The Story of Milo the 6 Year Old Labrador

Me and the kids have wanted a dog for years, but Tina has always firmly put her foot down against the idea. I’ve always grown up around dogs myself — we had them throughout my childhood, and all my brothers and sisters have dogs too — so I’ve always felt our kids were missing out on a really special part of growing up.

Then, last week, Amy stumbled across what seemed like the perfect opportunity. A friend of hers was looking to re-home a six-year-old Labrador called Milo after sadly being widowed. With young girls to look after, she simply couldn’t commit the time and attention the dog deserved. She wasn’t asking for any money; she just wanted to know Milo would be going to a loving home where he’d be cared for properly and given the attention he needed.

So me and the kids quietly sneaked off to meet Milo and take him for a walk. To be honest, we were smitten almost immediately. He was everything we could have hoped for — calm, friendly, affectionate, and just an all-round lovely dog. Tina, however, understandably saw things a little differently and wasn’t too impressed that we’d gone behind her back, even though we hadn’t made any commitments.

After everyone had calmed down, we arranged for Milo’s owner to bring him round to our house so Tina could meet him and see how he settled into the home environment. That visit actually went really well, although Tina still wasn’t entirely convinced. So, the next step was agreeing to have Milo stay with us for the weekend to see how we all got on and whether Tina might warm to the idea.

By the end of the weekend, me and the kids had completely fallen in love with our new four-legged friend. Having Milo around just felt natural, like the missing piece of the puzzle in our house. Tina could also see the positive effect he was having on the kids. The problem, though, was that she had started experiencing tightness in her throat whenever she was at home with him — symptoms that seemed to ease whenever she left the house. With Tina already suffering badly with asthma, and Labradors being known for triggering allergies, it became clear that this could potentially be a real issue.

What we couldn’t establish over just one weekend was whether Tina’s body would gradually adjust to Milo and whether her symptoms would improve over time. So, together with the owner, we agreed to keep him for a full week to really give things a fair chance. During that week, I bought an air purifier for downstairs and Tina kept on top of her allergy medication, but unfortunately there was no real improvement.

As heartbreaking as it was, we had to accept that our family’s health had to come before having a pet. In the end, we made the very difficult decision to return Milo to his owner.

If I’m honest, I think the decision hit me harder than it did the kids. I’d grown really attached to Milo over that week and genuinely felt like I’d become his “alpha”. He came with me on early morning runs around the Wick and would then happily sit with me in the gym at 5:30 every morning while I trained. He really was the perfect dog. Joshua had also taken to him brilliantly and was doing an amazing job training him and teaching him different tricks.

The positive to come out of the whole experience is that Tina has now finally come around to the idea of us having a dog one day. We just need to find one that’s more suitable for asthma sufferers and less likely to trigger allergies. So, finding the right dog for our family will become our next little project once we’re back from holiday later this year.

Milo, the 6 year old Lab.

Joshua really took to Milo and worked so well with him.

Within no time he was completely settled and it was like we had always had him around.

But Tina's asthma and allergies had other ideas for Milo.

For the first 3 days I didn't get a chance to really walk Milo as the kids all took turns and wanted to do it.

He loved just sitting by the back door and made this his spot looking out for birds etc in the back garden.

The dog had managed to bring the 3 kids together and get them all out of the house together to take him for a walk!

It was so nice to see them all getting along and enjoying spending time outdoors.

Wick park looking glorious in the sunshine.

Milo was so good on the leash and even Holly could handle him fine.

None of us had an issues with Milo, but he didn't seem to like Brandon's girlfriend and snarled at Tina every now and then.

Milo cuddles with Holly in the front garden.

Holly also took on Milo's daily grooming without even being asked.