Loving my Oldies

Make a canvas wall hanging of that photo for your OH, silentchild - it is too too gorgeous.

+1 I think it is a shame that Samoyedman didn't give a more detailed reason for his query, then some of the responses perhaps would not have been so condemnatory and more responses giving suggestions such as Katdogs did might have been received. DOL seems to have become Samoyedman's sounding board for everything and I imagine he would have thought he would get constructive comments. Samoyedman, I think, is a professional and still (despite some of the things he says :D ) is a young man with a couple of decades of career ahead of him. The employment opportunity might be one of a lifetime and, I assume from his posts about redesiging his current backyard, has come about quite suddenly. Anyway, his query was about whether rehoming and continuing a relationship with his dog and that has been well and truly answered.

You are limiting the rehoming prospects for this dog severely by insisting you have access. No way known would I ever adopt a dog under those conditions. The stress to the dog of regular meetings, followed by separations would not be fair IMO. How is he expected to bond to a new owner under these conditions.? Thank you, this information about dog behaviour is what i am after, and this along with similar feedback has convinced me to reject the idea of rehoming him. I would prefer to stay where i am because i could never cut this dog completely out of my life. It was said very early on in the thread.

But how will you know if any more details are given if you don't return? :D

Ditto, don't you have an loyalty to your dog after seven years? and from me too, pretty disgusted with you SamMan How do any of you know that it is "essentially for convenience"? If the OP has to relocate (note he said "might"), he is getting in early and exploring alternatives. We all say that the dogs come first, but when over the barrel of perhaps a chance to make a huge step forward in one's chosen career, I'd like to see what we'd all do - in reality, not hypothetical.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Hope Jazz continues to do well.

A number of the dogs I've rescued and adopted have been a lot older than that - the oldest was nearly 17. Truly - one of the few whose documentation I had. Provided they are loved and properly cared for, dogs adapt. They are amazing creatures.

Absolutely NOT! If you have to rehome, you rehome and bow completely out of the picture.

I don't have any advice except to prepare yourself that she may never change. I rescued and then adopted a dog from a pound when she was six months old. She was a quivering, peeing and pooing wreck and even today, more than nine years later, she still reacts to me sometimes as though she is going to be beaten. She leaps at the sound of twig being broken on our walks, she drops to the ground when I walk towards her (not always) and I don't believe she was ever badly treated. She was in really good condition when I rescued her, but I think she is naturally very timid and easily scared and the trauma of being lost was just all too much. She has no fear when I'm lying down: walks all over me, shoves her head into my hands to be patted, sleeps along my pillows behind my head, or down by my side pushing at me to lift up the bedding so she can snuggle underneath. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I really hope your little girl does come good and lives a long and happy life with you.

Altogether now: AWWWWWWWWW Seriously, what a wonderful idea. I want to know what happens, too, together with the pix to prove it.

Well, I for one will be sending Magistrate Michael Daly a Christmas Card and telling him why. Let's all do the same...... unless of course, that is being sensationalist. :D

Rachel if you would like to do the home check yourself, I'd be happy to drive you.

No, but I want to see the finished result :laugh: :laugh:

I may have misinterpreted the OP's post, but it sounded as though her dog is that sort of barker :laugh:

Your heart must be raw and tender, Rachel, from the enormous losses over the past few years. And now Zeuss. As always, your poetry is pure, rich and heartfelt.

So true

Don't think Labradors are known for their "shrinking violet" personalities. :laugh:

I must admit, I thought the same :). I have dogs who love to bark at the birds and this wasn't a particularly big issue, until a new neighbour moved in next door and put out a bird feeder .

Dogs Never Lie About Love, Jeffrey Masson On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals, Turid Rugaas Give Your Dog a Bone, Dr Ian Billinghurst

I guess the photography has emphasised it a bit, but I can't get over how grey some of them are. LOL as my youngest dog (I have 5 littlies) is just approaching 10, I don't really think of 10 as old anymore.

I would tend to agree with the over analysing statement, but only to a certain extent; you also see a lot of under analysing which perhaps could be defined as lack of understanding or even knowledge that dogs do need to be understood. In a lot of instances, we are dealing with people who don't know that they don't know and I think it is up to the people who work in the industry (vet, pet food suppliers, rescuers, groomers, etc etc) to step up to the plate and provide some education. People are told that dogs are social creatures and that taking them to the dog park is the right thing to do. So off the owner goes to the dog park thinking he or she is doing the right thing and the dog is going to have a wonderful time. Generally, no thought would be given to the fact that dogs are like people: many different personalities, many different ways of interacting, some will be nice and some will be nasty. They have been led to believe that dogs will be dogs and they'll romp and play and nothing awful will happen and they'll all go home happy and exhausted. I also think that people who have only one or two dogs rarely get to see the full spectrum of dog behaviour and so don't have the opportunity to even start to learn what they are all about. I'll never forget the time when someone who was staying with me came running into the kitchen asking me if I was going to break up the fight between two of my dogs. I could hear the dogs and they were playing. This person states that she is an accredited dog trainer

You are making things v.e.r.y. difficult, Jed . I can see danorses galloping around my backyard. Oh, what evil temptation.

It's hard to imagine a beautiful dog having a better life. You were blessed to have her,Grumpette, and she was blessed to have you and your family. Such a moving photographic tribute to a life well lived.

I see this is going to degenerate into a "she said", "she said" situation. Sags and Jed at 20 kennels.

Gosh - estimates way out. I'm sure Jazz will confound them too. :)