RAGOM

Since adopting Rocky in October 2007, we have come to realize what an impact he's made on our lives and how important he is to us. Not only do pets provide you with never-ending love, affection and devotion, they don't ask for a single thing in return. It was in the last few months (yes, during the pregnancy!) that we agreed to look into how we could do more to give back after all that he's given to us. So effective 4:04pm today, the Cocherell house is officially an active foster home for rescued golden retrievers in the tri-state area. RAGOM, which stands for Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota, is just that, an organization that works with helping goldens from all backgrounds find loving forever homes. As you can guess they are located in Minnesota, but they also serve all of Iowa and I believe some of Wisconsin as well. It is unbelievable the things you don't realize are out there until you start looking...there are a number of people throughout the Hawkeye state heavily involved in RAGOM, from working to train new foster volunteers, to transporting fosters to new homes, to fostering dogs themselves. It is truly an amazing organization and we couldn't be more proud to be a part of it. Although we likely won't have our first foster until after the baby has arrived and is settled in, we sincerely hope to make this a life-long commitment that we can eventually get our child(ren) involved in. There are so many dogs out there in need of happy homes, and we intend to do all that we can to help. On that note, I'll include something that I recently read in an email forward:

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. ~Anonymous