THE ELDERLY DOG

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3771, 19 June 1936, Page 10

THE ELDERLY DOG

(Contributed) When the changed circumstances of a, family render it impossible to keep a dog that has been the family pet for years, the problem arises, as to what is to be done with the dog. It is easy enough to pass on a young and healthy animal. His routine is not so deeply ingrained that he will worry about a change of surroundings and the company of a fresh group of human beings.

But with a dog who is getting on in years things are different. Your bouse is his world; his attachments to his own people are deep; others are just strangers or mild acquaintances that are merely to be tolerated, not loved. He has his own pet corner to sleep in; he is used to your ways, your comings and goings; he knows just what he may or may not do. He knows your favourite walks, and enjoys them as much as you do. You and the old dog understand each other. If the time comes when you must part with an old friend like this, is it quite fair to pass him on to someone else—however kind they might be? The habits of a lifetime will be broken. The old dog looks for the chair where he used to sleep undisturbed; it isn’t there any longer. The

familiar faces that smiled at him, the familiar voices that he knew, are all gone. The world is strangely different. A sad old dog, living in the past with his memories, wondering what has happened to the old delightful realities. .... Is it fair that your old dog should come to this? Probabjy it is better, if you must part with him, to send him peacefully, painlessly to the happy hunting grounds, where — who knows?—sometimes he will think of the days that were. But in his thoughts there would be nothing of resentment, no feeling that his old friends had deserted him. He will recall only the happy times he had with you. Yes, we think it is better for an old family friend to end in that way.