Pete the vet With Pete Wedderburn

WHEN an animal has offspring, it is common for pet owners to want to keep one of the young animals, to continue the genetic line of their first pet. This does not just apply to breeders of pedigree animals. Many owners of cross-bred dogs and cats have small families of animals within their households. My childhood dog was a Golden Retriever called Sheba. She was a good-looking, good natured dog, and she bred accidentally with a local roaming male Collie. We kept one of the pups, naming her Flicka. For the first year of her life, there was no problem. But eventually, the roaming instincts of her Collie father began to emerge. She began to sneak out of the garden, exploring the neighbourhood. And to make things worse, Sheba, her mother, went with her. At first, we hoped that the behaviour would settle down. The garden was fenced in more securely, and everyone learned that gates and doors had to be shut firmly, every time. For a while, everything would be fine, but then there would be another escape. We would come home to find both dogs missing, and when they returned, they were wet and muddy. We knew that the situation could not carry on, but it was difficult to find an answer. Soon after, the problem was resolved in a tragic way. The dogs ran off one more time, and poor Flicka was hit by a car on a busy road half a mile away. She was killed instantly. From that date, Sheba never left home again. It was clear that the younger dog had been the instigator of the roaming. Her father's wandering genes had given her the urge to explore the world. We decided not to replace Flicka. Sheba lived a long, peaceful, home-loving life by herself. In my daily job, I know of many instances where it works out well when families keep succeeding generations of dogs, and I enjoy that sense of knowing the great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and daughter. The years go by very rapidly in the dog world. To use human terms, a bitch can be a grandmother by the age of two or three. There are some families of dogs that I know almost like friends. Buttons was a pedigree Boxer female, who had a large litter of cross-bred pups. One of her pups remained in the household, and he was christened Joxer. He went on to breed with another Boxer female who belonged to another friend, and one of those pups was named Sally. Nowadays, I see Buttons, Joxer and Sally at different times, and I enjoy seeing the similarities and differences between their personalities. The rapid succession of dog years also means that I cannot avoid seeing young dogs grow old. One of my favourite dog 'families' started with two Jack Russell terriers, called Boysie and Girlie. One of their pups was called Junior. For years, the threesome travelled around together with their owners as a close, contented family unit. Sadly, nothing stays the same for ever. Thirteen years after I met them, both of the original human owners have passed away. A year ago Boysie died at the great age of 16 years. Girlie is still fit and well at 17 years of age, and even young Junior is now a senior citizen at 12. Importantly, as with human families, there are plenty of photographs and great memories. If there's one big message that dogs can teach us, it's that we should enjoy the present moment. Life can flit by so briefly and it's so important to make the most of it here, now, today.