Retirement By The Sea Beckons

Susie-Belle came into my life in the summer of 2011. I knew she’d bring changes, I knew these would be good. But what I could never have guessed when I trawled the internet looking for a rescue dog to adopt, exactly 8 years ago, was just how many interesting people Susie-Belle would also bring into my life. Many of whom, in time, have moved from being acquaintances with a common interest, to good, authentic friends.

One is Kathleen, who readers of my books may recall I first got to know through Susie-Belle. I agonised when another dog, Darcie was still looking for a home months after I’d seen her at the same time as spotting Susie-Belle. Kathleen and I didn’t know one another, but she read a blog I put up, acted, took the plunge into adoption and Darcie got to live 6 safe and cherished years with Kathleen and Mel.

One of our first walks with Darcie, Susie-Belle craning to get the treat, a pose that was to become Classic Susie-Belle

Our friendship was forged by two damaged dogs showing us a different path through life. It’s a friendship that’s deepened through years which have seen Kathleen and I love and say painful, grief racked goodbyes to our special dogs. In Kathleen’s case, in a short period of time, she’s lost not only Darcie, but also Juno and most recently, just a few weeks ago, her beloved Schnapps, the puppy who began Kathleen and Mel’s love of schnauzers.

Now a new friend is on the cusp of joining them. A dog who has suffered neglect, 8 years of awful exploitation and cruelty. But one whose story of rescue, survival and her final litter provides much hope, in an almost hopeless world, where some days it’s hard to feel anything but despair for what humans are inflicting on dogs.

Lara will soon be heading to the south coast of England to enjoy a well earned retirement by the sea. Eight weeks ago, Lara delivered the last litter she will ever be forced to produce. And what a litter it was – an enormous one for a miniature schnauzer, of 10 puppies. (Read more here).

She’s retiring from a life of breeding, and if her last litter is any guide, it’s been an exhausting 8 year existence in whatever hellish puppy farm she was confined in. Now, as her puppies – which have been handreared by the DBARC team – are about to head off to their new homes and fun-filled puppyhoods, it’s time for Lara to open the next chapter in her life. She will step into a world where no demands whatsoever will be made on her, where walks and fresh air beckon, where sofas and soft beds are hers for the taking.

Life by the sea with her soon-to-be sisters Cilla and Dora will be the best retirement home anyone could hope for.

You can read more on Lara’s story on the Schnauzerfest website by clicking here.

For more about Darcie, visit here and Juno and here.