Interview with the Author of
Dog by Nature

1) Thanks so much for taking the time out to do this interview today. First of all, let me say that I truly share your passion for Goldens. I read about your two heart dogs (the ones who made truly lasting impressions on your life) Raja and Spencer. I know exactly what you went through with them. As you may have read on our site, we also lost our first Golden Aisha to hemangiosarcoma. Was Raja your first Golden? How did you and Raja get together? How did he get his name?

Raja was our first Golden Retriever. Shortly after we were married, we decided we would love to add a Golden to our family. We were living in a part of Canada where there are not many Goldens and started looking at the local shelter. We never saw a Golden there and at that time, there was no rescue in the area, so we ended up getting Raja from a breeder. We named him Raja because he was majestic even as a puppy. He had mahogany gold ears, which was the color he grew in to. He was our first heart dog, and an amazing personality. While Spencer was a gentle old soul, Raja was your endlessly energetic best friend. He was always up for an adventure and loved the outdoors, swimming, hiking, camping; he was more than ready to go on any adventure. Raja went everywhere with us and was the mascot at our recording studio from the day he came home. Everyone loved him. Raja grew up running through prairies, hiking in the mountains and swimming in lakes. When he was 3 years old, we moved to Los Angeles. There one of his favorite things was to swim out into the ocean and wait for a wave to body surf on. He loved to go on trips to explore all the terrain in California. When Raja was 8 he began limping one day. After taking him to the vet to get it checked out, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma or bone cancer, an extremely aggressive cancer. We started a diary and documented Raja’s fight with cancer from the day he was diagnosed. After Raja passed away, we decided to foster Goldens in his memory.

2) I am very impressed with the amazing work you are doing for Goldens, fostering them, and providing them not just with a home, but also clearly a tremendous amount of love. Isn't it hard though, to give your heart to a Golden, and then have him/her go away to another home?

You love them all and we always say if we had a lot of land, we would have a lot of Goldens! Realistically, we can't keep them all and we take comfort in watching foster dogs come into our home, often frightened or ill, and blossom into the wonderful, loving beings they naturally are. One of the best parts about fostering is that you get to know each dog, their needs and personality and then this information gets used to find them the perfect forever home. When that match is made, it is sad for us to see them go but it's also a happy time to know they finally found the loving home they deserve. Sometimes, one comes along that you instantly recognize as your heart dog. That's how we came to adopt Spencer.

3) Your current blog, Dog By Nature, is your third blog that I know about. I find your blogs very interesting and entertaining. When did you first decide to start a blog and how did you get started blogging?

The first blog was The Adventures of Spencer, which we started back in early 2006. Dog blogs were rather new at that time but quickly became popular. Spencer's blog was meant to be an extension of his personality, which was loving, mellow and sometimes funny. We tried to make it an easy read with lots of pictures, just something to lighten a reader's day. Spencer's blog had a lot of regular readers and we met a lot of wonderful people through it. In the end, when Spencer was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma, we decided to keep it as upbeat as possible in honor of Spencer's spirit. We knew we had only a short time left with him and instead of dwelling on the sadness, we chose to be happy and strong for Spencer ins his final days. There would be time for tears after he was gone. Spencer spread a lot of joy in the world and his blog was one avenue for that. The support from all his readers in the end was amazing. After Spencer passed away, we decided to start Dog By Nature to document our adventures in fostering and hopefully, introduce some wonderful dogs to potential adopters. The main goal of Dog By Nature is to spread the word about how rescuing a homeless dog can be a life-changing event for you and the dog.

4) If there were one characteristic of your Goldens that you could adopt, which would it be and why? (This is a tough question as there is never just one thing!).

The biggest thing Raja taught me and then Spencer re-enforced was to live life moment to moment and enjoy each moment, no matter how small. All dogs live by this and we all would do well to follow their example.

5) What would you say to readers that also want to foster Goldens? How should they start out? What should they think about before becoming foster families?

Fostering is an amazing thing to do. All Golden rescues need fosters all the time. A good place to start is to find a local rescue and volunteer. Dogs can be in foster care from a few days to a few months. Older dogs and dogs with medical issues tend to take longer to place and puppies usually are adopted quite fast. Senior dogs tend to be easier to foster as most just want love, a good meal, a walk and a place to rest their head. Puppies are a lot of work with all that energy and the training but they are a lot of fun if you have the time and stamina. Each foster dog will have a different personality and different needs. Some dogs require work with house-training or their manners so having past dog training experience can help in those cases. A rescue group will try to place the right type of foster with your needs. You need to have time and sometimes a lot of patience but in the end, it really is a very rewarding experience.

6) Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers about your Goldens, or your blog?

We have been so very fortunate to have two heart dogs that brought so much to our lives. Though they were very different personalities, they made us discover beauty and joy in life and I hope made us be better people. I have just finished a book, Red Dog Diary, about Raja’s battle with cancer and how he changed our lives. We have also made a companion documentary from the diary. Though sad at times, both are meant to be a celebration of life and having lost both our Goldens to cancer, we hope to help others understand this terrible disease and encourage support for finding a cure.

The reaction to the pictures on Spencer’s blog also encouraged me to pursue a passion for photography that I had abandoned in my youth. I have started studying photography again and share my new experiences in a new blog, Open Shutter. Fostering gives me a lot of new subjects to practice and photographing Goldens is one of my favorite pass times. I learn something new everyday trying of capture the spirit of each dog.

Thank you again. I really appreciate your doing this interview with us. I am certain our readers will enjoy reading about your wonderful work with Goldens.

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