I’ve been wanting to blog for weeks, I have so much to say and so many wonderful photos to share!  But .. the big but!!  DH and I have been busy, busy, busy, preparing our little rental for new tenants.   Mainly landscaping and sheer hard labour .. but enough about that.

I had an interesting conversation with neighbours today.   They were out for a walk with their lovely grand-babies and their grand-dog.  So we fell into conversation about this magnificent black Lab.   He was not very old … but he’d had a full life of service for a disabled person.

Dogs like this are the closest to angels on earth in my opinion.

As our conversation continued, I learned that this little dog had been on duty, 24-7 for someone, working around the clock for their every need.  For years.  And absolutely no time off.  And I learned that it is common, for dogs worked as hard as this one had been .. to simply burn out at approximately the age of 4.   Working dogs for services like police, for example, are treated much better.  They work a normal day, then they are “off duty” and they get the chance to play.  Resulting in a more well-rounded dog.  Like people, dogs need to play.

Now .. here is where I learned more information that I didn’t like.   This little dog suffered “burnout” and just couldn’t work anymore.   Can you blame him?  Working every minute of every day, without the opportunity to go off duty and just play … he lost all will to serve.  I would too.

So guess what was going to happen to this lovely hard working dog.  He was going to be euthanized.  Because he was from Ontario, from a private group that trained these dogs … he was considered to be “private property” and he wasn’t allowed to be given to anyone, no way, no how.  I felt just sick.  How could this be?   He’d worked hard and he deserved the right to just be a dog.

Well, the new owner had to go backwards, through hoops.  Even though she is a registered veterinarian .. she had to sign a mountain of forms just to prove, legally, that she would not breed the dog, sell the dog, give away the dog.

Now .. I feel the need to check with these private organizations to see what their policies are, with regards to how the dogs are treated after their service is finished.

Are they re-homed?  Or are they … simply done away with?

Time to find out what happens to these angels who deserve the right to live a happy healthy life after their service.

Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. 

I do plan to write about the lovely wedding we went to a few weeks ago.  Post photos of the lovely dogs I’ve been meeting.  And just chatter away about my garden.  Oh .. and my garlic … is going to be stupendous this year!   A few days ago I carefully placed seaweed around all but bulbs … they look so pretty.   D and I went seaweeding again!  More about that in a few days or so!

Happy gardening!

::)