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How Karen and Jamie Goullet found their 'calling' and have given more than 50 senior dogs a forever home


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I'm popping this in 'General' to show that Oldies are the best! :heart:

 

The story below the video

How Karen and Jamie Goullet found their 'calling' and have given more than 50 senior dogs a forever home

 

 

 

It started with an old dog named Sally.

She was a very old dog that was left at an animal shelter in Clontarf, north of Brisbane.

Sally didn't have much time left, so the shelter manager picked up the phone asked Karen and Jamie Goullet for help.

And soon, Sally had a home for the rest of her life.

Karen and Jamie had fostered dogs before, but something about Sally was different.

"We only had a short time with her, probably a year and a half, and … she passed away," Karen said.

"We knew that was our calling. That was what we were supposed to do, that was our purpose — that we were to look after senior dogs."

A grey-muzzled old dog

Sally, the old dog that started Karen and Jamie Goullet's mission to give a permanent home to senior dogs.

A peaceful home

That was about 15 years ago, and since then Karen and Jamie have fostered more than 50 elderly dogs on their 2 acre property in Morayfield, north of Brisbane.

Some have enjoyed life for years; others have lingered only a few weeks before passing on in peace.

"There are so many senior dogs in the shelters and rescues, even in the RSCPA they're constantly having old dogs," Karen said.

"Toby passed away two weeks ago.

"The next day we had phone calls asking if we could take more in and that's how bad it is, people don't want senior dogs. They cost money, there's vet bills.

"I think people like to have a puppy, too, but senior dogs are amazing.

"You get them fit and healthy and they thrive. They become so young again."

A smiling woman holding a small dog.

Karen Goullet, a Morayfield resident who has dedicated her life to caring for seniors dogs left without any other home.(ABC News: Sally Eeles)

A woman sanding at a gate in an old paddock with a pack of dogs around her

Karen Goullet with some of her pack of senior dogs, who go for walks every day.(ABC News: Sally Eeles)

Old dogs can have a multitude of problems, costly vet bills and late-night worries – but for their final owners, that's not a problem.

Karen and Jamie don't ask for or accept donations, but fund their efforts entirely themselves.

What is most important for them is providing a safe, permanent home for animals that have given years of love and loyalty to humans, only to end up homeless at their most vulnerable age.

Through word of mouth and through animal shelters, Karen and Jamie are frequently contacted with requests to add another dog to their grey-muzzled pack.

Life in the grey-muzzled pack

At the moment, their pack totals 10, including Rosie, Norman, Timmy, Riley, and Josie.

Senior dog Timmy lives at the Goullet's senior dog sanctuary.

Timmy, one of 10 senior dogs who call Karen and Jamie Goullet's property home.(ABC News: Sally Eeles)

"They have their walks every morning and every afternoon," Karen said.

"They're slow walks, but … even Josie, who is blind and deaf, she will go out into the paddocks and she will smell her way around.

"She has such a quality of life. People think a blind and deaf dog doesn't have a quality of life — well, they need to see Josie because she has the best nose in Brisbane.

"She can find her way around everywhere, and we know that she doesn't have long but she still loves every single day of her life."

And when Josie's time comes, she – like many before her – will slip peacefully away in Karen and Jamie's arms.

A smiling man holds a small grey and white dog.

Jamie Goullet with rescued senior dog Millie.(ABC News: Sally Eeles)

She will join the sleeping pack in a cemetery at the front of the Goullets' property.

"Always the hard time is the saying goodbye," Karen said.

"But it's the most important time — that we are with them when we say goodbye to them, because that's when they need us the most.

"That's when they need us to be calm. We have the vet come to the house, they're on our bed, they're in our arms, and they know they're loved."

 

 

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3 hours ago, Rebanne said:

Just saw these amazing people on ABC news

It rings a bell with me, too, so I guess I must have seen it there.  Beautiful people and I hope the dissemination of their story gets them some donations whether they want it or not.  

Edited by Loving my Oldies
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