When Louie was younger, I took him to the care home where my Mum works and I took him round some of the elderly people, I took him upstairs to some of the people who either cannot get out of bed or don't like sitting in the sitting rooms and I got talking to this one man, he had to give up his 12 year old dog because his family felt he could no longer look after himself. He gave the dog up to a shelter because it was a chance for him, whereas his family just wanted to have the dog put down as they didn't want to take it on themselves.

A dog who he hand had since a puppy and brought up and raised and his own family didn't want to let it live the rest of it's life in peace in their homes, when they sent their elderly relative to live in a care home, I felt heart broken but he told me that the rescue took details from him and let him know when his dog got rehomed and the new family even sent pictures and brought him in to visit.

He told me all this whilst he was fondling Louie's ears and tears coming to his eyes.

So some people can't help but give them up, the ones who give them up for younger puppies are ridiculous. Benjie is 8 and hated Louie when we got Louie, he growled, avoided and refused to go near him for months - still does now but there was no way we were going to take him back to a shelter because we got a puppy - he either got on with it or he didn't.. Both are to stay and over the year we've had Louie, Benjie has gotten over most of his avoiding him..

It breaks my heart to see those old grey faces in rescue, I hate to think one of mine ended up in rescue as such an old age.

One day , if everything fits I will rescue an old boxer , and help him/her live out his twilight years .

There are many reason they end up in rescue , not all are there due to "out with the old , in with the new".

Older grey face boxers with there soulful eyes get me every time ...

We rehomed Bizzy yesterday and she will be nine next month. Been with the same owner since 11 weeks old. She is very lively (compared to Parker who is 9 months older) and I am so glad we didn't get the 20 month old Kerry-makes me feel tired thinking about it!

My current foster Ozzie is an older dog. I've been told he is around 6 but I (and everyone who meets him) thinks he's definitely in double figures. He came into rescue with the story being his owner had died and the family didn't want to care for Ozzie and his Dalmation buddy. But...

I've had Ozzie with me for over a month and he displays massive anxiety and fear, particularly towards men. He hates new situations or changes and is only really happy and relaxed in the evening when it's usually just me and the dogs. Even if I ask him to do something like shift over on the sofa, he will flatten his ears against his head and slink off.

I don't know if his owner did die but I do know this older boy has suffered tremendous abuse in his life and going into rescue has probably been the first time he has experienced love and kindness.

It is heartbreaking to see the oldies and I'm sure some are given up with great sadness, but I do know the rescue I foster for regularly see people dumping their older dogs to make way for a puppy. They have a DA aggressive 7 year old Rottie who the owners handed over saying they wanted a puppy and so this dog (who they had owned from a pup) had to go. People like that make me sick.

Ozzie has had virtually no interest and I personally feel he will be a difficult rehome. He needs constant reassurance to raise his confidence and he can appear aggressive but it is just fear. A lot of people don't want a dog with issues, particularly an older one.

the most common reasons the dogs we get is due to death of owner or the owner having to be put into care. It is terribly sad. Of course not always the case.

You cant beat a grey muzzle and oldie snuggles!

i hate seeing oldies in rescue, i want to adpot them all. when i get my own place, i plan on helping out an old dog or two, to live out their last days happily with me and my gang.

When I first heard about this dog in rescue:



I had no intention whatsoever of ever meeting him. 9 years old, been in kennels for months, it was sad - but I didn't think he'd be a good match for a 1 year old female.

My wife convinced me to go and see him. I swear that I only agreed to keep her quiet - I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of bringing him home.

When I actually met him for the first time:



I absolutely went to pieces and knew that I couldn't leave him in kennels.

He's stubborn, hard work, has cost an absolute fortune in vet fees, but I love him to bits When the time comes, I think we'll make space for another oldie in his honour.

they get me every time poor squidgy boxers...

When we were ready to get another dog after losing our last (still much lamented) girl, we decided to go for an oldie.

Fortunately for us, there was only one that fitted the bill when we went to the kennels, because if there had been choices we would have been totally torn I am sure. Anyway, this little chap wandered out into his run when we called and I swear that he looked at us saying to himself "yes, I am old, tatty, clearly have skin problems so go on......move on to the next dog like everyone else". We brought him home a week or so later of course, after his bits had been removed!

It took months and months to sort out his physical problems, and some of them are still ongoing. As for some of the behavioural issues.......well to be honest we just concentrated on the most important ones and occasionally I yell for help on here when we try to tackle minor troubles that were neglected! He is the most loving, sweetest natured dog and we doubt that he was ever mis treated - in fact it was heart breaking when we first had him because although he totally accepted where he was, he would stare after cars with trailers long after they had gone, and other things seemed to trigger memories. That has now all stopped, and he is finally "our" dog.

So, although he was probably not abused, he was picked up in Ireland as a stray (they have a big problem over there), and not finding a new home was shipped to Evesham where we spotted him. The old owners may have just abandoned him because he was suffering health wise, or perhaps he got stuck down a hole - this is definitely possible because his ears were crammed full of dirt and were infected, and it took several baths to fully clean him up. He had lost several front teeth, and some more loose ones had to be removed, and from his facial scars it seems likely that he was used for hunting. (Or perhaps he just took himself hunting!). The owners could not have tried very hard to find him though.

We love him to bits, and I would not hesitate to take on another oldie.