Dan - Dog of the Month for Jan 2020

Last July I received an enquiry to walk a lurcher called Dan and made the necessary arrangements to visit Dan's owner to be able to assess Dan's suitability for pack walks and take them through all the relevant paperwork etc.  All in all, this looked like a run of the mill enquiry and obviously I hoped it would go well and we would be able to walk the dog.  It did go well and we took Dan on and I'm pleased to say we have been walking him since then.

​It transpired that the reason we were now walking Dan was because one of his owners had unfortunately had a heart attack and the rest of the family had rallied around to help out with Dan but work commitments innevitably came into play.  It was felt that  if Dan could be walked by a professional Tynemouth dog walker then that would at least take that responsibility off their collective plate.

---

The amazing part of this story is that it was Dan who raised the alarm and got help for his owner.  The heart attack happened whilst Dan's owner was sat in his van feeling decidedly unwell.  Ultimately this ‘unwell’ feeling was him having a heart attack and very quickly he lost consciousness.  No one knows how long after this happened that Dan starting barking, but it was Dan's barking that caught the attention of a passer-by who had the wherewithal to ring for an ambulance which ultimately saved Dan’s owners life.

I am pleased to say that Dan’s owner is now very much on the mend and is very grateful that his dog raised the alarm.

Dan is a lovely dog, as you can see he does look very much like a Greyhound but he is in fact a Lurcher, he was a rescue dog that the family have owned for a  number of years now – how ironic that they rescued him and then he rescued one of them.

Initially they were a little worried he might not settle on a pack walk but that was only because he was an older boy and hadn’t ever been walked with groups of dogs.  From day one though he’s been no bother and has always been very gentle around the rest of the pack.

He’s met and been walked with lots of dogs over the past 7 or 8 months and he’s most often out with his friend Leo or a couple of Staffies we walk called Oscar and Pearl but whoever he’s with he’s always very well behaved.

He’s brilliant on the lead too – we find a lot of Lurchers and especially Greyhounds are fantastic on the lead and Dan is no exception, sometimes you’d hardly know he was there as his loose lead work is very good.

---

He’s now 10 years old but looks a lot younger I think.  He was a much-loved member of the family anyway but following his heroic actions last year he’s now surely now achieved almost mythical status!

Sadly, Dan’s due to leave us soon as he’s moving to a new house - he’s a one off and will definitely be missed when he moves on.

Good boy Danno