28Th February

Until recently we kept Poultry, rare breed chickens and ducks. My favourite part was when the chicks and ducklings hatched, a perfect little creature emerging from an egg and the joy of new life.
However, inevitably, each year we lost some, sometimes to disease, sometimes an accident, the joy in new life, tarnished by death and sadness.
 I mentioned this to a farmer friend from my home village,'Ah, yes,' he said knowingly,'we say,' when you have livestock, you have deadstock.' This I am sure you know is a pun as deadstock usually refers to equipment as in a deadstock sale, as opposed to a livestock sale. A sort of farmers joke.
 I found it tremendously comforting, I wasn't doing anything wrong, that was just the way it was.

 I believe it is the same with dog rescue too, yes it is lovely to take a dog from a pound and see it transformed and happy in a new home but the reality is it doesn't always have a happy ending.

Last Tuesday morning I received a call from the kennels where we were boarding Sandy. Things had gone downhill since I had last seen her. She was jumping at her lead and at peoples feet when they tried to walk her and that morning had jumped at the kennel girl snagging on her jacket and not letting her out of the kennel.
The proprietor said she could no longer keep her there and let the youngsters walk her, asking had I homed anyone or could I swap her with another dog? The answer to both questions being 'No.'
Not only that, I had been concerned for some time about whether she was really safe to rehome, for this very reason of her jumping and grabbing. It was not aggression but excitement but still pretty dangerous if it got out of hand. I had been avoiding the truth but now I knew I had to make that awful decision.

I know for some of you reading this you are going to find this very hard, but in reality  putting dogs down is as much a part of responsible rescue as the happier side.

As in other instances I always take the dog a walk first, going somewhere they know and love, as I did with Sandy, taking her to the ponies where she ran in the snow the first winter she came.

 I also stay with them throughout and due to our skilled and wonderful vet and her team the whole process is as kind and respectful as it can be.

It was particularly hard to reach this decision for Sandy as we had launched our great appeal to take her in and that is how the blog started.
Perhaps in a different climate that special home would have been found with people who were responsible, a couple with no children and a calm life where they were prepared to work with her, but when people can pick up a puppy for less than our donation or get a dog for free from an advert why should they bother with a dog who already had problems and would demand lots of work.
We are struggling to home anything at the moment, even puppies.

So R.I.P. Sandy, run free through the snow beneath the moon as you did that first winter.