In the two year life of this blog, I’ve talked mainly about our personal, direct, real life experiences with our dogs. At the heart of it though, the issue that prompted its inception, is the needless euthanasia of so many dogs around the country, and our apparent willingness as a society to allow it to continue. Outside our particular and specific experience with rehoming two Dalmatians for our own personal reasons, across the length and breadth of the country rescue centres and welfare groups depend on individuals with a willingness to take on what can at times be the challenging experience of rehoming a dog. This article is written by one such individual, Chris.

A brief history of my life with rescues…

I’ve had rescue dogs ever since I left home as a kid.. I was a bit of a mess back then, and somehow ended up with a little terrier collie cross, who I named Kyle after a lost friend. He came from the USPCA at Carryduff, near Belfast. I was homeless at the time, and Kyle crawled into my sleeping bag on the colder nights and kept the cold at bay. We had many adventures, and he kept me safe, growling when people approached in the night or early morning, though he always seemed to know when someone’s intent was friendly.

He was killed by a taxi near Aberdeen airport just before Christmas 1994, and he’s buried on a hillside there.

I came home that Christmas, and visited what was then the USPCA Whitespots kennels, near Conlig, Co.Down. I’d looked in all the cages, and in one near the end, a fawn coloured lurcher lady didn’t even bother getting out of bed to come say hello, just looked a bit depressed… After a little coaxing she came over, sat by the bars and lent against them, her fur poking through as she let me stroke her muzzle through the bars. She came to live with me the next day, and I had the joy of her company for the next 11 years, along with many others we rescued along the way. Cancer got her in the end, and my heart was broken, and as they all got older and passed away, I avoided any more for a number of years. Life got pretty busy and eventually kids came along.

Three years ago I went to meet a man who was looking for a home for a little whippet. I arrived in a car park at a Spar shop near Maghera. He arrived with this dog, this poor skinny mange riddled creature, and told me I had to pay 80 quid for him. The dog lent against my legs, and looked up at me staring. I told the man, I’d smash his face and call the cops about the state of the dog if he didn’t leave immediately. He did, and left me the dog. Took about 6 months to get him to a good state of health, but the emotional scars were too deep. He couldn’t be parted from me for a minute, and one afternoon after I drove off to pick up my children from school, he ran past my wife and leaped out of a 2^nd story window to catch up. He didn’t make it.

We went and got another dog straight away, a little hairy lurcher, who came via a Greyhound rescue, from a shelter near Newry. Strangely enough she was microchipped, as a Shi Tzu….

She’s still here. A more precious gentle and loving creature I could never have hoped for, So Lucy and I have learned together to let go of past doggy traumas, and to spend our time keeping each other happy.

I’ll write again soon, and maybe tell you more about some of the others we have had the joy of living with. Holly, Phoebe, Finn, Sam, Bud, Gnasher, Smudge, Wooly, Rosie, Poppy, and all the fosters that came along and left….

Chris is a full time photographer and part time filmmaker based on the North Coast of Ireland, living near the town of Coleraine. He teaches the martial art of Aikido, and spends his spare (and not so spare) time, mooching around the fields near home with his hairy lurcher, Lucy.