Woody 20/7/1995-6/6/2007

Woody was one of those dogs you never forget. He came to us from DogsTrust Darlington, aged 5, in April 2000 and was to be the new "family" dog following Bonnies passing the previous year. Woody, as it turned out, was a dual purpose Labrador and is responsible for getting me interested in gundog work. Inspite of having never been trained to the gun, Woody knew far more about gundog work than I ever will. Sadly, just as we got interested he developed arthritis in his front legs aged 7 and any further training had to stop. I spent a lot of my time researching arthritis to enable him to have the most active life he could and he did very well on natural remedies.

Woody was the sort of dog every dog lover dreams of owning. Perfect in everyway, a profound love of people, a way with dogs that meant he diffused many difficult situations and absolutely bomb proof in everyway.
He loved his family and only ever wanted to make us happy, making his death all the more difficult. Thankfully Woody suffered very little towards the end enjoying strolls round the local private estate, swims in the river and many tasty treats right to the last.

In late May 2007 his mobility rapidly decreased and when, after trying him on the stronest anti inflammatories available, he didn't improve, the devastating decision to let him go was made.
He was still a happy boy before he left us with a good quality of life, we felt we owed him that much for everything he gave us.