Foster Dogs

Except for Hopper and Venkman, all of the dogs in the GR household have been rescued through GRREAT, a golden retriever rescue in the DMV area that even has a separate donation page in honor of the GR Squad. In addition to the adopted dogs, GR Mom and GR Dad also occasionally foster other golden retrievers until they can find a different foster home or a forever home. Before the Golden Ratio social media accounts were created, they fostered over 20 dogs. Below are descriptions of all fostered dogs--including "failed fosters," i.e., dogs who were adopted by the GR family--since 2018.

In November 2018, they fostered Sizzle ("The Sizzly One"), a seven-year-old golden retriever who had to have 29 of her teeth removed due to neglect by her previous owners. Before being fostered, she belonged to a breeder, and when she was rescued, her original name was unknown. Sizzle was adopted by Barb Nelson, mother of Matt Nelson of We Rate Dogs and Thoughts of Dogs fame. She now lives with her dog sister, and fellow Golden, Zoey and both dogs can be seen on the okzoey Instagram page.

In December 2018, they briefly fostered Gozer, a skinny 9-month old Golden originally named Rose. Gozer and Venkman, as could be expected due to their Ghostbusters namesakes, did not get along. Gozer was always intended to be a temporary foster, and she was with the GR family for a week until a different foster home was found.

Riley, the first boy to be fostered with the original squad of five girls, came to the household in March 2019. GR Mom quickly elevated Riley to "boyfriend" status, and as such was often called "Boyfren Riley" or simply "Boyfren." Due to his health issues, Riley was initially not adoptable, as GRREAT's general policy is to clear the dogs' medical charts before adoption or otherwise list them as hospice fosters. For many months, Riley was "unofficially adopted," but at last became legally adopted in September 2019.

Toby was fostered in August of 2019, with the immediate understanding that he would not be staying: he already had an adoptive family, but they simply needed some time to prepare for his arrival. Toby was 6 months old at the time of his arrival. Though his initial chaotic energy caused tension in the household, his training at Olde Towne Pet Resort helped to resolve many of his issues.

In February 2020, three-year-old Guacamole joined the household as a new foster dog. He found immediate comfort in holding tennis balls and Blåhaj in his mouth, and quickly joined Team Chaos upon his arrival at the Keys house. Guac was officially adopted in March 2020.

Chief Brody (renamed from Cody) joined the GR household as a foster in late February of 2020. His previous family lost interest in him, and were not caring for his allergy needs. CB was always intended as a permanent squad member, but couldn't become official until Guacamole's foster period was over.

On June 1, 2020, St. Patrick (originally Theo) joined the household while in recovery from emaciation and multiple illnesses. While brought in under the label of a Golden Retriever mix, later DNA testing proved that he was a Labradoodle; he remains the only GR dog to date who was not a Golden. He was allegedly brought in only as a foster dog but on the same day that his adoption was announced, it was discovered that he'd had an official GR twitter since May.

On November 17, 2020, Voodoo (renamed from Bu) was introduced as a foster. He was a loved dog, but his sick and elderly owners had trouble taking care of him: he was overweight, mostly untrained, and did not have his epilepsy closely managed. Voodoo was officially announced as adopted on December 1, 2020.

Shortly after Voodoo joined the Squad, Parmesan was introduced. Initially labelled a hospice case due to what was thought to be a hemangiosarcoma on his spleen, the GR Squad was able to adopt him after the tumor was found to be benign. Though Parmesan was still ultimately in his final days, he was announced as adopted on Christmas Eve 2020.

In July 2021, new foster dog Remoulade (briefly known as Roquefort) was introduced. Remoulade came to the squad with diabetes, erlychia and Lyme Disease. He is also blind. Remi's former owners neglected him, and upon finding out his medical condition, instructed the vet to put him down. The vet said no, and he found his way in the GR Household, where he quickly fell in love with Guac, CB, and the couch. Despite his limited eyesight, Remi has learned to get around the house, took the stairs with growing confidence and discovered a love of swimming. After initial issues, he settled in well and grew to be playmates with Guac, Voods and Venk, and in November 2021, it was announced he'd be staying with the squad.