31 December 2012: We brought Jasper home to us, three years ago today, on New Year's Eve. Not an ideal date upon which to bring a new dog into one's family, but Jasper had been taken to a vet to be put down. He was, as some of you know, meant to be an emergency foster, but we fell in love with him and couldn't bear to part with him, so we adopted him and he became a permament member of our family.

Jasper is very sadly no longer with us, but our memories of him are full of his renewed joy of life, his transformation from sadness to happiness. We have kept this page open, in his memory; to continue to raise funds to help the other older dogs who come into Oldies Club care and to hopefully encourage a few more people to adopt an older dog.

If you would like to make a donation, we would be very grateful. Oldies Club is a volunteer-run charity which specialises in rescuing and rehoming older dogs, in the UK.

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Our darling Jasper very sadly passed away in September 2011. We love and miss him so very much. We are so blessed to have shared the past 20 months with him. You can read my tribute for Jasper here and my reasons for adopting an older dog, here.

I am keeping this page open in his memory and in the hope of raising more money to help other older dogs coming into Oldies Club care. I hope my photos and stories about Jasper will help encourage others to open their hearts and homes to an older dog in need.

Update April 2011: Thank you very much to everyone who has donated to my page, to help other older dogs. I am doing well. I have had a couple of funny turns since December, but recovered well. Mum currently has me on shorter walks than I used to enjoy, but I am a great sniffer, so I enjoy walking around the village, having a good sniff of everything and saying hello to the people and animals we come across. Life is good :-)

Update 14 December 2010:

Hello, Jasper here. I would like to wish all my friends a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2011 and ask, if you have a few pennies spare, if you would make a small donation on this page.

This time last year I was weeks away from losing my family and having my world turned upside down. I was taken to a vet to be put down, but thanks to the vet and Oldies Club, my life was saved. Soon, I will be celebrating my first Christmas in my new forever home!

Mum told me that Oldies Club had nearly £5,000 of vet bills in November, which sounds like a lot of money to a little Jasper Bear like me! I really want the charity to be able to continue to help the dogs in foster care and know that the funds are there to help emergency cases like me too.

If you can help with a donation, I know it will be very much appreciated by the volunteers and dogs at Oldies Club.

Lots of love,

Jasper

  x

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Hi I'm Jasper, a 12 year old Heinz 57 sort of a dog, adopted by my lovely family from Oldies Club in January 2010.

Sadly my previous owner was seriously ill and I had been taken to a vets to be put to sleep just before New Year. The vet was very reluctant to euthanase me as I was in good health, but they were closing for New Year and couldn't keep me longer than New Year's Eve :-(

Thankfully the vet called an Oldies Club volunteer and a last minute rescue operation commenced! Then disaster struck when the volunteer fosterer's car wouldn't start and there was no time to reschedule! It was then that my mum (who fundraises for Oldies Club) and dad offered to take me in for a few days to save my life. Once I'd arrived I worked my charm and they fell in love with me and couldn't bear to part with me, so I became a permanent member of the family, alongside their other rescue dogs :-) You can read more about my Happy New Year here.

I have set up this page because I would like to raise funds for Oldies Club so that they can help other dogs like me. I know my mum gets very sad when she hears of the dogs who are looking for new homes for whatever reason, but it makes her smile when Oldies Club can take in another oldie and save their life as the charity did mine just months ago. Oldies Club needs as much money as possible to help as many older dogs as possible - so please make a donation. I will be very grateful and so will all the other dogs helped :-)

Thank you!

Jasper
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p.s.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.