I am a sucker for Oldies - go for it. I homed an ancient mongrel a few years back with my two dogs. It was the best thing I ever did. He was so undemanding bless him and he loved the security of a pack :)

I am planning my next oldie for when my young boy slows down. Am an avid web watcher of the oldies club website. I torment myself on a daily basis.

GO FOR IT :)

Kat

Well I'm sort of happy to report that Shandy the Sheltie has a new home, he's being collected today only it's not me :(

I didn't actually ring yesterday, what with all the usual Saturday chores I missed the 12 noon to 4pm window, I managed to get through about 15 mins ago and the lady said he's got a new dad that will be picking him up today, so at least he won't spend another night as a rescue.

Pinky,

I'm sad it didn't work out for you but glad Shandy won't spend one more night in rescue, so a good thing.

Yeh, like I said I was sad I didn't get to have him but to be honest I thought he probably wouldn't be in there very long, the little sausage is probably by a fireside sleeping off a nice dinner and thinking 'Shandy Boy you've landed on your feet' :) :) :)

> So now all tell me why we shouldn't.

No reason at all why you shouldn't :-)

I rescued a 10 year old lurcher bitch last year and it's been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. She's no problem at all :-) So much easier than housetraining, lead training etc a  puppy, and fitted straight into my pack incredibly quickly and easily. She has been to the vets several times though, and probably won't be around much longer, but I don't regret taking her one little bit. It's so sad to see elderly dogs in kennels, if you can offer him a warm home and love for whatever time he has left then you're doing a  wonderful thing in my opinion :-)

Edited to say I replied to your original post before reading the rest of the thread! Really pleased he has a home, and well done for considering him.....I'm sure there's another oldie out there needing rescued.........

Any news yet?

how could you dexter ring them :)

> how could you dexter ring them :-)

I did ring them to pass on rescue details :-), but couldn't get hold of anyone so left a message :-(

I would so love to, but have my hands full with pup at the moment :-) unfortunately i can't let my heart rule my head this time ;-) so tempting though.

OMG now I really am in a tizzy, my OH has just had a phone call from Dogs Trust about Shandy.
They have been let down by the prospective new owner due to the fact that Shandy has a bad heart, lumps and bumps, kennel cough and is very frail. He's seeing the vet today as he's taken a bit of a turn for the worse but they think he'll be OK.

They are prepared to let us have him on the basis of our having 5 dogs already, OH has described our house/garden set up and lifestyle to them. They said that because he would need long term vet care due to poor health he would be a 'foster dog' I think that was the expression OH said the lady used. They would pay for vet care, we just have to make a small contribution to it.

They think he could have a couple of years left in him, both OH and I have said yes.

My small concern is this if he has Kennel Cough do I need to get anything extra done to my girls to protect them and my little moggy, they are all up to date with vaccines?

Phew I've typed that so fast I've broken a nail!!

Kennel cough isn't normally a problem in healthy adult dogs. If the yours are all well, no litters of pups then I wouldn't worry. Best to get him now, he'll recover quicker in a nice warm house :-)

I was supposed to be fostering my elderly lurcher too, but the rescue backed out of the agreement and she has cost me a fortune in vet bills. I'm sure the Dogs Trust are much more reliable though, it's a good way to make an elderly dog happy without all the expense.

They're all healthy, but my youngest are only 9 months and 10 months, will this still be ok

I would say so (disclaimer - I'm not a vet though!). Most people who show or work there dogs will have had kennel cough several times, my lot have had it at similar ages with no problem although it isn't pleasant. I'm not suggesting anyone would want to deliberately infect their dogs, but for this sake of this old man I would risk it.

Do you think they draw up some sort of contract that states that they will cover the majority of cost of vet bills?

I'll probably get all the answers to my questions when I get in from work as I know OH will be on the phone to them now. I'm just impatient

> Do you think they draw up some sort of contract that states that they will cover the majority of cost of vet bills?

I don't know but I hope so :-)

Do you think they draw up some sort of contract that states that they will cover the majority of cost of vet bills

You will get an adoption pack and in it will be a form similar to an insurance claim form. You take that to the vet when the dog needs treatment. You contribute I think it is now £7.50 PER visit. If you need more foster claim forms you usually just need to contact the centre you got the dog from and they should be able to print some for you and post them off. Everything would be covered..medication vet visits etc. However they cover only 1/3 of the cost for specialized foods.
Really simple....but I would phone your vet and see if they will agree to the terms of the foster forms. My vet was very good and after having it explained was happy enough. Only thing I would say is it sometimes takes a while for the vet to be reimbursed. They have loads of dogs on the foster scheme .....they have loads of centres and I am sure plenty of Golden Oldies who need fostered. Even if you take a young dog with a problem....such as bad skin...the dog would go out on part foster for that condition only.(for anyone thinking of getting a youngster with medical issues:-)  )

Cheers

Wow!... got to the end of this thread.. and what a turn of events!
Que sera, sera Pinky ;)
    Very best wishes and heart warmed to hear this lad may be going to such a super home :) Well done you, greatest kindness to give a rescue a forever home by your fire. Good luck x

They've phoned us back at about 5pm to confirm that they are happy for us to have him without a home check due to our having 5 dogs. They would like vet references obviously and they are going to call every day with an update on how he's doing.
They've said that they won't let him go until the Kennel cough has cleared as it's making him a bit wheezy.
How long does it take to clear?

We will visit at the weekend and they've said it's ok to take the girls to see him, it's a 2 and hour drive away so we'll have to think on that as after a trip that long they expect a caravan holiday at the other end:)

Apparently he's on heart tablets for life and the Dogs Trust will cover that we pay the £7.50 Freeways mentioned, we've checked with our insurance and they'll cover him for all other things for about £20 a month which doesn't sound too bad although I know OH is always 'shopping' for better quotes on most insurance stuff.

Silly me now I'm getting all excited again, I hope it works this time.

> They've said that they won't let him go until the Kennel cough has cleared as it's making him a bit wheezy.
> How long does it take to clear?

It can vary from dog to dog, anything from 1 to 3 weeks.

If you're not getting him till after his kennel cough has cleared up I wouldn't take your lot to see him just now. It seems pointless for them to get KC if there's no need to :-)

If you're talking about insuring him are the Dogs Trust only going to cover his heart medication, not any other illnesses?

OK we won't take our girls up for visits. We'll be checking to see what the 'Trust' will be covering, I think it's only the heart problem but not too sure yet.

All of this has taken place since 3.45pm this afternoon and my OH has dealth with all of the phone calls, you know what men are like for getting all the nitty gritty details. He will have a shopping list of things to ask when they phone tomorrow :)

I've just manage to squeeze a bit more info from the OH, apparently if Shandy is well enough next weekend we can go to visit and if we like him (IF WE LIKE HIM what a mad comment !) we can bring him back with us, it's then that the lady suggested we just take our 3 Shelties up to meet him and for company on the journey back.

I am so pleased for you that it has worked out :-) Good on you for taking Shandy in, im sure he will have a super home to live out the rest of the days :-)

When OH phoned me at work we chatted for a few mins and I said 'what do you think cos I know what I want to do' and we both said at the same time 'lets get him' cos even if he only has another year or so at least we'll do our best to make them good ones.

I know this may sound daft but I'm as excited about him as I have been when we've been to view possible new pups, this is a little more of a profound feeling though because with a pup you expect health and longevity, with an old chap like him this does not come as standard.

It makes you very determined to do your best.

Bless him and you :-).  He is a lucky boy.

Ditto, he is very lucky :-)

Pinky, when he comes can you start us all off on a new thread - "I've done a very good thing"  !! :)

PS I sneaked a look at the Golden Oldies site mentioned by another poster - why oh why did I do that????  I can't have another at the moment but I'm wracking my brain to find this one a forever home.  I foolishly left the screen open on my PC and my daughter got all teary about him, I feel like a really heartless mother now.  Little 'Snow White' was finally pacified and packed off to bed but her evil mother is still sitting here looking at the screen and feeling mean...

Well done to you :)

Pinky,

It does seem like you are meant to have him. Please keep us all up to date on the news. Good luck.

I had a peek at Hugo too, he's adorable and such a sad hand dog face, :(

It was meant to be and I'm so glad for you and Shandy (and OH of course).

Got a call from Dog's Trust today to update us on Shandy, he's still not well enough to leave the rescue but is responding to medication. He ate his first proper meal today having been off his food for the past five days. He's taking longer to recover from the Kennel Cough because of his heart.

He's not actually staying at the centre but is living out in the home of one of the carers as they feel he needs a home setting rather than that of the centre.

As for his background for the past five years he had been the pet of an elderly lady somewhere in Scotland, she has had to go into nursing care and was not allowed to take him, (poor old girl I bet that didn't help her health too much). Not quite sure yet how he ended up in a rescue in Shropshire but I suppose they do have to move them to where the empty places are.
There is no knowledge of the first five years of his life, so it seems to me that he may have been a rescue before the elderly lady got him perhaps.

The rescue are looking at the possibility of him being a full foster rather than a part foster. I'm just looking forward to when we can go and collect him.

> As for his background for the past five years he had been the pet of an elderly lady somewhere in Scotland, she has had to go into nursing care and was not allowed to take him, (poor old girl I bet that didn't help her health too much).

Gosh, that's so heart breaking :( 

They should have schemes that allow new owners to contact the elderly first owners with photo's and up-dates of their pets happily settled (if they wanted to know of course).  It must be so devastating to lose a pet that way and a great source of worry.  I guess data protection wouldn't allow.

I'll bet there's many an elderly person that's had to say goodbye to a loved pet, it's a pity there isn't more facility for them to take pets with them, after all it's a known fact that pets have health benefits for people.

Bumping this up just to let you know that Dogs Trust called today, Shandy had recovered from the kennel cough and is well enough to collect on Saturday.

He will be coming to us on a full foster and they say we should have no problems at all in getting him used to our girls as he's very laid back and very friendly with dogs and at the moment is living with a GSD and Lab.

Can't wait til Saturday now, I've already bought another bed and bowl and a welcome toy for him.

Thats great news  bet he cant wait either

Oh this so lovely a story and please keep us up to speed, I hope Hugo gets a forever home as well.
Its my wish to outlive our two I would hate to leave them.

Aaaaaw this is great stuff :), i am sure he has a lovely home waiting for him, good luck :)

It's funny you should say that because it crossed my mind the other day that I will hit an age when it would not be a good idea to have anymore pups as they could outlive me and I'd hate to have them left behind :(

We've got an Orange Winged Amazon parrot in our aviary that's about 20 years old and as they can live up to 50+ I reckon we'll have to make arrangements for him in years to come :(

Um thats why i felt that we should get older rescue dogs after out two pups, these are our last pups unless we really get a move on.

A few golden oldies or over 5's will do us but I want dogs when I can stop working full time. Luckily enough now I can bring them into my office but any more tan 2 would be diffecult to handle.

I've just checked Hugo here to discover he's found a new home too!!

Congrats to Shandy and Hugo xxx

Yes I noticed imagine a poor dog in a centre for years really sad, I wounder if he's (OH) would shoot me if I came home with another one. It would be a BC not a spaniel, whilst I love mine to bits (cocker) my golden oldie would be a collie.

*ø¤º°*¨`*:» Hoorah!!«:*¨`*°º¤ø*
                  (( :-D ))
(I want pics pm'ing as soon as you have them!!)

*ø¤º°*¨`*:»Welcome home lucky little lad!«:*¨`*°º¤ø*

Will do the pic's :-D

So pleased Hugo has a new home he looks so lovely

Pinky

I have only just read this.  There was a thread regarding an older sheltie boy on the Dogs Forum recently who was being fostered on  behalf of Shelite Rescue.  He sounds like the boy you adopted.  Whether or not it is he, well done and I am so glad things are working out!

Snowflake