Karen Strachan

I have always had more than 2 pets. When my husband had cancer, we adopted a little girl, Lily Belle. She was being trained as a service dog for my adult grandson, but because her training wasn’t complete, his landlord would not let him keep her. My dogs were all very senior so my grandson asked if we would take her. In addition to the cancer, my husband had copd and couldn’t lay in bed so slept in his lift chair. If he got up during the night, Lily would come get me (she would either sleep on his lap or on a pet bed next to his chair).

After he passed, I kept working part-time even though I am almost 75. In the 3 years since my husband’s death, Lily was developing separation anxiety so I started looking for a companion for both of us. That is how Alfie was added to our small family. He is a rescue dog approximately 2 years old, (Lily is 5) and was dumped on the streets and badly abused (he is terrified of men and tries to bite most of them). He is now glued to me and is protective of both me and Lily. He has now accepted my son and my granddaughter’s fiancee so is getting better.