Tribute - Spencer “Boston Marathon” (Golden Retriever)

Dog Gone
Episode 04: Tribute - Spencer “Boston Marathon” (Golden Retriever)

Jason Connell pays tribute to the passing of Rich Power's dog, Spencer, who was the Official Dog of the Boston Marathon.

Spencer (Golden Retriever)
unknown - February 17th, 2023
(~13 years, 6 months old)

Recorded: 06-27-23
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

Jason Connell: 0:01

Whoa, just curious. Welcome to Just curious media. This is dog gone. And I'm Jason Connell. So for those of you who are unaware and do not know what you're listening to or watching, this is a dog lovers podcast devoted to honoring the lives and memories of man's best friend. And today I do not have a guest on the show. So I've sort of invented these tribute episodes as we build momentum and have more people on to share their dogs lives to celebrate their dogs lives. But I've been reading the headlines even when things stand out like this headline did. I have to get in studio and do an episode on it for Dog Gone. And here's the headline. Spencer, beloved Boston Marathon dog dies after battle with cancer. So this hit me very deeply and profoundly. I watched the video I saw photos and Spencer was very popular. And I just want to share what little bit I know about his life and a video. And by the way, I will show you a photo of Spencer right now. Here he is holding a flag in his mouth. And on one side it shows Boston strong we are Boston Strong. So Spencer, this golden retriever would go out and stand sit down and watch runners go by the owners and him lived right where the path some point in the race of Boston Marathon which is like 26 miles. And having you know recently lived in the Boston area, I was even more touch like oh my gosh, I wish I had seen Spencer, I wish I had gone to the Boston Marathon. I lived there for two of them, avoided the area because I'm not a runner and traffic's crazy, but it's so wonderful to see runners come up during the race pet him. It's really beautiful. And for him to be just honored in lots of ways which I'm going to get into. So I read this and here's the information I do have on Spencer. So he's a golden retriever who became famous for cheering on runners each year during the Boston Marathon and he passed away Friday, February 17, 2023. So Spencer's owner rich power's shared the following. We told him, we loved him. And we thanked him until his last breath. He was a gift given to us that we shared with the world. And we just gave it back. Wow, I would love to get rich powers on the show because he's also in the news clip I'm going to show and he's just very emotional and it's raw and all of us dog lovers that have lost a dog. We can sympathize completely and Rich's actually sympathizing with others because he knows anyone who's had a dog has probably gone through this. So Spencer was 13 and a half years old, and in October was diagnosed with untreatable liver cancer. It was the second time Spencer battled cancer previously having a tumor removed in 2020. So you know what, I'm so happy to know that Spencer got to the age of 13 and a half and then some me that was approximation on his age, but that's a beautiful thing. To lose a dog is very hard to lose them early is even harder. So I love this. I love that he's a celebrated golden retriever sidebar to this whole story. I recently brought a new dog into my life with Sophia. And he has he was when we got him a 10 week old Golden Retriever named Otis full name Otis Patrick. He's now like 11 and a half weeks. So I'm going through this metamorphosis and opening up to a new dog in the family after losing Niko over a year ago. And then of course, I read about this golden retriever and it's just like, oh my gosh, so it's just a lot happening within me and I really wanted to get in the studio and and do more of these tributes as we line up more guests to come on the show because it's not an easy thing to say. Yes, I want to talk about my dog passing and yes, I want to go on a podcast and do that. But I believe with momentum and just tenacity and just continue to hold our band are high. We will get more people. So powers. Spencer's owner father says the following as well, throughout all of his treatments. I cannot stress this enough. This dog handled it like a champ. He gave us his last gift to not make us wonder for the rest of our lives. Did we make the right decision? We know he made the right decision. And I'm assuming they're referring to do we put him down? There's that whole thing I recently went through this where a year ago, I was at that point like, Oh, he's so sick and he was so sick. You know, if he stays like this, I will absolutely have to do this for his benefit. And the next day, he passed away. Like the whole thing was the plan that night to have someone come over and, you know, humanely euthanize him. And that decision alone was killing me. And he just knew, and expired in the backyard very peacefully. So I'm assuming that's what powers is referring to. If we have him on the show, we can obviously explore that more if he wants to so this past January, artist unveiled a massive portrait of Spencer at the Fairmount Copley Plaza, as he was named the honorary canine ambassador for the hotel. And here is that portrait, right there. How awesome is that? And that is Spencer looking at his portrait. And here's a photo of Spencer, by the way. And that's him being honored. And of course, Spencer will always be remembered as the official dog of the Boston Marathon. So this guy is a celebrity. And he had an amazing run, no pun intended to all the marathon runners who met Spencer over the years. But I now want to show this news clip which just really touched me. And I wanted to save it to the end because it's a little tough to get through. So bear with me, just over a minute. So here we go. It was

Media: 6:38

meant the world to me, my wife, and a lot of people and and people just inspired so many people, but dogs since 2015. Spencer was a fixture along the marathon route. giving a boost to exhausted runners as they stared down a grueling race. We recognized immediately from the start what a special boy he was. He was very in tune. He was very it was almost like a visiting Angel. Spencer's cancer returned last fall and he was doing so well. His owners hoped he could make this year's marathon. Just last month with his signature Boston Strong flag. Spencer was on hand at the Fairmont Copley Plaza as a massive portrait was unveiled. He had an unbelievable life right to the very last minute, it now hangs in his owners home honoring a special dog who inspired countless lives and Spencer was easy to relate to, because everybody's got to spend your story. You know, everybody can relate to him, he beat the odds and gives hope to a lot of people in the same way we could really use.

Jason Connell: 7:54

Wow, that is very touching. Everybody has a Spencer. Such true rich, everybody does. But this was one special dog, I mean, honor showing up so well trained, he looks like an angel. He sitting there with this stick in his mouth with flags on both sides, and was just not even on a leash just chilling, knowing he's there to inspire others. Whoo.. that's a tough one and a beautiful one. And I was just honored to talk about Spencer here. I wish that I had met him in person. But this is our way of honoring him. So anybody out there that wants to come on our show, like I just talked about earlier, and is experiencing a passing or has a fond memory of a dog from the past. We'd love to have you on the podcast. And if not that, then getting your information and doing a tribute episode just like this. So thank you so much for listening, and please be sure to subscribe to the Dog Gone podcast and the Dog Gone YouTube Live Channel. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast. And for all your listeners that enjoy sharing your thoughts. You can leave us a review on Apple podcast send us a direct message or post a comment on any Dog Gone social media platform. We also highly recommend checking out our other podcast and visiting justcuriousmedia.com