McHenry GH-085

We recently lost our GoldHeart McHenry after 14 years (pictured at right). He was a very special member of our family for each and every day we had the privilege of being his forever family, wow has that phrase taken on new meaning!

I will never forget the day we first met McHenry (KC), it was at a GoldHeart event in Jacksonville in October of 2001. He was a young man of about 8 months of age. Typical Golden full of energy and love. I was not aware that the foster family had the ability to make the determination as to who was going to have the honor of becoming McHenry’s family. We had our entire family present, me, my ex-wife, our Golden Sedrick and my then sister in law. It was a beautiful fall morning, and we were the first family to visit with McHenry! We all fell in love with him immediately, but were informed that there were several other families that were going to be meeting McHenry, much to our disappointment.

So, we made the conscious decision to stay for the remainder of the day, and spend as much time with him as we could. Late Sunday evening we received a call from Tom Daniel saying we had been selected. And that he would be willing to meet us on the following Saturday to do the paperwork and turn over his leash, and other belongings! We could not wait! So after I took a grad school midterm (in Baltimore) we headed to Tom’s house outside of Carlisle, PA, arrived sometime around 8:30 PM. Left with our new addition and arrived home at around midnight, where we formally introduced McHenry to Sedrick as his new brother. They hit it off immediately. As we prepared for bed, McHenry and Sedrick played, we thought they would calm down and sleep. But boy were we mistaken. They started to play king of the hill jumping on and off our bed, and barking at the   one on the bed. Needless to say no sleep happened in our home that night by either the dogs or their human cohabitants.

A couple of years later, Sederick suffered from bloat, and McHenry took it harder than the rest of us. After about a month of the “you’re leaving me alone again” face, we decided it was time for a new playmate, we adopted Zeke, GH 400. We now got the “you’re leaving me with him look.” But, they became fast friends and would romp and play just as he did with Sedrick! We would come home and there would be evidence of their play in the form of dried slobber in their hair, and elsewhere around the house.

Knowing that McHenry and Sedrick are now reunited and playing together once again, brings us solace. It was truly a pleasure to have the opportunity to give McHenry the life of love and fun he deserved. Our thanks to GoldHeart and more specifically Tim and Linda for giving us the opportunity!

Till we meet again McHenry

— Your Loving Forever Family