Since joining this site , my eyes have been opened to so many things that happen in the doggy world,i was brought up having dogs in the family, which all lived to great ages, and we all loved so much... I had a german shephard when i had my own family, she was beautiful, our little baby... she had problems with her health when she was 5 she had to have everything taken away because she had girl problems, but she was ok... she got cancer at 7 she was operated on and recovered, but then when she was 13 it returned with revenge, nothing else could be done , we had to nurse her and love her all we could , the vet told me i would know when the time was right , the worse thing was she still looked so young and was so alert, it broke my heart but i did know when the time came, me my partner and all 3 children were with her when i called the vet out to the house, i wanted her to be at home with us, i still then couldnt let her go , I have her ashes at home with me next to her photo.... i felt honoured to have had such a beautiful friend like blu.. i never thought id be able to have another dog , but now my children are grown, ive got a westie called rosie who is nearly 5 months, she too now is the love of my life, im sorry for whittering on but some of the stories on here make my skin crawl, how some ppl can do things to other living things... People should realise what they are taking on when bringing a dog into their lives, rosie takes all my time, but is well worth it, and also i knew this b4 i got her ....thanks for letting me go on .....

It is great that you feel as you do about your and others dogs, but what you are describing is the nom and most people feel and behave as you do. But like most media this forum will highlight the extreme and in doing so give a slanted view of how things really are. For example anyone reading this forum would think at least a third of dog owners showed their dogs, this is, of course, not true. So enjoy the forum and remember we are not talking of the way most people behave we are talking of exceptions and the same goes for people with sick dogs they are in most cases the exception and we are sad but interested to hear of the problems and will help if we can.

Nice you have posted and pleased to have you with us, hope we do not disturb you too much.

Im really impressed your GSD girl lived to be 13 when most people reckon any day over 10 is a bonus for the breed. Hope I can measure up to that as a dog owner, and looking forward to hearing more about Rosie. :)

Rosie don't despair I had 2 rescue GSD's that made it to 15.