own anyway. Um I take responsibility for some. But um, you know, so it was kind of along those lines. And I I don't know, I just I said it. I said Kiva, and she was like, yeah, and I think we looked it up.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

I it has a meaning.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

I can't remember the meaning of it, but we'll have to look it up and add it to the article when we get this podcast out there.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yes. And one one night we were hanging out and all of a sudden he called her Kiva Beaver. So that's her nickname. Kiva Beaver.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Very cool. And then um Lily, the 11-year-old, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

What's the what any I mean that's seems like a pretty com common name, Lily, no?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Yeah, so my daughter loves the name Lily. I don't even know why. So we call her LilyPad, and she was also a Facebook find. $40. I guess the people that had her, the wife, uh, the wife's husband got so mad at Lily because she was a puppy at the time, and the she had chewed through um a charger, and she said, Someone has to come get this dog, or else my husband is not gonna be very nice to it.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

And I was like, chewing through a charger.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Yeah, just because of a charger. So I ran, I gave her forty dollars, I grabbed the dog. This was when I was with my children's father, who I also would bring lots of animals home back then.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

So I I only I don't only do it to Durski.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Okay, but they're not together anymore. Yeah, they're not and he didn't know about it before, right? So he just now got aware of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Right, right. And so I brought Lily to I own a business. So when I first got Lily, she had fleas, worms, all the things. I mean, she was in bad shape. So instead of bringing her home and showing my at the time husband her in that way, I took her to my office first and got her all cleaned up, and she was just so cute and sweet, and I brought her home, surprised him. And of course, my daughter was already attached because she was with me when we picked her up, and so he couldn't say no because our daughter was five years old at the time. So we've had Lily for a while. Lily has had some puppies, one one batch of puppies, but not not anymore, um, that we got to all good homes. And she is an escape artist, she likes to dig, and she likes to we live in downtown Acras, so there's all these little cute restaurants, a wine bar, Center Street Tavern. And anytime we need to know where Lily is, she's either at Center Street Tavern Bar or the Wine Bar.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Isn't there a fun little bookstore down there too that's kind of off the beaten path and a house, and it's got a f a fence, a fence in the front too, where you can take the fur kids and hang out?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Not in our area, yeah. That sounds fun. Maybe in Kennesaw?

Panther The Kitten And A Missing Cat

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Oh no, you know, I it's oh, what's the uh I think it's uh it's not Kennesaw, maybe it's Woodstock. I think that's where it is by downtown Woodstock, yeah. Does everybody get along?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah, so far we we haven't introduced Panther much to the puppies because they're quite big and she's little. Um, and I think she'd be fine. She her and Lily hang out in my daughter's room all the time. They're fine. They like they don't rub on each other, but they're good. But all everyone else, because we have two other cats too that go in and out, Scarlett and Marty.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Marty does not come in.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Marty doesn't come in. He doesn't like to come in. He's he's the alley cat of the neighborhood, and he all he does is meow at you to feed him and then hangs out on the porch.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Doesn't bring any doesn't bring any animals back into the house like uh rats or anything, though.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

I don't think he's probably scared of everything.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

He's a scaredy cat, but then he also just stays out on the porch. Yeah, Marty Feldman and Scarlet Johansson are their names. And those are the names that they were given when I adopted them before I met before I met Dursky, I adopted them from a um you know, where they help get animals. Not shelter, but Scarlet I got.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

What was Marty? Marty what? Feldman. What's that from?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Um he's he's an old actor and he has like one eye that goes that way.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

And Scarlet. Does the cat's eye do that too?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

At first, when he was a kitten, that's what his eyes did. And Scarlet has some kind of issue. She has like this tail that's like crooked and broken, and her eyes are always sad looking. So we also call her sad kitty.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Hilarious. And then so now and you guys, did you recently start a meetup group for retrievers?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yes, we did. Okay. Well, I I was trying to do a meetup group last year for all dogs at a local. We have a little restaurant here that it's the only place in downtown Ackworth with a closed-in dog park area. Otherwise, we have to go to Kennesaw or up in like the public park, which is a little bit further up in the northern part of Ackworth. But downtown doesn't have anything except for this restaurant, and it's not a very big park, but it's big enough. So last year I was trying to just do a dog meetup, bring people together, bring their dogs, and only like four or five people would come here and there, and it didn't really jump off. And then in February, it's Golden Retriever Day. It's it changes, but I think it's like February 5th or 6th, something like that, third, fourth, fifth, something. But this year, I was like, it's Golden Retriever Day, and I looked it up and I saw that in Golden Colorado, they have thousands of golden retrievers come every year for the golden uh the golden retriever festival in Golden Colorado. So I was like, hmm, that's cool. It's Golden Retriever Day in like a day or two. I'm just gonna put it out on Facebook and see if anyone with Golden Retrievers wants to come meet me or us. And um like 13 golden showed up that day.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yeah, it was so fun. So then they're like, Oh, can we do this again? So then I was like, okay, sure. So I put uh together a a Facebook group, public Facebook group, and I just started doing events, uh, golden retriever meetups at the same spot every time. But people have become friends from it, and like even we got to go over to some new friends' house that invited us. They have two Goldens and two other dogs, and we took our Goldens and we went swimming at their house.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Yeah, like the dogs jumped in the pool.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah, yeah. And we met them through this meetup, and now so we do it once a month now. I was kind of going

Lily’s Rescue Story And Tavern Escapes

SPEAKER_02 16:00

crazy. I was doing like three a month, and he's like, You gotta slow down, like that's too much.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I was like, Okay, you're you're right.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

So now we do it once a month. It's usually the second Saturday of every month at Red Top Brew House in the doggy park. The last meetup had 30 Goldens show up.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Wow, that's very cool. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

It's fun.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

There's nothing like golden retriever people, man. I mean it's like they're I mean, they're literally like like golden. Everyone's so nice and become friends and just there's a reason why they're the people attach to that type of dog is because that's I mean, like this technically started. I had my ex and I had uh a golden, an English cream golden, so white um named Indy. And she was I she is, she's still alive. Well, no, no, no. I I'm saying that like at the time I did not want her to get a dog. It was like, you don't take care of the one you have. Like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 17:00

About your ex.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Yeah. And you know, and it comes to be like the night of she goes, Well, I need you to go pick her up for me. And it's like an hour and a half away. And I'm like, oh my god, dude. I hated it. I hated it so much, but then I got there and I didn't tell her this for like three months, but they handed me that dog, and I just like melted, huh? Oh my god. It w it was over, and like I took care of everything, like and she still you know, we'll have her come around every once in a while. She gets to come.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yeah, she gets to come to the meetup. So I have a step golden. So sometimes we have five dogs in the house when Indy comes.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Well that's that's gotta that's gotta kinda be challenging for you though, if you had that bond in the beginning and then seemed like it was yours now, she's with the axe, and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

I can't even tell you. I mean it's a it's a good thing that we moved past, I mean, really, she moved past her whatever. You know what I mean? Like it was she she got with a new person, he was like absolutely no exes, blah blah blah, you know, all that. And it's like whatever, you know. I mean, uh to each their own, whatever it is. I miss I missed Indy, I miss Indy. You know, I'd like her to be around, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

But that's how that's how I got into Goldens. I always growing up, I always had mutts from the you know, Humane Society or that we found abandoned on the streets, whatever it was. My big sister used to bring animals home a lot, and my mom be like, Where did you get this one?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So he's really to blame for your golden retriever fetus now. Okay, I see.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

I mean, so she she actually bought me Kiva. For my birthday when we when we had first met. Like it was like what five months in a yeah. Yeah. She's like, here, I'm gonna here's her here, because I was really that one I did ask him though.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I said, I I don't want you to feel like I'm replacing Indy because we weren't seeing Indy at the time, and he was I mean, he was very distraught emotionally missing her, and and I was like, Well, we could get a golden, and I had never had one, and so we did.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

So how old is Indy today?

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Uh she's three. She'll be three.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

No, no, no, she'll be three in Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

She's young.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Three at Christmas. She's two and a half.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Indy as in short for Indiana Jones.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Actually, yeah. That's what's funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Okay, okay, I I got something right on the show.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Yeah, and uh that wasn't me either. It was uh my ex. She she I I don't remember exactly what the deal was with the Indiana Jones thing, but um that was something that she had wanted at another point in her life, and she had another golden call named Whiskey or something.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

That's a good name for a golden.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

India is older than Kiva. Yeah, in Kiva. I was thinking Kiva. Kiva's birthday is on Christmas, and my daughter's birthday is Christmas Eve.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

So what do we do for birthday celebration for Kiva?

SPEAKER_04 20:09

Every day.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Every day, that's true. That's true. That's a good answer. Good answer. She does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Oh, love that answer. Um so the meetups, that's that's really cool. So you got another one coming up um this weekend? Tomorrow? In a couple weeks?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Oh, a couple weeks. I think we're doing it July the weekend after July 4th, July 13th.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

But it's it's golden retrievers only. So if somebody had a Doberman or something else, you're like, get out of here. It's gotta only go.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

No, we actually announced that all dogs are welcome. We've had little puppies come in that were like uh what it what is Jen Half little like four-pound little whatever they are. I mean, they come. No, they're like bajons or whatever those are. And then we had a lab.

The Porch Cat Marty And Sad Kitty

SPEAKER_02 20:55

No, we had labs, we had golden doodles come. Yeah, so we we definitely invite everyone. It's just that the Goldens are the stars of the show.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Of course, of course. And I didn't realize that about Golden Colorado for Golden Reder Day. That's that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Well, guess what? We're doing now. We're putting our own on in the southeast in Ackworth. I've already uh put the application in with the city of Ackworth, so we would like close down the whole park down at the lake. They would allow us to bring vendors in and people from all over the southeast could come.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

I love that. That's all yeah, we'll have to I'll have to figure out how I can help you guys kind of spread that word. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

That'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Um, yeah, what what what's unique about what they do in in Golden Colorado? Is it just kind of like what you're doing, festival and vendors and yep, all about golden.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

They have vendors and just people from all over the country travel, like everywhere, travel to Golden Colorado to go. And I was like, why isn't there's one on the southeast? Like, I'm fine. Pockets like throughout Florida and stuff where people are doing golden meetups like I am. You know, I'm not the first one to do it, but no one has put together a large festival like they have in Golden Colorado. So we'll hopefully do this annually and it'll grow to thousands just like they did there.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah. Well, and I'll have to, you remind me, I'll have to figure out how to connect you to Tina andor her daughter Nicole. I actually had both of them on a podcast not too long ago. Their stories were amazing. Tina, at one time, she had, sorry, Darsky, I'm not, I'm not trying to plant I I'm not trying to plan ideas with Melissa, but she had eight golden retrievers. Oh eight. Um, and then but it's a fat she was a fascinating story because then she got into obedience training. So then she got into like competition, and then she got into dog wrangling. And when she mentioned dog wrangling. Well, but but the dog you might like the dog wrangling. When she mentioned that, I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking about. What is dog wrangling? That's what they do in the movies. So she actually had some of her goldens in the movies.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

So you know, that's what they call them dog wranglers on the set. One of them became really famous. It was really a cool and it was yeah, they're all about golden retrievers too. Um nice. So it's really fascinating. Um, now did y'all with the golden retrievers fascination or love that you guys have, is this something you grew up with, or is it just more recent in adulthood?

SPEAKER_04 23:28

I've never had an animal. I like until that got forced on me there. I I mean there were animals around,

Starting A Golden Retriever Meetup

SPEAKER_04 23:35

and I was always just like, get out of here. I don't want anything to do with you.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

I've always had animals, but never golden's, always from the pound, always mutts, and always like smaller dogs. I had cocker spaniels, I had, you know, uh Pomeranian mix, like all the little mutts. I grew up in San Diego and there were there were all there was always a new animal being brought home by either me, my brother, or sister.

SPEAKER_04 24:01

She picks up strays. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

But now I know to make sure that it's not someone's dog. Like, you know, I know the rules now. Like make sure that the because we actually we have Lily's.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Is it chipped or not? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Yeah, exactly. Are they chipped? Um we have Lily's puppy who's been missing since February, actually, and she's three years old, and so she's a Cocker Spaniel Chihuahua mix, and I'm still like putting post out about because I think someone has her here locally because she's gotten out before, and whoever has found her has posted about her, but now she's missing. So at one point we actually had another dog too, and that's my youngest daughter's dog, and we are really sad about her missing, and I still have hope that she's gonna show up.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

So wow, sorry to hear that. Yeah, um so I'm I'm curious from like I definitely want to hear from both y'all's perspective on just um and darski, you hit on the the the golden retriever, and um what is it about that breed that you know you get so much benefit or joy from? You know, how talk about just what you know what does that breed do for you?

SPEAKER_04 25:10

It's I I don't think it's so much about I mean there is absolutely benefit for me or for us in it, but it's the way that they love it it it doesn't beg for them to be loved, even though they do beg to be loved. Like they their personality does, but like just the way that they are is so pure and just like you know, like I I I I get home every day or night or whatever it is, and I'll sit down and these dogs just run up and plop down on you. And it's like they just all they want, all they want is just to be around you and there's nothing else. There's nothing else, and it's not about uh for me, like I don't need that, I want it, I like it. It's not something that's like forced, it was forced on me at first, right? But I I couldn't help but fall in love. Right literally, these people handed me indie, and the second she got in my hands, and I was so mad, dude. I was so mad, and the second that dog got in my hands, I just it was like something came over me, and and and it wasn't something I wanted. So I was fighting that every every chance I got to. I didn't tell her for three months. I sit there, pet the dog, she walks around the corner, I'm like, do it for me. You know what I mean? Like I am I I didn't I didn't want that to cause because I was mad with her, but like I don't know, it's just I there's nothing to be mad at there. Even when they like mess in the house and stuff, it's aggravating. Yeah. But like they're just so chill. Now, on the other hand, the little chihuahua, she'll be like Uh-huh, she'll give you dirty looks. She's like, I know what I did.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

You She'll give you dirty looks, she's like, Where's my food? Let me back in my room. Yeah, I'm gonna go dig a hole and go onto the fence and go get some wine. Like she's just like that, like attitude.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

I just never met another energy like that ever. And and and I didn't realize that it was something that was you know, across the Goldens, like that was just part of their temperament. I didn't really think about it before that because I didn't like animals, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

I never met a a breed that just was friends with every other dog. You know, this breed is the only one. I mean, I've had cocker spaniels, which are such sweeties too, but they're usually more timid than the Goldens are. They don't run up and like make friends. They literally make friends with everyone.

SPEAKER_04 27:47

Like it like they don't have any or piss them off until they have no other choice but to like them because they're just gonna be there.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Like, you're gonna be my friend, you're gonna be my friend, you're gonna and I I'm like, it's also who I am. Yeah, I I I am like a golden. I'm like, we're all friends, everyone lets me be friends. You're my friend, you're my friend.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

I love yeah, no, I've heard that about Golden Rachel. I mean, they're great family dogs.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Have you come

Dreaming Up A Southeast Golden Festival

SPEAKER_04 28:10

to the meeting?

SPEAKER_02 28:11

No, you haven't been to our golden retriever meetup. He lives a bit foresight a little bit further.

SPEAKER_04 28:15

Well, you can come.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

But you can have uh yeah, I'll definitely have to make it out. I've got um you you guys might kick me out though, because I have um I have two Dobermans, one of them I wouldn't bring. He's an old man, um and uh he just kind of lounges around the other one. A lot of energy. I mean, uh Darsky, to your point, I mean, Dobermans are are awesome, loyal. They, you know, she's she's very loving. But yeah, she's not gonna go up and be best friends with with every dog. So you've got that you know little challenge. But um the other one I've got is a ridge back, but she's petrified of people and other dogs because she came from a very abusive upbringing, and she had she came from one of these puppy mills and she had males beating her. So when she came here, she did not like me. She barked at me a lot. Um and what's funny, I have a picture, I posted it on Facebook not too long ago. We went out to No Foe brewery up here in uh coming. Like the first week we had her, she jumps up on my lap. She's in my lap getting that comfort, and it's like that was totally unexpected, you know, because like you wait a minute, you're barking at me all the time, you don't like me, but now she wanted that support. But um so yeah, they're they're they're fun, fascinating breeds. But yeah, well, I'll tell we'll definitely have to try to make it out there and kind of figure out Car Carly's definitely uh a lot of fun, just very high energy, go, go, go, high energy. Um and then you I see I you know I don't know if you've been around Dobermans or have familiar with Doberman's.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

I mean I had an uncle that had a Doberman. It it there was one time where it it was trying to play with me. I think I was like seven or eight. And we were out in the yard and it like it was just playing, like nipping, and it it it like it hurt, you know. I was a kid, so it probably wasn't that bad. And I I was like, ow! And as soon as I did that, it went and I was like, what are you doing? I started running. Oh no, and this thing, it's just playing with me though. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's running at me, and I was just so scared, and it but then like it ends up like I fell to the ground and it just starts licking my face.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

So like you know they do get a bad rap, Doverbins get a bad rap because they are like intimidating looking, just like pit bulls, but really it does come down to how you you treat them.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Yeah, I know we've got gosh, we're getting close to the end, time is flying. Um I had a couple questions. Go for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

I wanna I want to flip the script. What inspired you to do this?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So um, no, that's a great question.

Why Golden Retrievers Feel So Pure

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Because yeah, I don't definitely don't like making it about me because it's all but no, I'll answer that. I don't know about you get to that that so I've got a book behind me. I don't know if you can see that I'm pointing. So I so what inspired me is um I lost Marley. Marley was uh our first female Doberman. We lost her about three years ago. Uh we lost her at the age of nine, and one day she's with us, the next day she's gone. Um and it it was it was a pretty profound impact on me. I didn't, you know, and I've lost family members before, lost my father, you know, but she was like she was amazing. She was she probably was like a golden retriever in her body. She greeted everybody with kisses, she loved every dog. Um, she was amazing, smart as smart as can be. Um like I said, she she passed in an emergency room with a bunch of plugs coming in and out of her. So that destroyed me because it's like, you know, if I I would love to have seen her go peacefully at the house. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. Um, so I started writing about it. And the ri I just started writing about it to to heal myself from that pain and really had no intent of any else, anything else coming out of that. People started reading the book, and then they're like, it's relatable. Obviously, the the the grief that was in there, you know, was profound, you know, people cried, but the relatable thing, and that's when I that's when I'm like, you know what, I just want to share this. I just I want to share it with the world. I want to get out, I want to do more, I want to, you know, so it's inspired me, her legacy has inspired me to do more, but it's really more about showcasing what it means to have them in our lives, right? Just, you know, cats, dog, the the power, that profound impact they have on our not only our physical well-being, but our mental well-being. Um, and just like you were saying, um, Dar you know, Darsky, it's you know, not having Indy, you know, I'm sure there's that impact there and falling in love. And like you said, you get frustrated if they mess in the house, but uh how can you get mad on it? You look, they look at you and you're like, yeah, I can't get mad at you. I mean, you know you did wrong and we'll figure it out, but um, but it's that unconditional love like you were describing. It's nothing else like it, they're always there for you. Um, and that's what's fascinating as I started doing this podcast and hearing folks come on and talk about that same thing. You know, so many people talk about loss, but how it helped them get through the loss of a job, the loss of of a marriage, the loss of a boyfriend, um, all of these impacts that impact our mental health, they're right there by you. I mean, it's it's powerful. So that's what inspired me to do this.

SPEAKER_04 34:01

Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry for your loss.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

No, I I appreciate it. And you know, and like I said, Marshall is her brother. He's with us still today, and he's 11. So I feel like we're on bar borrowed time, right? Dobermans don't typically make it past 10. Um, so we're enjoying every moment we have with him. And but you know, it's getting tougher because his mobility is so hard. I have to pick him up and carry him up and down the stairs a lot. And I don't have the frame for an extra 100 pounds of of body weight on me, but I I do it.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Yeah, that's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

But I'm gonna flip it back to you since you did that, and then and then and then we'll close. Um, like you mentioned water and jumping in the pool, so it sounds like I'm gonna guess that's probably a golden retriever thing. They probably they sounds like they love swimming. They love they love the water, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Well, ours don't.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Well, I mean, it's not that they don't, it's that they just got to they don't have a whole lot of experience with it. We took Kiva um paddle boarding at one point. I loved it. She didn't like it because she kind of scratched her up.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Kiva wanted to be on my board.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Yeah, I I got it too, but yeah, I don't care. I just wanted her there. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

But when we went to our friend's pool, their dogs, that's what they do all the time. They've been around the water since the beginning. Now, a couple other of the friends that come to the um Golden Retriever meetup, there's one and the dog's name is Pickles. And pickles is hilarious because pickles will go to every single water bowl and splash it all out because he loves water so much he can't not do it. He just wants to go swimming in the water bowl. Now, our dogs aren't like that, but you

Marley’s Loss And The Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_02 35:45

know, I think some of them like water a little bit more. I think they uh they are water dogs. I mean, from what I know of, they they usually are hunting dogs. Yeah, hunting, I mean retriever, right? But maybe not. So I don't know. Um we'll probably try a couple more times. I don't really want to go paddleboarding again because unless I cut Kiva's nails.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

I would take her alone, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

And then what's um I think I got we got time for one one last question. I'll I'll hit at you guys. What in Darsky, you mentioned on the cuddling, like what's one maybe one thing that they do that's so endearing that brings a smile to your face every day.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Probably exactly that. Like what generally, you know what's funny? I smile at the thought of getting home knowing if like it's the end of the night or something like that, and knowing that they're just gonna run up and and greet me and like and then I'm gonna lay down and they're just gonna jump right in the bed. And it's like you know, there's people who are like, you don't like dogs in your bed. You what do you do? And it's like, dude, you don't know what you're missing. I I don't know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

They plop down. One thing I love, they the puppies they're bigger cuddlers than Kiva is, so they just jump up really fast and flop right into you and like spoon you and like up on your neck, on they put their head on top of your head. Kiva hasn't been that much cuddly, but she's starting to be. Yeah, she does. And you know what else she does with him? She does it with me too. But uh what I love seeing when he comes home, she will find anything close by a sock, a toy, whatever, and go take it to him when he comes home to show him like welcome home and look what I have. And it's usually a sock because I didn't finish the laundry yet.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

That's yeah, that that welcome home greeting is the best. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, no, yeah, so I I think we're we're at the end. So I yeah, this this has been fun, and I appreciate the two of you coming on the show. Um, and Melissa, so let's definitely get the link. So what what's the so you've got the date for this this big event, or is that still kind of in the works?

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah, we're shooting for February 6th of 2027. Yeah, pretty much it's like right there at Golden Retriever Day. I don't know the exact date. It's during the week, so the weekend is when we're doing it on Saturday the 6th.

Final Moments And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

So we'll have to figure out like, do you have any kind of like landing page or anything, awareness on it yet?

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah. Well, I'll get it soon. I made an event on Facebook, but it says like location to be determined.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

Join the Facebook group.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Yeah, are you in the Golden Retriever Facebook group?

SPEAKER_00 38:22

I I think I am. I'll definitely go and check. So but yeah, so then I'll I'll definitely make a point to find that link and add it to the article so people can find out about it. So, like you said, yeah, let's get let's get people across the southeast to come join.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

I yeah, again, don't go anywhere just yet, but I just wanted to thank you for the two of you for being on the show today.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Thank you for having us. This has been fun.