Rescuing an Older Dog
Here is Bo in 1987, an 8 year old female I adopted when she was cast off by a back yard breeder. She was so arthritic her spine was nearly fused and she had been mercilessly over-bred. Not much to look at but she was very sweet and bonded with my middle aged male, Randy, for her last 4 years. 
This one is Barney (on the right) with Randy in about 1991 after we lost Bo. A big moose of a dog whose owner had his gardener dump him off at the local shelter at 8 years old like a cast-off pair of shoes. Barney lived another 4 years, surviving Randy and into another generation of rescued OES that I have owned. 
Barney (laying down in the back) with a group of friends three years later, the day a young Freddie (sitting), another rescue, came to live with us.  |
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What a wonderful post. Thank you so much for sharing the joy you've found with your rescues. I enjoy it very much too.  |
| What wonderful pictures!!!
Although I adopted Pearl from the Humane Scociety at 4 months I feel the same way.... She had been neglected in a young couple's back yard. The more matted and disgusting her coat ...the farther in the back yard she went. She was so sad and pitiful when I first laid eyes on her, I knew she was meant to be my forever love. |
| Thanks for the wonderful post. |
| bless you what a great post |
| Thanks. My fondness for these older, second hand dogs is no less than the couple of sheepdogs I raised from pups.
At the end of Bo's life, we moved into a new two-story house (which we still live in nearly 20 years later). The bedrooms were upstairs and the first night we discovered that Bo was incapable of climbing them to go to sleep at night at the foot of the bed as was her custom for the 4 years we had her. For two weeks she stayed downstairs each night by herself while my wife, Randy and I retired for the night upstairs. Then one night after we had just climbed into bed, we heard Bo struggling up the stairs. She came into the bedroom, settled in at the foot of the bed and, once again I could hear her familiar snoring that night. The next morning, she came down with me and Randy, ate her usual morning meal, went outside and laid down, never to get up again. I had to carry her in a blanket to the vet later that day for the one last journey together. It was as if she just wanted that one final night to be together like always. Then she apparently decided it was enough. |
| Thank you for loving these older sheepies and for sharing the very touching story of Bo |
| Bo's story made me cry... you clearly have a huge loving heart and those sheepies in your company are very lucky ones indeed. |
| Wonderful stories - what would our dogs, as seconds, do without people like you. I wouldn't trade my cast-off Patch for the world - someones "trash" certainly is my treasure! I loved your stories, they certainly warm the heart. |
| The only thing I can think to say through my tears is...Thank you both for the wonderful life you have given these Sheepies. |
| I think everyone has already conveyed what I wanted to say. Both you and the dogs seem to have been very lucky to have one another. I was moved by reading your post and seeing the pictures. |
| Thank you for sharing your story. I just adopted a deaf 7 year old sheepie as my first one. I am so excited about my new family member. I couldn't have asked for more (well I would love to have more sheepies).
Thank you again, |
dorothyrego wrote: I just adopted a deaf 7 year old sheepie as my first one. I am so excited about my new family member.
Dorothy, I too rescued a deaf OES back in the 1970's, named Lulu. There are a number of threads about deaf sheepdogs in this forum that I think you will find worth reading. But basically, dogs do very well without hearing, and if anything, you will find that they become even more attached to their families. The only accommodation I tried to maintain was to keep Lulu's hair trimmed over her eyes so she had unimpaired vision. I hope you enjoy many good years together. Although this sounds like your only dog at present, one thing I found true about older dogs coming into a home with dogs already there is that they fit in quickly with little disruption of the order of things like sometimes happens with a young dog, and seem happy just to be part of a family. |
| I also have 2 shih tzus and another small dog. I wish Plato had someone his own size to play with. He did adjust very well into our family. |
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