http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Remembering-good-times-beloved-Dot/story-15156168-detail/story.html

I thought this was a lovely tribute :-)

oops, looks like it could be tearful :0- ......I'd best leave it until later - the children are forever teasing me about crying at things on the computer!

I'm weeping as I write. This is pretty well what we are going through with our old Meggie.
A very moving tribute . Thank you for sharing it.

Beautifully written, not just sad folks, made me giggle too. As you say a warts and all story about a beloved dog and it's near passing. Very moving. :-)

But, something has erked me sorry! Such a lovely piece, but it screams out to me.

In this year 2012 still! The man has the impression that a pedigree dog with papers is supposed to be a show dog. It's still there and he makes the point that rosettes and cups were not as important (if he'd ever won any :-D) and the dog was bought purely as a pet.

Unfortunately it is this stigma that pedigree and papers are only supposed to be for show dogs that sends people into the arms of unregistered 'pet only' breeders.

It just saddens me, that even though hundreds of thousands of registered dogs are just pets the stigma is still there.

***People....... please! You only show if you have an interest, which may lead onto other things. The show world is such a small world in the dog ownership population, everyone deserves a pedigree dog with papers declaring it's lineage and history, along with health tests and a dog that looks like the breed. Most pedigree dogs are meant to be pets only - really! :-)***

Yes agree Carrington I did think the same re the pedigree but I don't think that mindset will change very much unfortunately

I think it can if you just keep dripping away, I was brought up believing that pedigrees are bad and dogs bred and raised in farmers shed or accidental litters were far better until I started reading champdogs.
I didn't know any real dog show folk so in my experience people who bred pedigree dogs (I was brought up in carmarthenshire so please forgive me for having this impression) were just doing it for money and produced endless litters of poorly pups with dodgy temperaments.
It was only when I started reading this forum that I realised there was a world of difference between a good breeder and just someone who breeds. Incidentally I found my way to this forum because I was struggling with my young lurcher who I had bought from a shed on a farm after seeing an ad in pets@home, a dreadful way to source a puppy, thankfully I know better now thanks to champdogs!

Me in tears also Lucy,so true what he says,brings back memories of me swimming in the sea with our Sadie in west Wales,better get the tissues.

Sheila