Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Puppies and pensioners
As a reader searches for a working labrador in need of rehoming, David Tomlinson ponders a dilemma facing many older dog lovers
MOST OF US WILL have to face it one day. After a lifetime with dogs, what do you do when you get to an age when you feel it’s unfair to have another puppy because it may well outlive you, but you desperately miss canine companionship, as well as the social side of working your dog?
This rather sad line of thought was prompted by an email from a reader, Margaret, who told me she has had dogs all her life, including working spaniels and labradors, and has always enjoyed picking-up with them.
Last year, she had to have her senior labrador, a 12-year-old bitch, put down because her back legs eventually gave up. However, she did still have a fit and strong seven-yearold black labrador. He had worked tirelessly last season and was much admired by all who met him.
Then, in February, with the season only just over, he was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put to sleep only days after the disease was discovered. For Margaret: “It was a real shock, as he had appeared to be so healthy just a month before. My husband and I are both upset as he was still relatively young and a fantastic companion.”
She added: “We find that having no dogs around the home is so lonely and horrid. However, I’m 70 now and, having no younger family around me, I feel it’s unfair at my age to have a puppy, while I’m not sure I can face going through training a young dog again. I’m sure that many people have been in a similar position to me when reaching a certain age.
“What can we do in circumstances like this? Are there any societies that perhaps can help with working dogs that need rehoming?”
Active life
“I’m 70 now and I feel it’s unfair at my age to have a puppy again”
Sadly, I’m unaware of any specialist rehoming organisations that can match people like Margaret with a suitable companion. Frustratingly, several of the charities that do rehome dogs are less than keen for them to go to working homes, though quite why I’ve never been able to fathom. I’m sure that if you could ask the dogs themselves, they would invariably opt for the more active life.
There may be charities that do try to match working dogs that need rehoming with suitable new owners. If you know of one, please do let me
know. Assuming that there aren’t any — and I’d love to be proved wrong — there certainly seems to be a need for such an organisation.
I’m sure, too, that many people of senior years would feel happier taking on a young dog if they thought that, in the event of their death, or even being unable to look after and work it any more, there was a certainty that it would be given the chance to do what it was bred for in the first place.
Over the years, I have met a number of gundogs that had been rehomed successfully for one reason or another. One of the most memorable was a sixyear-old English springer that was one of a number of dogs belonging to a gamekeeper.
When the keeper was made redundant, he had to find new homes for his dogs. His springer went to a young shooting man who had never had a dog of his own before. The two got on famously and, as the spaniel had clearly been well trained, it was a winning combination.
That spaniel went on to live an active and fulfilling life until he retired, inspiring his new owner with an enthusiasm for spaniels. I met him last season with a trio of admirably
steady spaniels at heel and wasn’t surprised to learn that he now does far more picking-up than shooting.
Word of mouth
Such successful rehoming of dogs is clearly a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time to learn of a dog that needs a new home. You may hear about such dogs through friends or acquaintances, but rarely see them advertised.
A picking-up friend who died 18 months ago was as bereft as Margaret when her last dog died. She was in her early 80s and not fit enough to exercise, let alone work, a dog. Living alone, she became increasingly lonely during the first months of lockdown and I’m sure that it was a lack of canine companionship that led to her death. She had explored the possibility of finding a suitable dog to share her life, but without success.
In our senior years, active breeds such as cockers, springers or labradors are not the most suitable companions. I always recall Peter Moxon, the Shooting Times kennel editor for 40 years, recommending a cavalier spaniel as an ideal dog for retirement, but cavaliers have become so inbred I’m not sure I would make the same suggestion today. Perhaps a cavapoo is a better bet?
It’s a long shot, but Margaret wonders whether anyone “has a lovely black lab that needs a new loving home in the countryside and the opportunity to go picking-up”. If you do, please email me so I can put you in touch with Margaret. A good home is guaranteed.