I miss the dog :(

[LadyBiscuit]

I have some friends near me who have a lovely dog who is quite old and very low maintenance. We look after her sometimes. We had her for a week over Christmas then we've had her the odd day here and there since then. They left her with us yesterday and I said they could pick her up today or tomorrow (it was my friend's mum's funeral today). They collected her earlier and I really, really miss her :(

Could I get a really quite old, easy going, well-trained, good with kids, dog from a shelter, or is that just pie in the sky stuff?

Yes is the short answer. People wanting to adopt an older dog are rare and very welcome. Take a look here for a start. I love seniors. You might also think about a greyhound. Very gentle, very laid back, well trained, easy going. But will colonize your sofa.

Yes, you can. The best dog we ever had was old, well trained,fantastic with kids and from a shelter.

Thanks Scuttle, that's good to know.

I don't care about the sofa (or the floors - see the other thread :o).

oh defintely you can. and if you feel that dog shaped hole in your house when she's not there anymore you should. dogs enhance your life so much.

assuming you know what you getting into and that you can and want to care for one, go for it.

I've had 2 elderly dogs in the past and they were very easy to care for.
My current monster is 9 months old and certainly requires more than work than an oldie!

Course you can! Lots of lovely older dogs looking for homes about, often because their elderly owners outlive them

Would you consider an almost 16yo incontinent senile beagle, as I have one here... (joking, of course)

Doh! Obviously I meant that they outlive their owners

Thanks Jooly, nice of you to offer, but I have an incontinent senile cat already :o

There are some quite tempting dogs on the oldies website but not many near me. And I think I probably need to let the elderly cat move on to a higher plane first because it's really not fair on her. But I'm really pleased to know there are places where we could get a dog that would be right for us :)

older dogs are lovely. i've got an oldie and she enriches my life every day.

although i am a terrier woman i was just tempted to look at the greyhound rescue west of england site - cant rehome one but was reading another thread and its a breed i would like to rehome in future - and there are some wonderful oldies on there.

i have 3 dogs already but if i didnt i could very easily fall in love with the oldies on there

i think greyhound rescue are nationwide so you may have one near you. looking at the site earlier they do specifically mention whether each dog can live with a cat.

i have chickens and was pleasantly surprised to read that one even lived with a ferret, cat and chickens

dogs trust have an oldies scheme too. in some cases dogs are rehomed under full foster scheme - dog lives with you, you provide food, dogs trust pays vet bills

Yep you can - mine's not an oldie but he's so laid back he's permanently zonked out and is incredibly calm and well-mannered... his only bad habit is food scrounging and bin raiding which is easily worked around.

I am going to save this thread so that when my cat shuffles off I know where to get an old dog for me and my DS to cuddle :)