Journey of a Rescue Dog

Nolja is our 3 ½ year old yellow lab.   Sal and I got her this past May from Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue (GGLRR).  My husband had just retired and our yellow lab, Daisy, had died at 12 ½ years old just a couple of months prior.  Daisy was also from GGLRR and after she crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we both decided we would get another rescue.   We only had Daisy for about a year and a half since she was older, but she was a great companion and quite a personality.

Nolja, on the other hand, is 3 ½ years old, very healthy and full of energy.  Nolja has had lots of adventures since we brought her home including:  Pheasant hunting, swimming in the marsh, running the beach at the ocean, long walks, and taking dog training classes where she was a top student.  We also have a black lab, Sophie.   We’ve had Sophie since she was a puppy.  Sophie and Nolja love to chase each other around our yard and play.  They are the best of friends. 

We don’t know much about Nolja’s past.  We do know she came from South Korea thus her Korean name of Nolja,  which means let’s play.   We also know that she got out of the yard more than once and ended up in a local shelter prior to coming to the rescue.   All in all, Nolja is a wonderful dog.  She is calm, playful and a love bug.  Recently Nolja had her greatest adventure so far. 

The phone rang a couple of months ago and it was Golden Gate Lab Rescue asking if they could give our phone number to Susan Bahary, an internationally known sculptor who had been commissioned to create a bronze statue of George H W Bush’s companion dog, Sully.    Sully is a working dog (America’s VetDogs) and not available all the time, so a model was needed to pose for the statue.   Sully is on the East Coast and although Susan did visit the East Coast to take photos, sketch pictures for future reference, and meet Sully to get a sense of his personality, he was many miles away from the San Francisco Bay Area where she lives, so additional models were needed.  Susan had seen Nolja’s picture in the GGLRR website and she had a similar build and look to Sully.  Per my conversation with GGLRR, I gave Susan a call and the rest is history. 

I drove Nolja from Brentwood to Novato for about a month to her “modeling sessions”.   Nolja was the main model and she did great and was very calm and obedient.  The entire experience has been a wonderful adventure and a learning experience for Sal and me.   Susan Bahary is a dog/animal lover (check out the  Purple Poppy Movement) and Nolja loved to see Susan in the studio.   In fact, when I got the leash out to leave for Novato and put it in the car, Nolja jumped into the car and laid down.    She was ready to see her good friend Susan.

The final excitement was the invitation from Susan to attend the unveiling of the statue at the George H W Bush Library on the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas on December 2, 2019.  Sal and I were so excited to tell anyone we met that our dog, Nolja, was the main model for the Sully statue.    Unfortunately, Nolja couldn’t fly to Texas to attend the event, but I am sure she was there in spirit.  We met many dog lovers and a few other America’s VetDogs who were Sully’s counterparts.   We also met George Haynes,  the Executive Director of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (www.searchDogFoundation.org).  He is a dedicated individual and doing great work in his role as Executive Director.

Additionally, we were given a private tour of the Library by a docent who started the day the Library opened.  He had met Barbara and George Bush numerous times when they visited the Library.  He told us stories of George Bush walking around the Library and surprising visitors when he stepped up and started a chat with them.  It was an inspiring evening. We hope to go on a road trip with Nolja and stop by the Bush Library to take a picture of her and the Sully statue next to each other.   We talked to one of the members of the Bush Library Board of Directors and she said she would allow us to come in and take a picture. 

What a journey this has been.   Nolja started as an unwanted dog in a local shelter, to a rescue dog, to a dog model for the companion dog of a US President.   Sal and I have been blessed to go along for the ride with our Nolja and what a ride it has been.