Hello! My tail is wagging just thinking about meeting you! I’m Lottie, and I’m a golden retriever!

You might be thinking, how can a golden retriever possibly hold a pen, or type? Well, don’t be scared or sad when I tell you this, but the truth is, I’m writing this from Doggy Heaven. You don’t need to be sad, because I had a good life, but more importantly, if I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be able to tell you my story, would I? I mean, did you ever meet a dog who could tell you all about their life? Not unless you’ve been to doggy heaven, I’m sure, and I very much doubt you have.

My story begins when I was born, but I don’t remember that, of course. Later, people around me, when I realized they were talking about me, often said the word “Millenium” and when I got up here to heaven, someone told me I’d been born on the first day of the year 2000. Wow, I thought. Two thousand years, the world is really old!

The first good thing that happened was that I was taken home by a family in New York. They had a boy called Mikey and a little girl called Sarah and their parents, Jack and Lizzie. They were a good family, and I quickly learned all the words dogs need to know. We learn our names, of course, and “Dinner!” and “Walk!” and “Vet!” (Hide!). They took me out in Central Park, and I’d run after frisbees and sniff other dogs and generally have fun. 

But unfortunately, when I was about nine months old, something bad happened that ended up changing my life. It was my fault, to be honest. I was in the backyard, and someone had not latched the gate. I pushed it with my nose. I was amazed to be outside! Now, you might think that I’d have stood on the threshold, excited for an adventure. But I wasn’t. I was terribly nervous since I was leaving my territory without my family, which is a big deal for a dog.

Have you ever been to another country or another state on holiday? It’s sort of like that for us. We can leave our territory, but it feels weird and it’s always nice to be home. But I figured that I could just take a quick walk and come home.

I trotted out to the road and walked along it, listening to the insects chirping in the trees. I knew they were insects because, when I was out in the yard, I ate them if I could get them, if they got too close. Soon, other dogs could smell me as I passed their houses, and they started barking. This scared me a bit…remember, I was only a puppy. Some of them sounded mean and angry. I began to trot faster down the road. I know I should have turned back home, but I was panicking now. My heart was racing. I began to run, run fast and I turned corners, but still, dogs were barking at me. I ran and ran and pretty soon I didn’t recognize the street I was in, which was a bad thing.

I was lost and confused now. I tried retracing my steps, but then I found a pile of food outside a trash can and that kind of made me forget where my steps had been anyway. I finished eating and took one look at the big bright streetlights and thought to myself,

“I’ll deal with this tomorrow. Time for a rest.”

So, I found a space near the trash can and curled up to sleep.

When I woke up, it was daylight. I had to pee bad, so I lifted my leg on a trashcan, then I trotted out to see the city and try and work out how to get home.

Now, you may not know this, but my eyes aren’t as good as yours. My ears and my nose, however, work much better. Remember this next time you are thinking of farting near your dog, please. Anyway, now that it was busy and full of people, I was completely overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells of the city! There were lots of cars and buses and bikes going about and people walking quickly. I guess they were going to “Work” or “Mall” or “Toilet”, wherever they were, because the people in my family were always going to one of those three places.

A lady saw me and crouched down to my level. She smiled at me and clapped her hands once. My tail began to wag at once, which I knew meant good news. I hurried over to her, and she picked me up. She felt around my collar, but if she was looking for that weird metal disc they had put on my collar for some reason, she was wasting her time. It had fallen off a few weeks ago and nobody had noticed.  

The lady carried me quite a way, but I didn’t squirm. I was just happy to be held and to have the problem of how to get home solved for me. I imagined she’d drive me back to the family, but the next thing I remember, I was in a totally different house!

But I didn’t mind. There was food and water there, and I could always catch up with my family another day and she smelt nice enough and so did her husband when I met him. The last thing I remember of that day was this. It was the first time I ever heard the word “Snifferdog”.

I didn't know it, but I'd not only found a home that day. I'd found the job I was born to do.