Golden Oldies Team making a difference to peoples lives

She loves putting smiles on faces and so do her dogs.

For five to six years, Lisa has been adopting senior dogs through the Golden Retriever rescue program where it started with Sam and Maggie and has grown to a team of nine.

The dogs visit nursing homes, schools, shopping centres and scouts groups in the Macleay area, giving people lots of joy.

"I adopted Sam and fell in love with golden retrievers and then the rescuers that I adopted him from were looking for foster carers and I ended up prematurely fostering an old girl called Maggie and fell in love with old girls and that's how it happened," Lisa said.

"I don't know how it ended up getting to nine.

"Since starting the team we've lost 12 dogs in those years.

"No one wants to adopt old dogs because people think you don't have them for long whereas for me I love old dogs and my aim is to give them as much love as possible and give them opportunities to provide love to other people which is why I take them to schools, scouts and nursing homes and give out free hugs."

With almost 14,000 domestic and international followers on Facebook through Lisa's page, 'Team Golden Oldies', the dogs have become incredibly popular with letters being received and visitors coming from all areas.

"The people following are from all different sort of places, Australia, Germany, Slovenia, New Zealand and many more," Lisa explained.

"We had one lady and her husband come and visit all the way from Germany for her birthday.

"She had recovered from cancer and seeing the dogs was on her bucket list so they spent two days here and a week in Sydney.

"Essentially, they flew all the way over just to see the dogs.

"We get people from all around Australia and in particular Sydney who message us if they're passing through or holidaying ask if they can come and see the dogs so they come for a cuppa and play around with the dogs for a few hours."

Lisa's journey with the Golden Oldies team has seen her become an author too, releasing a children's picture book each time one of her dogs pass away with all profits going to dog rescues in Australia and overseas.

A charity, Team Golden Oldies Inc, has also been set up to help assist in making the dogs' lives the best they can be along with helping out other people and their dogs' surgical costs.

"We find people through our vets and where possible we pay it forward and help those in need with their senior dogs' medical care," Lisa said.

For Lisa, while her furry companions leave plenty of hair and lots of speed bumps around the house, she says they're no trouble at all and when new dogs arrive they immediately become a part of the family.

"The best thing about about the golden retrievers is their unconditional love," she said.

"You think about it - they've all come from different backgrounds yet they all sleep and play together and it's amazing how they just gel and are happy.

"I don't know if that's because of their breed or age.

"When a new dog arrives they all go and sniff around and then move and go looking for a ball.

"We haven't seen any fights, there's no set beds ... except for Murphy and Poppy.

"I just want their last few years to be as positive as possible and in their last breath they know that they were loved and I think we all want that and to know our lives mattered."

Lisa's team doesn't just consist of golden retrievers either, with one of her current dogs, Leo, a labrador.

She has also previously had a dalmatian.

"I was under the impression Leo was a golden retriever until I met him and thought his hair had all been shaved off," Lisa said.

"I could adopt any old dogs not just golden retrievers."

Whilst Lisa does concede that eight to 10 dogs are her limit she doesn't intend on slowing down at any point.

"As long as I'm physically capable I'll continue to do this forever," she said.

"It's amazing how many times people say I couldn't get another dog because it hurt so much when I lost mine.

"I think it's kind of sad really that there's a dog in a pound somewhere that wants a family and to be loved but because it hurts too much to lose them people are denying that dog love and themselves love.

"Yes it hurts to lose them, but I'd rather have them for one day than none at all."

Lisa was also a finalist last year in the Advocate People's Rescue Story for the Jetpets Companion Animal Rescue Awards and encourages all people who have adopted a dog to nominate themselves.

Nominations open on May 1 and close midnight July 19 and can be done here.

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