I love Dogs me...

You can have a share of mine, what was a bundle of trouble, in a nice way , is now growing into a great dog

Tinman

           You and I are like chalk and cheese, however not in this instance and I am going through the same experience .We had dogs for 50 years but now, at four score years it would not be fair to have another one, even though the company would be fantastic. I do go out every day and I walk at least 4 mile a day and at weekends, depending on the weather, far more. But my problem is what would happen to my dog when my time is over, I don't know of anyone who would look after it. For it to go into a rescue centre would not be what I want, as it would have probably came from one ,as previous ones have. A dilemma I don't want me or the dog to go through. 

t

ADP, unselfishness to your level & TW’s is shockingly rare I’m afraid. I applaud your attitude & will follow your(&TW’s) excellent practice in the future. It’s heartwarming to read these things it really is-the true sign of a Dog lover not just a Dog owner👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thank you Rocky

Exactly so, ADP. We would need to rely on a charity such as the Cinnamon Trust and, while they do stirling work and have volunteers throughout the country (a round of applause for Moulesy here👏👏👏) it's not what I would want come the day.

Similarly, I would not want to rely on others to give a dog it's daily exercise and care as my own ability wanes. Thus, we choose to put the dog's needs first rather than take on an animal we may not be in a position to care for.

This is why we have always had overlapping dogs for the last 30 years, i.e. we have just taken on a pup, old dog is 10 years old, so probably another 5 good years of life left, by which time pup will be 5 years old we will be 80 so hopefully pup will not need quite so much attention and we should be able to end our lives together, but one of our daughters would always take on another dog if necessary, but dont envisage getting another dog ourselves as much as i love them.

Getting pup used to caravan now, coming on quite well, hopefully if weather improves will try a couple of sleep overs in the caravan, old dog sleeps under our bed, pup currently sleeping in a crate indoors but no room in caravan for crate so maybe have to sleep on floor in rear lounge, could be interesting getting him to stay there 

Another round of applause for the Cinnamon Trust and Moulesy, the Dogs Trust also have a scheme in place to take care of dogs if the owner passes away. We have taken on a bereaved pet in the past, and she lived out her final couple of years with us happily, but she did know us well, and we walked her frequently. 

I don’t consider, for us, that the age of the dog is particularly relevant as they all need care, attention and exercise irrespective of their age.

Your situation is different, Rufs, as you have family to step into the breach if needed. Those of us who have no one need to consider the issue from another perspective.

We like almost everyone on this thread treated our dogs as part of the family , my wife even referred to us as Mummy & Daddy when talking to the dogs and the loss as we all know is  huge jolt in life. We have 5 dogs graves in our garden that could have been 5 swimming pools  of tears when I dug those graves. To be honest I would not even want to go to a Rescue Centre as I would be putty in their paws, it was a hard decision on every visit we made. I now rely on other peoples Dog's to get the interaction I miss so much and I know a Dog can tell a dog lover.

Dogs read body language as part of their fight or flee evolution closely followed by noises hence most of us Dog lovers neither shout nor raise our voices, we use the carrot & the carrot approach. There is only ever one downside of sharing our lives with Dogs & readily welcoming them into our families-they leave us way too soon, well before we are ready for their departure. It inevitably ends in tears, if it doesn’t you never loved that Dog. I base that on all the Dogs I have shared my life with & going thru the loss of Dogs with family & friends. We have 2 Dogs right now but my wife & I talk about all previous Dogs when the 2 we now have reflect a habit we loved in one of the others & it invariably leads to reflection & sorrow at their passing.