My brother adopted Rex, a 6 year old black lab, from the Taupo SPCA in 2012. He was told that he’d been grossly overweight when surrendered with his sister for reasons unknown. The SPCA staff loved this boy ( which probably saved him from a horrible fate) he was absolutely obsessed with his ball and would chase it forever if he could. Shortly after my brother got Rex he moved back to Auckland with him.. Unfortunately Rex’s years of being so overweight caused issues and he had to have his anterior crucial element ligment done soon after.. He came through that like a champ.. But there were more troubles, he was ill often and we were frequent visitors to the vet.. The following year he had to have more major surgery.. And still he was loving and wanted to play with his ball constantly. Heartbreakingly he passed away suddenly one evening and we will never really know why.. But he’d been unwell so often I can only assume there was something major wrong that we just weren’t aware of. We only had Rex for not quite 2 years, but he loss was felt immensely as he was the sweetest boy.. But we gave him a wonderful home for that time where he was spoiled rotten and loved completely.. We wouldnt have changed that for the world. Shortly after losing Rex we decided to adopt another lab, a yellow one this time, from our local pound… (That is another story) These dogs all deserve homes with someone to love them.. I know I will never buy another dog, not when so many need homes.. I just think of Rex and know there are so many other lovely lovely dogs with a lot to offer, just longing to be part of a family again ( or for the first time)!