My Name is Goldie

PO Box 264

Ripley, WV 25271

Hello there. Let me introduce myself. My name is Goldie, also known as Goldtown Goldie, also known as Ghost Dog Goldie and last but not least, Shawshank Goldie. Okay, so now that you know my name(s), let me tell you more about myself and why I have all of these names. Oh, I forgot to add I'm also called a cute little stinker. Ha Ha

First of all I'm about 5 years old, a cancer survivor, pretty much Beagle size and weigh 29lbs. I get along extremely well with other dogs, and I love children, adults, men and women. I am house trained, crate trained and sleep in my favorite chair at night. I have free run of the house except when the humans have to go somewhere and then they put me in my safe crate. I don't bark much and when I do they tell me I sound like a raspy country singer.

For three years I was a feral dog at a place called Goldtown on I-77 in Jackson County, WV. I lived mostly at a logging yard and ate food that people tossed to me from their cars. I slept in a drain pipe or in the woods and I would never let people touch me. When people would post about me they called me Goldtown Goldie. They also called me ghost dog because I would be there one second and then, poof, I was gone.

So for three years people would post online about seeing a German Shepherd mix or a Beagle mix and nobody seemed to know what I was. Perhaps I was also the mystery dog too. Ha Ha.

Finally a rescue group named ARF set up a feeding station and two ladies came every day to try and help me. I played a six month game of "catch me if you can" until they finally got me. They had put some chicken into a big metal thing and boy I wanted that chicken. I went into the metal thing to get the chicken and heard "snap" and then I couldn't get out. But they were there and they took me to a safe place. And guess what - I let them pet me. The gig was up Ha Ha.

As it turned out I was diagnosed with a Mast Cell Tumor and had to go to Ohio State University to have the cancer removed. I am fully recovered now and my hair has grown back and I'm beautiful again. My foster family said I was always beautiful though.

ARF helped me figure out what I was. A DNA test shows I'm 50% Beagle, 12.5% German Shepherd, 12.5% Labrador, 12.5% Norwegian Elkhound and 12.5% Shar-Pei. So all of the people who didn't know what I was actually had some part of me right. I'm a little bit of all they thought I was. And boy am I smart!!

This brings me to why they call me Shawshank Goldie. I'm smart enough to tunnel under the fence at my foster home and go into the woods. I love the woods and the creek and I'm not easy to catch. So I would probably like a microchip and a yard like Fort Knox. Ha Ha Ha

I love to ride in cars, go for really long walks and eat treats. I still won't take treats from human hands but I like when you put them on the ground and let me take them and run. I also like to hide my food bowls. The ARF ladies still have no idea where I stashed ALL of the bowls they left at my feeding station. They called me a cute little stinker as I ran off with the bowls. :)