A week near Margate

Sitting an old chocolate labrador in North of Kent

Charley, 13 years old, looked pretty tired when we met him. He was lying on the carpet and when he got up, seemed to feel pain. He brought us his duck toy to say hello.

We were told by his masters, Ian & Karen, that he could stand short walks, but he faced several health problems due to his age : he could not anymore raise his back leg to pee as a male dog uses to do. He could not run for long, neither jump with his heavy arthritis.

As he was totally deaf, he could not be left either unleashed on busy lanes : he could not hear a car or a bicycle behind him... His home being close to a playground, from where Charley was used to wander around, we took him twice a day outside. but no more than ten minutes in the morning, much longer before his dinner.. There he met some other canine friends. But could not play as long as most of them were often younger and much more active !

Charley followed a special menu -only raw meat, fruit & vegetables-, we were rather surprised he was given every morning 3 chicken legs with bones, but his masters explained us there was no risk if not cooked. This strict diet kept him in a rather pretty good condition.

Used to see horses nearby,

Charley always behaved gently. We never heard him bark when he met other animals. We took him several times in the pub next door, where he stayed quiet, begging only a little, but we remained inflexible...He sighed and lied down.

We walked him to Burchington sea side one day. It took us one hour to reach the beach, 3 miles away from the village, more on our return : the 3 of us were quite tired, walking trhough the marshes facing the North sea strong wind.

Once unleashed on the muddy lanes, forbidden to vehicles, Charley jumped showing us how happy he was. He seemed pretty young again!