Click here to see more of MacKinley 

 Click here for Pedigree

                   Click here to see Merlin

CH Gorca's Merlin SDHF, OS

BIS, BISS, Ch Rush Hill's Winner Take All SDHF, OS

CH. Gorca's Sandpiper Lucilla

Merlin’s Friends

Magic is a very special outstanding dam that lived a wonderful life and retired in Gainesville, Florida.  Magic’s full name is BISS  Am.-Ven. CH. Sandpiper’s Gorca Magic.  Magic carried tennis balls around every single day, just waiting for a game of fetch to break out.  Magic had many friends who loved her just because she was so gentle and sweet, most of them never knowing just how famous she was.  Magic was a wonderful mother to many Champion Golden Retrievers in the United States, but one in particular, stands out from all the others.  His name is Merlin.   Merlin was born in Venezuela, in the mountains above Caracas.  The year was 1999.
 

I met Merlin for the first time in Sarasota, Florida.  He is a breathtaking dog that certainly lives up to his full registered name of

BISS CH. Am. Arg. Gorca’s Merlin, OS SDHF.    That’s a long name!

Merlin was much more than a beautiful show dog, and I was lucky enough to have known Merlin, the lovable Golden who was a big teddy bear that was always smiling.  Just like his mother, Merlin loved his tennis balls, and if you grabbed the tennis racquet, Merlin would run for the tennis balls.   But even more than tennis balls, Merlin loved his stuffed animal friends best of all……..

It was the week before Christmas, 2003.  Jeanny’s tree is always decorated so beautifully with a superb black bear ornament collection.  This year, Jeanny was very creative and added the most adorable stuffed black bears.  There were maybe 6 stuffed black teddy bears perched around the tree and looking right at home.  Jeanny’s daughter, Jordana, called around 11:00 pm when we had just left the movie theater to report that Merlin had taken the Christmas tree down!  It turns out that the teddy bears were simply too tempting to dear Merlin.  Merlin’s room is just off the kitchen and he would jump his baby gate door and pluck the teddy bears off the tree one by one, and return to his room with them to play!

The last 2 bears were placed near the top of the tree and Merlin was successful in taking one down, but the other was just out of his reach as he jumped to grab it.  Not one of the other ornaments was touched, only the soft stuffed teddy bears.  He was rather proud of himself and declared a joyous holiday season!  It was one of the best Christmas’ the GORCA team ever had.

In February 2004, Merlin was back in the show ring, but not in North America, he was in Argentina.  Andy Luque had taken Merlin down to South America to tour the circuit.  Everyone was excited that Merlin was in South America.  Everyone that is, except Andy’s young children.

You see, Merlin was collecting their stuffed animals.  Andy’s family sat down with Merlin and they all had a meeting.  The children were instructed to put their favorite stuffed animals high on their bookshelves or up on their beds and Merlin wasn’t to bother them.    But Merlin was too clever and simply stood on his back legs and would pluck the stuffed animals right off the book cases.  He would jump right up on the beds and take the animals to play with.  War had been declared in the house.  Merlin and the children were caught battling over the stuffed animals. Merlin thought it was a blast, only the children weren’t laughing!   But, as Andy and his wife noticed, Merlin had left all the Barbie dolls alone.  Barbie dolls simply weren’t soft enough for Merlin.  That’s it!  That’s exactly what could restore peace in the house!  Andy was meeting Jeanny & Vicente in Tennessee at a show and I ran out to the toy store and purchased 5 “International Barbies” and sent them to Tennessee with Jeanny.  When Andy returned home, he told the children that Merlin had special gifts for them…..new Barbies!!  The kids were in heaven with the new dolls and especially because Merlin made them a deal to leave the Barbies alone.  Not only did the children fall in love with Merlin, so did South America and Merlin won the 2004 Eukanuba Classic!

Merlin’s passing leaves a hole in our hearts for certain, but his paw prints will forever be remembered in so many ways.

Jovonnie Androy

GoldenGael Farm