Sadly, It Didn't Work Out.
Some of you will rememebr that 3 months ago we took on a rescued Irish Setter, Sparky - a 6 month old dog "with issues" - as a companion for our old boy Harry. Well, things seemed to going really well at first. The two dogs got on well together and we'd had a couple of short trips away in the van which had passed without mishap. But for the last 2 or 3 weeks, the youngster has been becoming increasingly unpredictable and quite aggresive with both us and more worringly Harry. Strangely, out and about and off the lead he was really good and never bothered other people and was great with other dogs. But we didn't think we could take the risk of him being aggresive to others. So reluctantly we made the decision to return him to Setter Rescue where we at least have the consolation of knowing he'll be properly re-assssed and then rehomed, probably as an only dog.
We've had Setters for the best part of 30 years now and this is the first time we've had any problem like this. We have been offered another, older bitch to pal up with Harry, but we've decided to give him (and ourselves) a couple of months to get back to normal and then we will try again. So watch this space.
It's a sad end to our part in Sparky's life, but we feel we've made the right decision in everyone's interest - his, ours and Harry's. 