My Tribute to Shamrock Unfortunately, on the 23rd of April 2008, Shamrock, one of Bleakholt’s long-stay residents, had to be put to sleep. I knew that it would have to happen and had told Michael (head of the Dog Section) that I would like to be there and he duly rang me up that morning so that I could go up to Bleakholt and say goodbye to her. I had been up the previous Sunday to share my tuna fish sandwiches with her and she managed to walk with me to the back of the Old Wuffs to eat them. When I got up there on the Wednesday in question, her back legs had gone. I spent her last hour with her, she tried several times to stand up, but could not manage it. I carried her, accompanied by Michael, to the vet's room at the back of the hospital It was the end of an era for me. I started to help voluntarily at Bleakholt in about April 1995, shortly before Shamrock arrived. I was rather surprised to be shown her record card by Michael proving that she had arrived shortly afterwards - I had thought she had arrived the following year - meaning that she had been at Bleakholt for about 13 years. The record card also had her estimated age on arrival as five, meaning that she would have been between 17 and 18 - an excellent age for any dog, and a testament to the love, care and attention she was given by everyone associated with Bleakholt. I remember going into old ‘hospital’ the morning after she arrived. Michael explained to me that she still had her lead on because they couldn't get it off her. She seemed so scared that she had been growling continually. I asked him what I should do to ’win her over’ and he said to show her the lead I was carrying, to indicate that she was going for a walk. It worked, and I took her for one of her first walks. After that I became one of her friends, indeed one of the few people she seemed to trust. I don't think we ever found out what had happened to her in her life before arriving at Bleakholt. I did get one idea of her past life - that she had probably been dragged around by the lead. When I first tried to get her out of the way of a car coming down the lane, when I was walking her and she didn't come to me when I called to her, I tugged on the lead and she just froze. Well, that was in the past, but it was something she suffered from during her whole time at Bleakholt. With her former owners, she had obviously not had an easy life. It's a shame that she didn't get another home soon after she arrived at Bleakholt. I did take her home for Christmas one year, but due to work and then educational commitments, I could not give her a permanent home. Whenever I was up at Bleakholt, and I saw somebody standing outside her kennel, I used to go inside and call to her. She would come out of her bed and jump on my lap, put her paws on my shoulders and stare at me. Everyone who witnessed her performance used to comment on what a nice dog she seemed, but alas nobody offered her a home. It is true that she didn't ‘sell herself’, but the reason for that is that she was very nervous, especially of strangers, due to her difficult early years. She was very well looked after at Bleakholt but it's still a shame that she did not manage to get a home. I have included, with this piece, a few photographs of her through the years. I hope you like them. We have lots of dogs here at the Sanctuary who have been with us a lot longer than we would have liked. Please ask about them if you could offer them a home. Martin Fraser