Thank you all for your messages. I'm sorry I couldn't come back to the thread earlier but I couldn't get more bashing as I have been very upset for parting with someone who I have cared for very much, with lots of love and why not, a huge amount of money.
Of course I wouldn't let her go to any stranger or advertise her in the wrong site. I'm not a bitch for rehoming her, this was not an easy decision, she came to us at a time we were convinced we couldn't have children so she was the baby of the house. We got her as a 6 months puppy as she had been returned to her breeder as apparently she was not fit for breeding.
We soon realised than more than that, she had been returned because she had some terrible behavioural issues, on the first night with us alone she caused almost £1000 worth of damage, but we thought we could turn her around, started from the beginning, took her to puppy classes, and spent many hours working with trainers and animal behaviourists to make things better. It costed a lot of money but eventually it paid off, she became a lovely dog.
She had also had some bad health problems, and again, we worked hard to get her back in good health, I learned a lot about dog nutrition and started to cook for her.
But then, when we got her, I was married, had no children, and I was at home most of the time. Now I am divorced, have a full time job and have been raising a child singlehandedly without any family around, and that child has asthma and some learning difficulties which require quite lot of tutoring after school and for the dog not to be around him (yes, I tried allergy specific vacuum cleaners, air filters, became a slave of the washing machine and even believed Petal Cleanse could help). Which means the poor dog was spending all day on her own, and even when we were around we couldn't have her near us much of the time as that will trigger my son's asthma and considering how many times we have been to the hospital recently with this, I take his asthma very seriously.
I know some will think that what she had may have been good enough for her, but it wasn't. She needed more attention, and at the same time, I have a mortgage to pay and nobody around to help me out of difficulties, so reducing hours or working less was no longer an option. Life has taken a bad turn and I have had to cope with it.
I have been contacting rescues for a year, and no one had the space or considered it a priority to take her, they also said that considering her age, it was more likely than not that she would spend the rest of her life in kennels which I think would have been very distressing to her. So eventually, someone here was nice enough to point me in the direction of the Oldies website.
The dog has now gone to a lovely lady who has the time and the experience to take care of her. She is very experienced with the breed, has re homed other dogs in the past, and I got a good reference letter from her vet.
I have got some lovely emails from her updating us on how well the dog is settling down, how happy she is to have her around, and how much they are enjoying each other company. I'm very pleased for both of them.
And I'm writing all this just because I think someone has to mention here that the fact some of us have to re home our dogs doesn't make us bad people or means we don't care about our dogs. I have cried more for this dog than I cried for my ex husband when he left. So please be nice to people asking help to rehome their dogs, sometimes, no matter how much we care about them, it is not in the best interest of the dogs, the family, or both to stay together.