Golden Ark Rescue (Aust)

 

"MENDING HEARTS...RENEWING HOPE...RESTORING HAPPINESS"

Golden Ark Rescue is a self-funded, not-for-profit privately owned Golden Retriever rescue and rehoming service dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and adoption of abused, neglected, abandoned and unwanted Golden Retrievers. Our Mission Statement and Adoption Policies can be viewed by clicking here.

My husband and I established Golden Ark Rescue in 2004 in loving memory of “Solomon” whom we tragically lost in 2003 to a long battle with an incurable multi strain bacterial infection (something we were told was much like a superbug).

Solomon remains dear to our hearts and was indeed our greatest teacher and truest friend...he is very sadly missed, and though his pawprints are very hard to fill, it is our hope that Solly’s gentle, loving and wise spirit lives on through every Goldie that we rescue and provide with a new and better life.

Golden Ark Rescue Australia aids homeless Golden Retrievers Australia wide however our services are centrally based in Queensland. We do not receive government grants nor any other kind of financial assistance therefore we rely soley on our own personal funds and the odd but very essential donation from concerned people in the community. Despite facing this constant lack of funding we remain fervently dedicated to the welfare, protection, love and care of ALL Goldies who come under our care and guardianship.

Whether we are called to rescue, receive a surrender, rehabilitate, provide respite care or rehome a Goldie, it involves an intense and expensive process in every situation. These services are voluntarily offered and, as already mentioned, are funded entirely by ourselves...but the rewards are clear in seeing the joy and happiness in a Goldies smile and the signifcant provision of a safe, caring and loving environment and permanent secure future for each and every Goldie that we reach out and assist.

Every Goldie undergoes a health and temperament assessment by our veterinarians with additional temperament and behaviour observations recorded by ourselves and/or our foster carers.

Each Goldie is desexed, micro-chipped, heartworm tested and treated, vaccinated and wormed, all of which demands more funds than we can ever seem to muster.

My husband and I are so passionately committed to rescuing Golden Retrievers in need that we established an online all-natural dog biscuit bakery in 2008 to help fund this essential work. Mutts Be Luv! Barkery specializes in a wholesome range of both organic and allergy free natural dog treats however with such limited sales of our biscuits any small proceeds are all but swallowed up in producing the biscuits and so, has been an insufficient source of funding to support our rescue work to date...

So we are urging our visitors to please purchase more biscuits to help us continue in our rescue and rehabilitation work or, if you don't have a dog but you would still like to help please make a donation just by clicking the button below OR if you wish to send a cheque/money order (made payable to Mutts Be Luv Barkery with G.A.R.A. used as a reference on the reverse) and forward to our Qld postal address: Samara Hill, Golden Ark Rescue (Aust), PO Box 495, Ipswich Qld 4305.

Your donation WILL help us to SAVE the precious lives of Golden Retrievers in urgent need, enabling us to heal their broken lives and place them into permanent loving and caring family homes. (NB: Donors are honored under our DONORS OF ARK list seen on the left menu bar of this page...please advise us if you prefer to remain anonymous). 

We hope you will enjoy the Golden pawtraits displayed on this page including the ones to follow below...these images pawtray only a small pawful of the many very special Golden fur-people rescued through Golden Ark rescue services, and now sharing their precious lives with their new forever families.

THE "GOLDEN" GALLERY

Golden Retrievers Rescued & Rehomed

"Zoe"

 

"Lockey" with his new mum...they only have eyes for each other! 

 

 

"Mia" with her new Mum

 

      

GOLDEN GIRL "Peaches" (and pictured with Sophie)

Peaches is a true Golden Princess! This is Peaches' amazing story…

Peaches came to Golden Ark Rescue as a result of receiving a call from another shelter desperately seeking alternative housing arrangements for Peaches. She had been surrendered to this other shelter heavily pregnant and soon, involuntarily, suffered the horrendous and deeply saddening loss of all of her unborn puppies, immediately after which she was falsely condemned for a temporary lack of decorum when another rescue dog approached her quite aggressively as she was led passed its kennel a couple of days after her loss. Understandably, after experiencing such a life-changing event, Peaches was in a state of shock, grief and unimaginable emotional, physical and spiritual pain and suffering when she was aggressively approached by this other dog…her apparent and temporary lack of decorum was a justifiable reaction under such extenuating and grievous circumstances, and we at Golden Ark Rescue are certain that any mother who has lost a child would empathize with Peaches’ intense feelings of loss, confusion and pain. Despite this, and unbelievably, Peaches regained her incredible and blessed sense of loving and giving self…

Peaches is naturally a very affectionate, kind, loving, gentle and charismatic soul. Through Peaches own life experiences she has intuitively gained a unique understanding of human needs, she has experienced firsthand (or paw) the lack of, and abundance of, compassion, understanding, patience and loving kindness…Peaches story was very touching and moving for us here at Golden Ark Rescue but as Peaches life continues to unfold we are ever more touched and moved by her unconditional and unwaivering love of humans, despite her previous sufferings, but we are even more wowed with her instinctual love and understanding of little Soph…a beautiful little girl sadly affected by Austism….a condition that perhaps scares most of us, yet is embraced by Peaches…she just seems to perceive Soph’s Autisum as an even greater opportunity to reach out with enduring friendship, loyalty, patience, understanding, kindness and love…unconditional love! What a precious and very powerful lesson for us all to learn from a very special and intuitive Golden Retriever, a lesson that we could all apply not only to our own everyday lives, but to our friends, our families and even complete strangers…thank you Peaches and thank you Soph for showing us what enduring FRIENDSHIP, LOVE and COMMITMENT are really all about! 

Golden Ark Rescue would like to share with you an email we received from Soph’s mum and dad, giving us just a glimpse of autisum, Soph and Peaches… 

“Autism is a lifelong developmental disability, people with autism have difficulty making sense of the world and communicating. Many people with autism have accompanying learning disabilities, as our daughter Soph does, and as a result she will need therapy and support for the rest of her life… For a child with a communication disability, friends are hard to come by. We found ‘Peaches’ at Golden Ark Rescue and Sophie on that day made her first friend. Soph will follow Peaches and interact and play with her more than she knows how to with any person. Peaches is Soph’s constant companion and doesn’t even mind when Soph climbs on her and rides her like a ‘horsey’. Peaches is a welcome visitor at Sophie’s Autism Early Intervention centre AEIOU Parkridge as her affectionate gentle nature makes her a favourite with the other children. Peaches is a very special member of our family and the Golden Ark Team did a great job in matching her perfectly to our little girl”.

 

 

 

  

"Bonnie" and "Abbie"

 

   

                            "Rusty"  .....enjoying a cuddle!   (with "Charlie" further below!)

 

 

  "Jake"

 

"Barkley"

 

"Otis"

 

 

"Earl" and "Olive"            .....old friends meeting again!

 

   

"Paddy" and "Reiley"

 

....and here's Paddy with his new Mum and an update too!

"Hi Sam, finally i get the chance to sit down and pass through a message about Paddy.  Well he has settled into our family like he has always been here!! He is a joy to have and the kids just love him to bits they are always playing with him and Abbey as soon as they get home from school.  It is not uncommon for me to wonder where everyone is and wander the house and finally find them all lying on my middle child Bryce's bed!! He has a look on his face that says it all " What are you doing in here?".  He loved his first trip to Straddie at xmas time and we are heading back there at Easter for 7days camping. Abbey and Paddy are great company for each other and I know that if I am away for a large chunk of the day then they have each other to play with.  Anyway we are so pleased that we adopted Paddy from the Golden Ark rescue programme and couldn’t imagine life without him now".

- Thanks heaps from the Begbie Family

 

   

"Leo"

"We are so 'in love' with Leo and he is just the best addition to our family...I look forward to bringing you up to date with his antics. Keep up the good work Sam!"

- Very Best Wishes, Janet & LEO

 

 

"Ellie-Mae"

 

        

"Chevy"

“Chevy came into our lives on Tuesday the 7th July 2009. We had lost our female Golden Retriever Ellie to pancreatic cancer in October the previous year and declared "this is it, no more dogs". When we picked him up Roger my husband, put him on a lead and he said from that moment when he was walking him around, he knew we had a very special "soul" that had entered our lives. So our journey began on that Tuesday, and continues to enrich our lives every day. This feeling has been confirmed over and over, so many times. Chevy is a male but really is a very quiet "boy". He loves our cats Lilly and Holly and they love him. Both cats thought "oh yeah, we remember you". Having retrievers before made the bonding with the cats so much easier, they thought he was the dog that left and came back. He is the MOST gentle, loving fellow, and everyone that meets him, instantly falls in love with those beautiful big brown eyes and those velvet soft ears. He gets on well with the neighbour's Border Collie Jessie, who loves it when he "visits" her yard from time to time. We are so happy that we read the Sunday paper and discovered Pet Rescue and Golden Ark Rescue. We were so impressed by the way they make sure that each animal is going to the "right home with the right people". It is nice keeping in touch with Samara Hill and it is nice to know that people like her are doing the very best for those animals whose lives have not included much joy or love”.

                                                                                                                         - Roger & Andrea (Brisbane)

 

     

              "Izaak"                .... and with best friend Abby

 

     

                                   "Molly"              ..... and with new friend "Rory"

"Hi Samara, as promised I thought I would send you a few photos of our superdog Molly!!! She is doing really well! The photos are of a recent trip to the beach. She has a new little friend Rory who is a Cairn Terrier. Molly and Rory are perfect together and get up to all kinds of fun! She has a beach walk every single morning and plays in our big yard. Yes they both think the fish pond is their personal spa bath! But they do no harm to it. Last thing at night they go round the block with my husband and both sleep in our bedroom, a habit we started when she was new and strange and haven't got out of!!! She is so happy to see anyone she leaps four footed off the ground! I am still on the raw food diet. They have never had any supermarket food. Hope the Golden Ark is doing well!"                                                                                            - Liz and George (Qld)

 

"Bear"

 

 

"Aisa"  and  "Charlie"

 

        

And here's "Charlie" now and with his best buddy "Rusty" - plus an update from Mum & Dad..

“7th Jan 2009 was a very special day for us… as that was the day we adopted Charlie (formerly named Sonny). What a special dog he is. He shows us every day how much he loves us.  He has a very gentle nature and just adores being brushed and cuddled.  And his most favourite things are going for walks, bananas and greek yoghurt.  Having always had small dogs, we had never had a Golden Retriever before, but Charlie quickly showed us what a wonderful breed Goldies are. In fact, we soon became involved in helping Golden Ark Rescue by carrying out pre-adoption and mid trial inspections. 

In Oct 2009 we rescued Rusty. He was not very trusting of people, and especially didn’t like to be patted for more than a few seconds, and he absolutely hated being brushed. He was also resource guarding. We started rehabilitating Rusty in the hope that we could rehome him. But there was a hitch … he fell in love with us and we fell in love with him. Charlie loves him too. They follow each other everywhere and play together like puppies. Rusty now comes to us for a pat and a cuddle, which he now enjoys very much. He is also starting to enjoy being brushed. He now listens very well to our commands and always tries to please. We also have 2 very old cats, one is 18 and one is 16. They have only ever tolerated our previous dogs, but they have accepted both our Goldies instantly. Charlie and Rusty know that the cats are in charge and they show them a great deal of respect. As Charlie and Rusty are both only 4 years old, we are looking forward to many more joyful Goldie years together!”  -  Pam & Terry, “Charlie & Rusty” (Qld)

 

 

"Clyde"

  

      

"Bailey"

"February 14th, 2009 we consider to be our lucky day and that is when we met Bailey for the first time.  We drove to Sam and Rob's house with anticipation, excitement and many butterflies in our tummies not knowing what to expect and if Bailey would really like our family.  We are blessed to have three beautiful children; Isaac 3 yrs, Mackenzie 7 yrs and Jackson 8 yrs.

From the first photos I saw of Bailey he brought tears to my eyes.  There was just something special about him that I knew was there even before we met face to face.  He was on a journey this gorgeous four legged friend and I was certain he was about to reach his destination - our hearts. Sam brought Bailey out to say hello and it was love at first sight.  The kids cuddled him and spoke to him and it was almost an instant bond and as if this was all meant to be.  The kids run off to discover Sam’s yard and trotting off behind them was Bailey.  That was it...... the decision was made, I cried once again not hardly believing that somebody could have mistreated such a kind, loving, beautiful dog as Bailey. Bailey is a big part of our family now and we love him dearly.  He has the funniest personality and we couldn't even imagine what our lives would be like without him.  He loves his cuddles, long walks especially to school where he is on first name basis with many school children who always stop for a cuddle (he loves that!).  He loves visiting the dog park to socialise with his friends, playing with his squeaky toys and tug-o-war with his favourite rope and digging in the sand pit.   Most of all, I think he is just happy to curl up beside us at every opportunity and to know that we are there for him as much as he is there for us. I don't think we could ever put into words just how much he has enriched our lives.  It saddens me to think of what his life would have been like before he made his way into our hearts yet he holds no grudges, no ill feelings towards humans and he loves unconditionally.  I believe that all things happen for a reason and what ever the reason that Bailey is with us, I will never question, just cherish the years we have with him. 

Sam and Rob; you will be forever in our thoughts especially for the work that you do by rescuing and rehoming Golden Retrievers".   -  Karen, Damien, Jackson, Mackenzie, Isaac, "Bailey" & Puss Puss (Qld)

 

"Max"

 

"Chevvy"

 

            

"Bodhi"  

Hi Sam, Just thought I would forward some recent photos of Bodhi and our camping trip from the weekend! Bodhi had completely settled in now, gets all excited when we get home from work, loves cuddled and shown attention at all times! He has moved his way from his bed outside to the floor of our bedroom and sometimes in the middle of the night sneaks onto the couch but always comes back into the bedroom before sunset like he had never left! We can't imagine life without Bodhi now, he was the best dog we could have ever gotten!  -  Kristy, Ben & "Bodhi" (Qld)

 

"Missy Moo"

 

  

"Mitch"

  

    

"Rosie and Rocket"

            "Missy"                             "Barney"                            "Miss M"