A Message from the President and Founder, Lauren Genkinger
I'm sure all of you have read the book, "The Art of Racing in the Rain." It was a fabulous book and if the cast is any reflection on the movie it will be a blockbuster. The dog is gorgeous and the male cast is for all ages I guess.
Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin Costner and Patrick Dempsey, and the same producers as Marley and Me. We need to be prepared for a spike in applications when the movie opens in August, and of course every applicant will want the dog to be identical to the one in the movie and the expectations placed on the golden will be unattainable.
This happens every time a dog movie is a hit. Hopefully we will not see a rise in backyard breeding. They will want a soul touching connection with this golden, so we will be prepared for returns.
Let's hope backyard breeding will not increase and hope the respected breeders will be sought out. We don't want a 101 Dalmatians result happening where everyone went and bought Dalmatians and months later the shelters were jammed packed with homeless Dalmatians. It's the Golden's who will pay for the popularity of this movie. So it will be our job to protect them and make sure people's expectations are realistic. Every AGA volunteer will need to educate people who "saw the movie and must have a golden" after falling in love with the star of this movie.
Most of us are extremely lucky to have that special connection to a Golden Retriever in our lives, so see the movie and go home to yours and tell them how much you love them. Thank you for helping and protecting this fabulous breed.
With much gratitude,
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