A retirement blog about getting dogs when you retire

I recently replied to a comment on my retirement blog about the importance of planning one’s retirement – and then completely ignoring this sound advice. My commenter maybe was feeling he should have planned a bit more for his retirement. I assured him that this was not so or at least hadn’t been for me.

I pointed out that my retirement plan was – to travel the world, revisiting some of our favourite places, explore in the UK by taking trains (which I like) to visit churches and cathedrals, play golf (we’d joined a golf club just before we retired) and continue to take photographs similar to the ones I’ve posted on this blog from time to time.

I went on to say that I’d done none of the above. What I didn’t explain was the very simple reason this was the case, namely, dogs. As Mrs Summerhouse never tires of telling me, and anybody else who will listen, it was never the plan to get two dogs within a fortnight of retiring. Not one but two lively collies (the very breed our son had warned us against getting on the grounds that they were too lively. Well he never listened to any of my advice when he was growing up, so I’m not listening to his. Egg on your face. Or is it mine?

Anyway, that’s what happened and so none of the above intentions / plans came about. We did try for a while to take fairly local, short train trips you know to get them used to train travel. We had a degree of success but not when the train went through a tunnel when Archie would go berserk and frighten the bejesus out of our fellow passengers.

As for long distance travel, well we could put them in kennels but if we’re talking long haul, say to Australia to see number one son or New Zealand to visit old friends, that’s not going to happen in a weekend so putting them in kennels for all that time seems cruel. Also if we say no to the kennels, them (the dogs) being looked after by a friend who lives on a farm runs the risk of them enjoying it and refusing to come home with us. They’re bright enough to work this out. *

Friends have asked us if we regret getting the dogs. I have replied they return 95% on our investment. That is to say they give us pleasure 95% of time and we reckon that’s a pretty good return. If you were looking for a successful retirement and everything you tried gave 95% success you’d think that an excellent scheme.

OK maybe 95% does seem a bit on the high side at times. Especially in the weather we’ve been having of late. If you wanted to test drive a dog (or even two) and experience the reality of dog ownership now would be a good time to do so. At half past seven in the morning (our usual time of departure for the first walk) it’s still dark and even darker in the woods. As a bonus it’s wet and slippy (lots of wet leaves) under foot. Plenty of roots and branches to curse over.

I suppose you might argue that these challenges are a hell of a lot more benign than the experiences of an Australian chum in Western Australia, whose dog was killed by a snake. Far as I’m aware there are no snakes in our woods, not at this time of year. Although up at the barn in the spring there is the question of adders but that’s a lot less likely than dugites in WA. Back to the rain.

The dogs don’t seem to mind in the least. I’ve heard from other dog owners that their dogs won’t go out in the rain. If you live in the UK I strongly recommend getting one of this type if you can find one. It’s not just the perils of the walk itself that’s relevant here but the cleaning and drying process when you get home and they have run through every puddle and muddy patch they could find – quite a few during an hour’s walk.

This part of the ‘walk’ takes about as long as the walk itself. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration with my dog, the short-haired one but Mrs Summerhouse’s dog – Archie as you can see, takes quite a while. He is at least patient while, lassoed to the coat peg, as he waits to be hosed down and dried. All this repeats in the afternoon. It’s that time now and I’m being harassed by Archie who has excellent time-telling skills – for a collie.

But the good news, yes, there is good news, is that with dogs, or at least our version, they get you out when you certainly wouldn’t go out otherwise. No question of cabin fever here. No question of turning up the heating and watching day-time TV in our house. But that sounds great, some of you will argue. But not us.

Fortunately we don’t mind walking in the rain – in the right clothing – no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing – remember that old cliché. True there were times a couple of years ago when we were battling ‘the beast from the East’ that the cliché felt somewhat inaccurate but overall I think it’s true enough.

So even with the rain (and maybe more snow to come) the 95% success rate holds true. And I haven’t even mentioned the fitness angle. Or that they love the pub and therefore encourage our regular visits to drink and dine.

So putting all that together in the ‘for and against’ columns, should a retired person/s get a dog/s, particularly if, like us, you’ve never had a dog before, we were cat people – like the film – while we were working? Seemed unfair to have a dog (or two) and leave it at home alone (another film).

I’d say yes, if like me, you sometimes wonder, now what should I do today? Having a dog (or two) certainly fills the ‘unforgiving minute’ as somebody (Rudyard Kipling?) once put it. But then if you like your central heating turned up high, don’t like going out in wet weather and see real merit in day-time TV, then I’d say no, get a cat.

And it’s not just the dogs that have to be bright. A dog-walker we meet in the park has a bus timetable app on her phone and she has to time her walks with her collie to avoid the dog and the bus arriving at the same place at the same time (he chases the bus). I bet you wouldn’t find that in a book about owning a dog.

*We have to spell out key words like walk, shopping (that’s where they’re heading in photo at top), hungry. Problem is they can spell as well as we can. And now for more doggy photos. Archie then Millie, followed by them and me.