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Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota: RAGOM is a 501(c)(3) organization, rescuing Golden Retrievers and re-homing them through adoption since 1985. Serving Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Dogs Available for Adoption

Adopted Dogs · Happy Endings · Rainbow Bridge Memorials

Logan #01-355

The "American Spirit" Pups

In September of this year (2001), RAGOM rescued several goldens from a puppy mill in Iowa. These dogs were named in honor of America and in memory of those lost on the 11th. One of the dogs, a two year old girl, was called Spirit. She was brought into RAGOM small and afraid of the world. After several weeks of tender loving care, it was determined that Spirit was pregnant with her third litter in two short years of life. Her puppies were due in November, making them ready for sale during the Christmas season - a huge money making time for the breeders who jeopardize the lives of their "livestock" through over-breeding and neglect. RAGOM volunteers helped keep Spirit well fed and comfortable through her pregnancy. Spirit finally gave birth to eight healthy golden pups who were named in honor of the dogs working tirelessly at Ground Zero in New York City. These little ones are now looking for homes to call their own so they can enjoy the puppy-hood that their mother never had.

Logan 01-355 - male, born 9:43 p.m. -- Logan, led Trooper James Foley up slabs of concrete and mangled steel and began digging furiously. Hours later a survivor of the terrorist attacks was pulled from the rubble, in the exact spot where Logan had led his trainer.

UPDATES:

12/08/2001:

The puppies are 4 weeks old now and the most adorable little bundles of fun. They are starting to eat puppy food which is a riot to watch, they stick their feet in the dish and smear it all over. They are starting to do the little play bow, they climb all over and mouth each other, run up to see you when you walk in and ten minutes later they are all crashed together exhausted. We have had lots of volunteer help this week which has been wonderful, I can come home from work and all I have to do is throw in a load of laundry and play with the puppies. (Tough job.) We will be needing donated puppy collars eventually, if anyone sees a sale...

12/15/2001:

Spirit's pups are five weeks old now and I don't think it is possible for them to get any cuter. I can't imagine how anyone can pick one over the other since they are all the sweetest little love bugs. The puppies will be ready to go to their forever homes the weekend after New Year's Eve. We are now ready to start talking with approved adoptive families.

12/25/2001:

These adorable pups were the highlight of our Christmas weekend. They keep growing and getting more and more playful. They are very well-adjusted, friendly pups waiting for their new adoptive families. A wonderful family has donated eight colorful puppy collars for the puppies.

01/07/2002:

With tears in my eyes and pride in my heart, I have sent the American Spirit pups to their wonderful new adoptive families. All 8 of these beautiful puppies are happy, healthy, well-adjusted puppies. We owe this wonderful success story to so many volunteers that helped over the past two months. I feel so fortunate to have gotten to meet so many of our volunteers during this time and, as always, am very impressed with the dedication and love of our RAGOM volunteers. If I forget anyone's name, I apologize.

The first thank you has to go to Michelle for rescuing Spirit from the Iowa puppy mill. Without her help, the puppies would have been born in that flea-infested rat-hole. Second thank you to Jane Nygaard, Bonnie and Kelli for helping me and Spirit through the whelping process. Sue and Cindy for taking care of Jane's dogs so Jane could be with me and Spirit.

Thank you to the volunteers that donated supplies:

A big thank you to the volunteers that gave up their mornings and afternoons to come over and take care of the puppies (cleaning up lots of stinky poop and pee) so I could go to work:

To all of you who got the home visits done to help us place the puppies, to Dan for updating the web page, to Sue and Kandi for helping with placement and to so many more volunteers that offered their help that we simply had so many volunteers we couldn't take advantage of everyone's offer, I thank you.

It is hard to believe that this experience is over and for the puppies, a new beginning has begun. I will look forward to receiving updates from the new adoptive families and will pass them on so you can follow their successes in their new lives. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you everyone.

With golden hugs and puppy kisses.
Konnie, Spirit and the "American Spirit" puppies

07/19/2002:

THE PUPPY REUNION!

Here's the whole group. Probably the last time they were able to keep them all still and in the same place. A grand time was had by all. There was a TennisBall Relay.

And of course, since goldens were involved, there had to be a wading pool, and as an added bonus, this one was stocked with minnows.

Of course even the proudest of moms needs to take a break from the kids now and then.

Here's what one of Spirit's humans had to say:

What a blast! Seven of Spirit's eight puppies and their families got together today for a puppy reunion. (The 8th puppy (Roselle) lives in Illinois and wasn't able to attend. Her mom called and is very, very happy with Roselle now named Sophie.) They are 8 months old and the prettiest dogs. The dogs all played together, romping and wrestling and having a good time. Not one sibling fight, they all got along beautifully. Do you think they know they are related? We played a tennis ball relay game, bobbed for minnows in the little wading pool, ate, chatted and had an overall fun time. I could not possibly be more pleased with the loving families that adopted these beautiful puppies. They all have wonderful homes!! Thanks RAGOM.

12/22/2010:

Dearest RAGOM,

It's with a sad heart that I write to you about our dog Logan. He passed away last Friday Dec. 17th.

In late November he had become ill and was unable to move. I brought him into our vet where they found a lot of fluid in his abdomen, low pulse and lost muscle mass in his hind end. We then ended up at Affiliated Emergency in Eden Prairie where they did an ultrasound of his abdomen and heart. They found a large heart mass and diagnosed him with right sided heart failure. The prognosis was a few days to a few weeks to live. Well Logan battled back for those next few days and regained some of his energy and all his personality. He was then able to stay with us for a few more weeks to enjoy the snow and festive time of year. We knew it wouldn't last, so we went out of our way to give him extra attention.

Then last Saturday he regressed and was slow getting around. We knew then that he was having another episode. On Tuesday he lost his appetite and had a seizure, we thought we had lost him. But he hung in there for a few more days, while I carried him up and down the stairs. Finally we made the decision on Friday to have him put to sleep. He was no longer enjoying life and couldn't be with us everywhere we went.

It was very hard for all of us to lose Logan, we had known him since birth and raised him since 10 weeks old. We cannot thank RAGOM enough for the lovely dog we received. It was always such a joy for me to brag about where we got Logan from, the story of his mother American Spirit getting rescued, and the puppies being named after 911 rescue dogs. I believe he is the first of the American Spirit puppies to pass away. So I am sure he is up there watching down on us and his siblings. One day he will welcome them with a wagging tail and they can all run and play again.

Below are a few pictures of Logan and his family. We appreciated all the unconditional love and affection that he gave us each and every day of his life, and we will miss it dearly. Words cannot express how this loss has made us feel, but we find comfort knowing he can once again run after his ball and dance around in the snow. There is now an empty spot next to our bed where Logan once slept, but there will never be an empty spot in our heart.

Happy Holidays to all of you at RAGOM!

With much love,
Darin, Marnie, Gabriel (7), Joseph (5) and Andrew (2)

Logan (11/10/01 - 12/17/10)