We start today with Olive talking about why she loves older dogs, then tomorrow we will focus on a wonderful charity called The Oldies Club who rescue and rehome older dogs in need. Later in the week we will hear from Pixie, a gorgeous girl who has now found her forever home with Olive and then we have a featured dog who is looking for her forever home.
My love affair with older dogs started about 7 years ago. I had wanted a dog for a long time but had decided it was not fair on a dog as I worked long hours and was out quite a lot in the evenings. When I was made redundant I had time to think about it a bit more, and I did lots of research and decided that I could give a good home to an older dog; I would still have to work, but I could go home at lunchtime and the dog would have a warm, comfy, safe environment to spend the day in, and then I would be home for the evening and weekends. I was worried about taking on a dog who I wouldn’t have as long due to its’ age, but then my friends’ dog died suddenly – at 5years old, with cancer. That made me realise that, like humans, you cannot predict the length of a life. On balance I decided an older dog would suit me better, so set about finding one.
At the time I just looked in my local area, around the various dog shelters. My first “oldie” was Tess, a 10year old collie cross who had been handed over to a rescue because she was no longer wanted by her owner – her owner did however still want to keep her 2 younger dogs! She loved walking, but equally she loved snoozing, playing and being groomed. She was quite an independent dog so was fine being left through the day, and I didn’t worry about her because she had access via a dog-flap, into our secure back garden. Because it was always in my mind that our time together might be short, I made sure we had lots of fun together. I didn’t put off doing things with her like I would have with a younger dog.
One of my worries had been financial, what if she needed lots of trips to the vet, what about insurance etc but in truth, apart from the normal worming, fleaing, & vaccination costs, I spent very little on her until her last year. Insurance was out because the premiums for a 10+year old dog were ridiculous so I put a little by each month, and with the help of an emergency credit card, didn't worry any more about paying the vet bills. As long as you plan things and have done your research there is no reason not to adopt an older dog.
By Olive Armstrong, Regional Co-Ordinator for Oldies Club.
No comments:
Post a Comment