Our golf dog, Barkley, a Samoyed, had to be put to sleep this afternoon. I will miss him greatly.
He was a rescue dog (found abandoned and given a temporary home by the breeder's association), and was almost a year old when we got him. I took him out on the golf course right away, first at High Pointe and then at Crystal Downs, and he just loved it out there, having so much room to roam when the courses were quiet.
But then, about the third time we had him out at High Pointe, it was starting to get busier, and as we were walking down the sixth fairway he spied his first golf cart over on #8 ... and he just took off on a dead run straight toward it, barking furiously. I was afraid he was going to attack the thing, but he ran it down and jumped aboard and sat up on the seat next to the startled driver, happy as could be. Of all ironies, Barkley was a cart dog.
After that he was fine on the course in the spring when there were no carts, but once the golf season really started, he wanted to be in the cart and wouldn't necessarily stay quiet about it, so I couldn't take him out nearly as often as I would have liked to. Even at Crystal Downs, I was a bit self-conscious about bringing him out in-season, because while a few older members liked to bring their dogs, I knew there were others who frowned on it. I would take him to High Pointe, because nobody would say anything to me there, and occasionally down to Lost Dunes, which was very dog-friendly. [The memorial on the course at Lost Dunes is to Ollie, the founder Jeff Shearer's dog. There is also a club tournament in Ollie's honor.]
I wish more clubs were less uptight about people bringing out their dogs. Golf courses are supposed to be happy places, and people are generally happy with a dog around.