Click "HERE"

for more information and to see our progress toward this goal.

Cindy:  Sometime around October or November of 2002, I contacted Love A Golden Rescue through their website. I had moved to Iowa from Pennsylvania two years earlier. I had been involved in Delaware Valley’s Golden Rescue as a foster mom and had decided it was time to adopt a dog for myself.

It seemed like every dog I inquired about had just been adopted so I determined it must not have been the one for me. Around the end of November, I received a call about a 7 year old female that had been rescued from a puppy mill and had quite a few problems. At one point, they were not sure she would live. She needed to go to a home without children and to someone who would not overstimulate her. They had enough faith that I could handle the situation and I just knew this was the dog for me.

On New Years Day 2003 I drove to a halfway point between St Louis and Quad Cities to pick up Stormy from her foster parents Wendy Ragan and her mom.

Wendy: “When Stormy was picked up from the halfway house she was so scared she laid in the front seat of my truck and never moved. She was emaciated and loaded with parasites. That this sweet girl lived to make it to rescue was a miracle in itself. She had to be boarded while she was treated for mange. During this time she really warmed up to one of the vet clinic employees. Stormy would follow her around the clinic and always seemed to be happy to see her. Stormy wouldn't eat very well and this one girl would sit on the floor and feed her by hand until she started to eat. She slowly began to come out of her shell and gain a little confidence. We knew she would never be the golden who would bound up to you but she at least wasn't scared of every hand that touched her.”

Cindy: Wendy told me that Stormy had endured the ride crouched on the floor of her extended cab pickup. This was my first look at Stormy and I thought “oh my, what have I gotten myself into.” She was very, very thin and did not look like ANY golden I had ever fostered. I have a Dodge Durango and when it was time for Stormy to come home with me, we had to lift her into the truck. She had no idea how to jump and she was very scared.

Wendy: When I took Stormy to meet Cindy she was very scared. After some petting we put Stormy in Cindy's vehicle for the ride home. Much to my surprise she didn't plaster herself to the floor. She actually stood looking out the windows. I think somehow that Stormy knew this was her way home. That she wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

Cindy: That night I walked her around the house. It was very funny to see her with the TV since she seemed to have no idea what all this was about. She had no idea how to go up and down my stairs. I had to teach her on the leash. She would pretty much cower whenever I would walk toward her.

Within a week or two she was freely following me up and down the stairs and eventually knew it was “HER House” and made herself quite the queen. She gained about 15 to 20 pounds. She learned to jump into the back of the truck but never truly liked going for rides. She became very attached to me and because she is very afraid of thunderstorms, she eventually would jump into bed with me if there was a storm in the middle of the night and lay right against me for comfort. She loved going for walks in the neighborhood as long as everyone else kept their distance. There is a chocolate lab down the street named Morphius that just loved Stormy but she in true female form just turned her nose up and ignored him.

Shortly after I got her, I took her to my vet to have her checked out. They discovered she had some mammary tumors that they felt should be removed. I was very worried but in March had them removed and they were thankfully benign.

Stormy adjusted to life with me as well as she could. She never looked like a truly happy Golden and the only time she wagged her tail was when I came home from work. She would come running to greet me at the door. Everyone would look at her and “she looks so sad.” I knew that it was just because she just did not understand what it was to be a normal dog. Her emotions were totally stunted.

Through July and August I noticed that she did not want to go out for her walks and would try to avoid me when I went to get her leash. She also started a very erratic eating pattern. It always worried me but I was not overly concerned because she had episodes like that from the time I got her. She would eat 2 days and then go 2 days without eating. During the last week in August, she went 5 days without eating and did not want to do anything. I was very concerned and called to make an appointment with the vet for Saturday. I also noticed her stomach was getting increasingly distended. I took her for her appointment and the vet said they wanted to do bloodwork and xrays because something was not right. It turned out that Stormy had tumors on her spleen which had been bleeding. Her body cavity was so filled with blood the vet could not see any of her internal organs on the xrays. (Apparently these tumors are a rather common condition in Goldens of her age.) The prognosis was so poor that I did not want this poor girl to suffer any more just for my benefit. I made the hard decision to send her to the Rainbow Bridge.

It breaks my heart to know that there are people out there who would purposely abuse such a wonderful dog as she was. Her socialization skills were permanently stunted because of her treatment during her 7 year life. I know she had to be in pain, who knows, maybe the last couple month of her life but she still did what she could to please me. She had such a big heart. As I sat on the floor of the vet clinic and held her head when they put her to sleep I could only pray that she now would be able to run, play and understand that it’s ok for her to chase bunnies.

Stormy – You will always be special in my heart.

Stormy Stadel went to the Rainbow Bridge (See poem below)
Saturday, August 30, 2003