Golden Gateway (For our Senior Citizens) inspired by Jane Williams
"Who also need loving homes to live out their latter years"
If you are able to give a loving home to a senior citizen, please contact us urgently?
We are in desparate need of retirement homes for some very special senior citizens.


Kobi

Kobi came to Golden Gateway in a very sorry state indeed, he had to be completely shaved as he was in such a mess. He has one “blind” eye, peripheral vision non-existent but he can see a bit, his other eye is starting to go too BUT that doesn’t stop him from living a perfectly normal life. He was very nervous and very snappy, and then to add insult to injury the stitches from his sterilisation went septic so he had to have a bucket on his head which did not amuse him at all and he got even more snappy to the extent that he was now biting. We persevered and he and Montana have
palled up very well and Alaska and Chelsea often join in the evening rumble and major splashing in the pond. Montana has NEVER liked being inside the house and she now thinks this is Christmas as due to small doggies and Kobi NOT getting on at all quite a few “rumbles” between Kobi and the little ones, Kobi and Montana are “outside” doggies, they have got palatial suites outside with all the mod cons, their own splash pool and full view of the goings on in the road!!! and BONUS every time I go out in the car they come with me as it is such a performance to put them “away” so as I can get out the drive.  It is only now, four to five weeks down the line that Kobi is not “cringing and cowering” when I put my hand out to stroke him or pat him, I couldn’t get near him for the first week or so but now we are well on our way to a happy doggy, he is wagging his tail, jumping up and down when I come home and really enjoying his little Estate and his other Husky Buddies.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway


Bonnie

Golden Gateway welcomes Bonnie to our little home. One very fat husky, with legs so “bowed” that you could push a wheelbarrow through them, the sweetest face, no hair on her tail, or very little, but a real “fatty mombatty” and she literally rolls around the place.

She hated the car ride home, but once home jumped out, met the other Residents and settled down within two minutes flat having done a tour of the estate, checked all the rooms out, in and out the pond about five times, found all the water bowls and is now plonked on the grass with the others Huskies.

Alaska not to sure about this lot, so keeping her distance, the others couldn’t give two hoots, Alaska sticking very close to me probably thinking uh oh, here comes my replacement, but they have had good sniffs all round and there was no snarling and growling from Alaska which she is inclined to do when she is feeling unsure of herself.

Bonnie will definitely be put on a doggie “diet” she is grossly overweight, and I will try walking her next weekend, she can walk with Tessa (aka Princess Margaret) as dear old Tessa can only manage up to the guard hut and back whereas the other two Montana and Alaska go for a 5 km run with Amos. Dakota hates a collar and lead so she just reclines on her chair and soaks up the son.

Bonnie will be living out her days with me as she is an old doggie and just needs to soak up the sun, sleep on her blanket, play in the pond and eat and sleep, and that is exactly what she will get here with tons of love thrown in.

Welcome Bonnie and may your stay be a long and happy one.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway


Tessa (aka Princess Margaret)

Dear old Tess is still toddling along and still very sprightly in fits and starts, she is very much the Matriarch of the pack and nobody messes with Tessa, not even Alaska who got a very short sharp snap on her snout when she tried to take Tessa's blanket, falls over herself with excitement at food time, and still takes herself off to inspect the "estate" religiously every morning and evening before she comes back to her "throne" in the kitchen which she has commandeered as her own, clever doggie, knows where the food is, and yes gets all the scraps when I am cooking and god forbid any of the others come near!!! Her eyesight is getting very bad now, but she knows her way around as long as you don't move things, but she is totally deaf, you have to be very careful approaching her as she doesn't hear you if she has got her back to you, and gets a terrible fright if you touch her, she has to be literally "turned" around to come out of a certain room, as she gets disorientated if she gets into a room that does not have a light on. But she is very happy old monarach ruling her doggie empire.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway


Montana

Montana has been absolutely amazing with Alaska, she was always very much a loner and didn't bother with the other doggies except the odd rumble with the brakkies, but she has really taken a shine to Alaska, I think both being young doggies, and they race around like absolute lunatics every morning and every evening when they are allowed out the front, and if I am in the study they use the lounge as a race track, so I am hoping that now I have had Alaska literally locked in the house for 5 odd weeks, that keeping her outside now with Montana being there will make the transition from a "locked in house" doggie to a settled "outside" doggie during the day. Montana I think is now full grown and is the most beautiful doggie, when I think how thin and  scraggly she was when I first got her about two years ago, her coat is amazing, she is healthy, bouncy and full of life, and now taking on the task of being a "trainer" dog for the new "RESDIDENTS", to help them settle and play with them as she has done with Alaska.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway


Alaska

Alaska has now settled after "escaping" twice, over a 9 foot wall with electric fencing on top, to this day I don't know how she did it, but I have now removed all the trellises (I think she climbed up the trellises) dismantled the waterfeature which could also have been used for an escape route, and have had her "inside" the house with the windows boarded up, yes, she got through a small cottage paned window and took off the second time, and now I am leaving her outside with Montana who she has palled up with, for short spaces of time, and yesterday for most of the day she did not try to "take off" so hopefully that is the end of her "escape" artist routine., needless to say I came home with great trepidation wondering if she had "gone" or not. Alaska has been sponsored by Nikki Van Der Westhuizen and her husband Andre for her food and vet bills, for which we are enormously thankful, and she is now well on the mend after having had a good shampoo and set, she is on a course of Mange injections, is eating well, albeit she "snorkles" into her food it doesn't stop her from literally "wolfing" it down, her coat is coming in nicely, and her callouses on her butt are starting to smooth out AND some hair is actually growing there now, her legs are healing nicely, and she is starting to put on a bit of weight, her gums are looking a lot better, although she is a constant chewer be it herself or a toy, I think a habit she has had from her "captive" days, but I am trying to persuade her to chew the toy and not herself, her tail however is still a disaster!!! All in all a very happy doggy who rushes around like a mad thing with Montana and is very quick to come inside when the sun goes down to claim her "chair" which she pinched from one of the other doggies, no flies on Alaska!!!, she knows what she wants and gets it, I think she is going to be quite a dominant doggie, she has no idea of house rules, but is slowly learning.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway


Dakota

Dakota has to be by far the easiest of all the residents of Golden Gateway, she just loves lying in the sun, or lying on her chair in the sun, or in my study by my feet when I am working, she is so quiet and inconspicuous  that I often look up to see where she is as she keeps very much to herself, her back is slowly coming right, although still sensitive to the touch, and her tummy still very sensitive if one of the other dogs get a bit rough and bump into her or jump on her in her chair whilst they are rushing around playing, but she keeps out of everybodies way and just soaks up the sun, she is the most loving dog, always gives me doggie kisses when I come home whilst the others are rushing around the front, they are not allowed in the front when I am out, and Dakota and I then have "our" time where we have tummy tickles and doggie kisses, and we have our "brushing" session,  she is still very sensitive to brushing, but I am slowly getting there. She is not interested in walks, hates a collar and lead, but she is at least now "running" albeit a somewhat kangeroo hop, which I don't think will ever go away considering the beating she was given before we got her, she does occasionally play with the other dogs, but spends most of the time as I said just plonked in the sun.
Jane
HRSA Golden Gateway