Hurtful, Claire!

Before anyone jumps on me, this is a lighthearted post. Claire has just introduced Keeley, and the elemis set, citing one of the reasons for use, as not wanting to look like "one of those dogs." Now, my babies take extreme exception to this : why? They are boxers! I think she has made a very appropriate analogy. I used to breed boxers and, before we got our first years ago, my mum said "They look as if they have ran into a wall"! She could have been referring to a pug, or a british bulldog! So handsome.

Shar Pei? :mysmilie_1:

without wishing to offend anyone, in general, dogs are far more beautiful than humans, love boxers, my pugs, and all my dogs, they have such sweet faces.

Glad you love your dogs so much. But you have not seen my beautiful little humans! I can take or leave many of the rest of the human population, many people are awful oxygen-theives. But my two humans are just perfect! My little boy is fascinated, if not a little afraid, of dogs... but one day (when my 12 year old grumpy cat has departed this world) we may get them a "doggy" as I know they will want one. What stops me is that we work and at least cats can happily snooze all day until we all get home.

My oldest son is is almost 40 and long before we had our own dog, he fell in love with my husband`s Aunt`s dog. A big red boxer called Bruce. I have a photo of my son kneeling besides the sitting boxer, my son has his arm around the dog and the dog is taller than my son. Bruce was my son`s big brother, his best mate and they both got into mischief together. Auntie`s house backed onto a park and Bruce would disappear and return carrying half a tree or a big rock. For some strange reason he chewed rocks and had worn down his teeth doing so and he was better than Houdini for escaping his garden but he always returned. Bruce was quite elderly when Auntie adopted him and he was later followed by Cindy a long haired collie, Shona a brindle boxer and Fruchie an elderly black Scottie. They all spent their twilight years with Auntie but by rights, left up to their previous owners, they should have all been dead.
Auntie was a vet, a rare breed of woman who trained to be a vet back in the days when only men became vets. She rode a motorbike, never married, never had children and travelled from one end of the country to the other, working as a vet, she even went out to South Africa for a while to work in a game park. In her late 50`s she trained new vets at Glasgow veterinary college and then in her early 60`s she worked as a vet for the PDSA. Every one of her dogs had been brought in to be put to sleep, the owners didn`t want them but she did. She even went to court and spent thousands of pounds fighting to keep Cindy her collie. Cindy was brought into the PDSA having been used as a breeding machine, she was bald, covered in sores and worn out from having too many litters. Auntie nursed her, treated her and in time Cindy turned into a beautiful healthy dog again, her ex owner got wind of this and wanted her back, Auntie fought tooth and nail and spent a fortune in legal fees to keep her because technically Cindy should have been euthanised as her owner had requested, Auntie had in fact stolen her.
She won her case. Bruce, Fruchie, Shona had also belonged to people who didn`t want them anymore because they were sick, needing treatment, getting old or their owners had just got fedup of them. Auntie spent her life caring for other people`s animals and even though she couldn`t rescue them all, she managed to rescue some and gave them a happy life in their final years. When her doggies eventually reached the end of their lives, Auntie did the final kind act she could do for them. Sadly nobody could do the same for her, she spent her final years, her 80`s in a nursing home having forgotten who she was, who anybody else was, lost in her own mind and slowly dying of Alzcheimers inch by inch.

louise66 said:

Before anyone jumps on me, this is a lighthearted post. Claire has just introduced Keeley, and the elemis set, citing one of the reasons for use, as not wanting to look like "one of those dogs." Now, my babies take extreme exception to this : why? They are boxers! I think she has made a very appropriate analogy. I used to breed boxers and, before we got our first years ago, my mum said "They look as if they have ran into a wall"! She could have been referring to a pug, or a british bulldog! So handsome.

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Sorry, Louise, but did Keeley refer to boxers or how did the reference to boxers come in? I'm not sure after reading this post. Not arguing, just seeking clarification. I must have missed something.

What a touching story. What a woman!

Aw Vienna, thanks for sharing this story about your Aunty, it's made me feel quite emotional. There is something about someone sacrificing themselves, their time, money, care and sheer effort for the love of another being that always gets me.

Your aunty's story reminded me of a story someone told me recently in relation to doing charity work. It was about a man walking along a beach on which hundreds of starfish had been washed up and apparently they can't survive for long out of water. As he walked along he kept picking up a star fish and throwing it back in the water. Another man had been watching him and said "what are you doing? Are you crazy? What difference can you make?" And the first man picked up another starfish, threw it into the water and said "it made a difference to that one."

We can get so overwhelmed with the sheer need but every little act makes a difference.

Wonderful stories very very touching. I got nervous at the sight of a toad seeming to follow me towards a busy road or a hedgehog at the other side. I can't stand any innocent living critter coming to harm.