It was a beautiful spring day when the Thompsons of Spokane, WA decided to have a cookout and invite their grown children from California. Barbara Thompson enjoyed having her 2-year-old grandson over and he enjoyed playing with the family Golden Retriever, Goldie.
As Barbara and her daughter began to clean up after the cook out, they moved in and out of the house and suddenly heard silence in the yard. “Two year olds—they’re quick,” said Barbara. “We just turned away for an instant, and he was gone.”
Barbara knew that if they found Goldie, they would find little Tom. As the worried Grandmother scanned the area from her deck, she saw Goldie near a formally dried-up pond. Recent heavy rains had filled the pond. She called out the dog’s name, but she would not budge. When they got to the edge of the pond, they spotted Tom. Goldie had flipped the little boy over, and was pulling him towards the side of the pond. “When we pulled him out, he was unconscious,” remembers Barbara.
The women immediately performed CPR on Tom and paramedics rushed him to the hospital. After spending a week recuperating, Tom was released with a clean bill of health. Surprisingly, Tom still loves the water and suffers no ill effects from the trauma.
Goldie’s heroics garnered an invitation to meet the mayor of Spokane and she was the runner-up for the Ken-L Ration Dog Hero of the Year award.
A few years later, Goldie succumbed to cancer. The Golden is fondly remembered by her family as a gentle hero. She would often be seen carrying kittens in her mouth as well as saving baby birds. “Everyone in Spokane knew her and every once in a while, they’ll still say, ‘Oh, you’re Goldie’s mom,’” says Barbara.