Sarah Keith took her 12-year-old Border Collie, Ella, to her beloved beach in Bridlington, East Yorkshire for one final walk. Before that, she had posted on social media asking other dog owners to join her for the special adventure.
A grieving woman, who had to put her dog down due to ill health, was pleasantly pleased when she was joined by 30 other canines as she took her companion for one last walk.
Sarah Keith took her 12-year-old Border Collie, Ella, to her beloved beach in Bridlington, East Yorkshire for one final walk. Before that, she had posted on social media asking other dog owners to join her for the special adventure.
The choice for the final walk was made when she received the tragic news that Ella had terminal mouth cancer.
Sarah soon made up her mind by believing it would be ‘selfish’ to prolong the dog’s suffering only because she didn’t want to say goodbye.
After she posted about the difficult decision on social media, she urged people to join her on Fraisthorpe beach on Monday.
On the day, more than 30 dogs and around 25 supporters turned up to the beach to meet Sarah and Ella.
“I assumed people who knew her might maybe come down. Obviously, a lot of people are working on Monday, but I didn’t want to mess anyone around over the weekend. The post just got shared and shared. And I had people from all areas of the country who never were going to be able to make the walk sending me messages,” said Sarah.
“When I came, there was definitely more than 30 dogs, and in the range of 25 owners. There was even a group with leads on, with not particularly social dogs, but they had wanted to assist in their own way,” she noted.
Pictures from the final walk of Ella have already been shared online. Sarah stated she had enough of fun on her last day of life.
“There was a group of people with border collies, and Ella adored running with them. At one time there were six or seven going after the same ball. he was the best dog I have ever had, and I have had dozens of dogs,” stated Sarah