Diamonds In The Ruff

Diamonds in The Ruff

David Bowie
Golden Years

Many people who adopt rescued dogs ignore the Seniors. They think that they would never
want to adopt a senior. Thoughts include:

"They're too set in their ways."
"Who would want an old dog anyway?"
"Why bother? How much time do they really have left?"

Seniors make wonderful adoptive pets. They seem to really appreciate that second, third or
even fourth chance of living out their lives with a loving family. They are almost always house
trained and just want to be loved, just like the younger dogs. When you look at the face of a
Senior you see love and sometime sadness.. sadness that they are still waiting to find their
forever home.

It's so much easier for us, as a rescue, to adopt out younger dogs and we are proud to be able
to match up dogs with great families, but, it's the Seniors that steal our hearts, the Seniors that
really need the homes and are so often times ignored. It is here where we will showcase our
Seniors that are available for adoption and ask you to take a second (or even first) look at one
of these precious dogs.

We have many who have adopted Seniors and some of their thoughts are included here also.

We had a beautiful English setter, named Jennifer, for 15 years.
After she went to the bridge, we adopted B'lue (5) and then
Bogey (1). We were happy and very satisfied with 2 setters.
Then there was an e-mail to the group about a brother and sister
in a shelter in James NY. They were thought to be 15. All I could
think of was our Jennifer in a shelter, it was tearing me up. So
after 3 days, I got up my nerve to tell my husband I wanted to
rescue them and he said, “Let’s go get them!” Ike and Ida were
so happy to be out of that shelter! They were happy to be with
us but you could tell their hearts had been broken, we're
convinced they would not have survived much longer in the
shelter. Seniors have a quiet dignity about them and are just

grateful for a place to live and their food. Unfortunately, we only
had Ike for 15 months before he went to the bridge, but he was
loved and he was very happy here. We just adopted Bogie; a
10 year old male whose owner had medical problems and had to

Bogie Arndt
10 Yrs Young

move to assisted living and could not take Bogie with him. While Bogie is confused, he is very happy to be here and I
expect he’ll settle in nicely. We’re always going to have senior setters, we love them and they need us!........Lee Arndt"

"Senior dogs have a calmer side to life. It's more of a
been there, done that type of thing. Most of their
mischief making is in the past though an occasional
thought does cross their minds. They are more
dependable in the house as things are a routine to them
by now and they know what to expect. Even though
our Sarah can be a wild and crazy girl from time to time
she prefers to lie next to you for pats and ear rubs.

Sarah's Snow Dance

Sarah Flying

Our Sarah is around nine years old but you
would never be able to tell it by looking at her.
She is so full of life and boundless love to give us
that I actually forget how old she is. She has no
intentions about slowing down and going into
retirement mode for she still has things that she
needs to do as there are birds to hunt, holes to
dig, critters to chase and love to give. Her
excitement for life knows no boundaries as her
leaps for joy clearly shows that. She can leap six
feet straight in the air at the sight of us at the
door. Nine years old, right, nine going on
two....... Debbie Wolfe"

The dog is LOGAN, a 13-year old that I assisted in rescuing in
1998. Logan was one of 6 starving and filthy show-type English
Setters seized by the humane officer from a irresponsible
breeder. One of the dogs died from complications of starvation
within a month of the rescue. The other 5 were placed-- one of
them was the very famous "Misty Pearl" who was first fostered
by me and then adopted and was adored by her "mom"
Michelle Brady. Six-year-old Logan was placed with Barb and
Doug McConnel because Barb worked at my vets and she
began to love all the foster English Setters that I took to the
vets. Barb, Doug and Logan volunteered at English Setter
Rescue booths when Bonnie and I first began the rescue in
1999. Logan began her therapy dog career in 1999 and
regularly made visits to local nursing homes and in parades until
summer of 2005, when she retired from therapy dog
volunteering. Logan's favorite hobbies are camping, being held
in people's laps while they sit around the campfire, and sleeping
on the pillows between her mom and dad in bed. Kay Melchi

Logan, An Ambassador of
Events for ALL Seniors

Shortly after Kay wrote this wonderful article, Logan went to the Bridge. What a tribute
to the adoption of Senior Dogs she was. She will always be remembered here as well as when
any Senior is adopted. Her legacy will live on. Rest well dear girl. Update: Barb and Doug recently
adopted "our" Buddy Bing, another senior who has given a second chance because of these
wonderful people. Buddy is already being SPOILED ROTTEN!!

Meghan Bogert of Allentown, PA is now 11 years young.

Her Mom, Gretchen, was
having a pig roast in her
honor and in lieu of
gifts for Meghan, who
probably has just about
everything a dog could ever
want, asked the birthday party
attendees to send donations
to Above and Beyond English
Setter Rescue.

Gretchen and Meghan's
generosity is much appreciated
and this is another example of
a senior English Setter doing
her bit to help other English
Setters who are not as
fortunate as she is. Not only,
did we receive monetary
donations, but we also received
2 English Setter prints from Rod
Arbogast, one of which is
Meghan in her younger days.