Happiness is a Choice, Here’s the Story to Prove it
Labradors are the most popular members of the retriever breeds. They’re great companion dogs, excel as service dogs, are reliable gun dogs. This of course the result of being bred to work along humans for countless generations.
I’m not going to write about what fantastic creatures dogs are and how we humans all too often take them for granted, there’s more than enough about that out there on the Internet already.
However, I do want to state that we (humans) tend to concentrate more on the so called (shared) characteristics of a breed, rather than appreciating them as individual beings.
Victoria, a four-year-old black Labrador, worked for two years to support Frankie Tipton, who works at Thames Water, and is now loving life as a pampered pet at her new home.
Guide Dogs attempted to retrain Victoria and improve her behaviour but she eventually had to retire as she was not enjoying working life.
“Guide Dogs worked with Victoria to try and retrain her and look at her behaviours, but it wasn’t meant to be .
“It is sad, but she wasn’t enjoying being a working dog – she just wanted to be a family pet.
Obviously Victoria’s quest for a happy life begs the question SHOULD DOGS BE GRANTED HUMAN RIGHTS(?)
Not all Labs are cut from the same cloth
Labrador Retrievers are great working dog. My dog is a Labrador, therefore I own a great working dog.
Read it like a syllogism, and the above sentence makes sense, right. In the real world, however, things are seldom workout like that.
Here’s the story of Victoria, a four year old female Lab, a trained guide dog who decided she was cut from a different cloth.
A rebellious guide dog that would stop in the middle of the street and once nearly walked its owner off a railway platform has been rehomed after she was forced to retire from working life.
She would accompany Mr Tipton to the firm’s headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, but would often wander off and eat food from bags under desks or stop dead in the middle of the street for no reason.
On one occasion, she almost made Mr Tipton step off a railway platform after being distracted by another dog.
“It was better for his sake, and hers, that she retired early, and we’re so happy to be able to give her the life she wanted.”
Mr Tipton, who is registered blind, hopes to be reunited with Victoria over Christmas but is keen to give her time to settle into her new home.
He described Victoria as a “lovely soul” but said she had never settled as a working dog.
“At first she was great, but she had too much free will, and would often just stop in the middle of the street – which wasn’t ideal,” Mr Tipton said.
“I’m on the waiting list for another guide dog but can still get around with my white cane.
“I do miss Victoria as a family dog. I’m just so happy my friend and colleague Kirsty and her family have been able to take her on. I know all their lives will be so much happier as a result.”
She has now been adopted by Kirsty Halford, who works at Thames Water, and her family in Didcot, Oxfordshire – where the Tripton family also live.
Mrs Halford had already walked Victoria on a number of occasions and agreed to adopt her “in a heartbeat” after Mr Tipton asked if she would consider it.
“She loves the fact she doesn’t have to be walked on the lead everywhere she goes, and absolutely loves playing catch with her ball when we go out for long family walks,” she said.
