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The Allan C. Hill Golden Retriever Family
aka “The Five Golden Angels”
There are beautiful golden retrievers in need
of good homes. Sadly,
these dogs lost their owner, Allan C. Hill, on September 10th,
2007. Since learning
of his terminal cancer, Allan’s biggest fear and concern was not
for himself, but for the fate of his beloved dogs. Allan’s
unselfish concern for the well-being of his dogs was not uncommon.
Allan’s dogs were his life and he took them everywhere with him.
On any given day in Sarasota, you could drive down the road
and see Allan in his white Escalade pickup with 5 big Golden
Retrievers surrounding him while he drove! As will be
demonstrated, Allan was most appropriately named by one of his
neighbors as “The Dog Angel.”
Two of Allan’s dogs, Pokey and
Stinkey, were born with medical conditions that cause
incontinence. After
learning of the condition, Allan’s Vet recommended euthanizing
the puppies. Allan
did not think twice about this.
He said he could not bear to put down puppies that would
otherwise lead happy and healthy lives. As was expected, finding
homes for the puppies was difficult.
Therefore, Allan kept and cared for the both of them until
the time of his death. As
Allan predicted, these puppies have now grown into beautiful,
happy adolescents.
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Before Allan passed his daughter, Heather Hill, promised him she would
do everything in her power to ensure that all of the dogs received
loving homes. Currently Heather is caring for all 5 of the
dogs in her father’s home in Sarasota, Florida.
She is seeking owners who able to provide the unconditional
love that Allan provided them for so many years. |
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“Knockout”
Sex: Male
Birthday: 6/23/01
Color: Gold
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Knockout got his name from Allan’s love of boxing.
From the minute Allan got Knockout the two of them were
inseparable. They
went everywhere together.
Allan described Knockout as being similar to him (i.e.,
loyal, understanding, caring, and of course, handsome).
Hands down, Knockout’s favorite thing to do is retrieve
the ball. For hours on end Allan would sit in his living room and
throw the ball out window for Knockout to retrieve in the field
next door. Knockout
is great with kids. Even
in his later years, he continues to persistently retrieve the
ball. He would
definitely be the best catcher on the baseball team J
Knockout is good with other dogs, but he would be just as happy to
be the only dog in the house.
Besides playing ball Knockout loves to swim and have his
belly scratched. He
is trained well and understands basic commands.
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“TKO”
Sex: Female, spayed
Birthday: 7/31/03
Color: yellow, white |
TKO also got her name from Allan’s love of
boxing. However, her beautiful yellow/white coloring and her black
mascara eyes earned her the title of a “total knockout.”
TKO and Knockout have had 3 litters of puppies together,
and TKO continues to be a wonderful mother and caretaker to the
entire Canine family. Two
of TKO’s children are incontinent and to this day TKO continues
to groom her babies just as she did from the day they were born.
Therefore, she is great with other dogs.
Her motherly instincts can constantly be observed as she
cares for and plays with her babies all day long.
She loves to play and chase the ball, but her favorite
thing to do is to keep all toys in her mouth so she can tease the
other dogs and play tug-of-war. During playtime, TKO is always closely “linked” with the
other dogs. At first sight, it looks as though the dogs are
kissing, but a closer glance never fails to reveal the group
locked together with a toy in their mouths.
TKO will literally stay in this “kissing” position
forever (it’s not uncommon for the dogs the fall asleep like
this!!!). It would be great if TKO could stay with one of her
babies, particularly Stinkey since TKO continues to take such
great care of her. If
keeping her with one of the other dogs is not feasible, she would
make a great pet with other dogs and kids. |
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“Ali”
Sex: Female, spayed
Birthday: 12/23/03
Color: gold
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Ali is from Knockout’s and TKO’s
first litter and is named after the famous boxer “Muhammad
Ali.” We believe her male title is appropriate as she is a bit
of a tomboy. She loves to explore the great outdoors, including
chasing lizards and rolling around in the dirt. She is independent, but she also loves affection.
She loves to cuddle with her head in your lap. She
is great with children. All
the neighborhood children love playing with her.
She loves car rides! She
can always be expected to be in one of the seats with her front
paw on the armrest and her head out the window.
If she could talk during these car rides, we believe she
would say, “I’m just chilling!” Ali plays the part of an
older sibling as she likes to be boss of the others. She has done
well around other dogs, but just like her dad she would be just as
happy to be the only dog in the house.
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“Pokey”
Sex: Female, spayed
Birthday: 6/22/04
Color: yellow, white
“Stinkey”
Sex: Female, spayed
Birthday: 1/2404
Color: gold
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Allan requested that his daughter Heather
seek medical advice for the continued care of Pokey and
Stinkey’s incontinence. Heather
recently took both Pokey and Stinkey to the University of Florida
Veterinary Medical Center. The Medical Center was able to offer
several procedures that could correct or reduce the condition.
However, financial difficulties prevented the family from
being able to have surgery performed on both of the dogs.
Since Allan’s daughter Heather plans on taking Pokey home
with her to Las Vegas, the family opted to have surgery performed
on Pokey first. Pokey had her surgery on 10/5/06. The medical
staff informed Heather that Pokey is recovering well and they
believe the surgery was successful.
Therefore, as soon as Pokey makes a full recovery Heather
plans to take her home.
Stinkey is still in need of a good home that
will be able to provide her the surgery she so desperately needs.
Hopefully, the surgery will be as successful with Stinkey as it
was with Pokey. Stinkey owes her lovely name to her medical
condition. The family hopes that a successful surgery will earn
Stinkey a more glamorous name J
Being the baby of the family, Stinkey loves to play.
She enjoys chasing lizards with her sister and playing
tug-of-war with her mom. Therefore,
she would do wonderful with one of her other family members or
another dog. She is
also very affectionate and loves to cuddle.
When she rides in the car, her favorite thing to do is put
her head in the driver’s lap. Her loving nature ensures that she is always close by someone
whether it’s other people or animals.
She’s great with children and has lots of energy to play
with them.
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Allan’s love for his dogs can best be
characterized by stories told from neighbors on Allan’s website.
Below are a few excerpts from the website. For more stories,
information, and pictures of Allan and all of his dogs please visit www.allanchill.com.
"I saw Mr. Hill one day about a week and a half ago. He was walking
his dogs. There
were like 5 of them. They came running up into my yard and he just had
such a look of joy on his face. I told him what pretty dogs they were and he
got this
smile on his face, he was on oxygen. I didn't know him, but being a
dog lover myself I could see he was really enjoying himself. Dogs
always know a good soul, and by the way those dogs behaved with him HE
WAS A GOOD SOUL”
– A Neighbor
“I only met Allan a few short years ago right about the time he
decided to get
Knockout a friend, lover, and probably replacement, as Allan
put it…Right away I knew Allan was something special around animals. He referred to the
puppies at feeding
time as "puppies." They would gather around him like he was
their mother and he would hand feed them as they grew. You could tell
he loved them puppies
and I wondered how he was going to part with an of them” - A
Neighbor
“We
only met Allan once. It was a Sunday about 5 months ago. As usual, I had
the Sunday blues that evening and we whimsically decided to pull off the
bridge across from Bird Key and watch the sunset. When we saw two, no
three -- actually five golden retrievers playing in the water, we knew
we had made the right choice. We have an 8 year old female golden
ourselves. But there was much more than the dogs -- there was Allan -- a
kind-spirited, open-hearted individual who made quite an impression in
the 45 minutes or so as we watched the sunset together and threw various
toys in the water for the dogs to fetch. We are sad to hear of his
passing and in reading these pages, it is clear we were not the only
ones he influenced -- he made our night that Sunday and quite honestly
the Sunday blues were one thing I threw in the water that has not
returned.” – Mark and Ann Lupo
“I
thought of Allen and how he loved his precious companions when I read
this. I know they will miss him as we all will.” Penny Unus
I
talk to them when I am lonesome and I’m sure they understand..
when they look at me so attentively and gently lick my hand.
They rub there nose on my tailored clothes but never do I mind....
for the good lord knows, I can buy more clothes
but friends better friends I’ll never find.
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