An elderly British couple are so ‘crazy’ about dogs that they have no less than 41 furry pets in their three-bedroom Barnsley home. Lynn Everett, 58, and her husband Tony, 67, spend all their time caring for their 24 French bulldogs, ten miniature bull terriers, four Chihuahuas, and three Chinese cresteds.
Walking the dogs is like a military operation, with over 120 poop scoops. They spend two hours a day preparing meals for the dogs, and it costs them about $46,000 a year in dog food, pet accessories, and vet bills. But they love every minute they get to spend with their dogs, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Feeding time takes two hours, there are 41 dinners to prepare and 41 bowls to wash after,” Lynn said. “I have to remember who eats what as some have beef and the other have chicken. You have to be there when they’re eating so they don’t argue.”
Photo: Channel 5
“It is hard work with 41 dogs but I love every minute and I wouldn’t swap it,” she said. “Some people want to be nurses, some want to work in offices, all I have ever wanted is to have a lot of dogs. Are my dogs an obsession or an illness? No they are not. Is it a collection or something gone wrong in my brain… I am just crazy about my dogs.”
Tony loves dogs too, but he isn’t as crazy about them as Lynn. She’s had canine fever since childhood and it only intensified as she grew older. When she married Tony they got a dog together, and then another, and another, until they eventually had 41. It sometimes gets a bit too much for Tony, and he says it can cause friction between them. “Lynn and myself will have so many arguments about pups, it’s almost impossible to live with,” he says.
Photo: YouTube video caption
“We argue because I have one way of doing it and he has another,” Lynn added. They haven’t gone on vacation since their honeymoon 21 years ago, because they’ve got to care for the dogs. Lynn leaves the house only once a year, to attend the popular UK dog show ‘Crufts’.
But even though Tony finds living with so many dogs difficult at times, he knows how much they mean to Lynn. “Lynn loves them like a mother loves a baby, it’s deeper than an addiction, when she has dogs around her, it’s a feeling like it completes her being,” he said.
Photo: Channel 5
In fact Lynn loves her dogs so much that she spends a bomb on vet bills, and refuses to have any of them put down. The couple paid for treating one dog with meningitis and another with cancer. They also have a blind bulldog that is difficult to care for. “I could have them put to sleep but I haven’t just because they are not perfect,” she said.
To pay the bills, Lynn works as a dog breeder. She uses her pedigree dogs as stud dogs and sells the puppies. She would like to keep some of the puppies for herself, of course, but the local council rules state that she cannot have more than 41.
Photo: Channel 5
According to the couple, the most difficult aspect of raising so many pups is the abuse and criticism that people hurl their way. The worst was when one person actually threw a brick at their window. “They are really nasty about it,” Lynn said. “I don’t ask them to have 41 dogs, they are my 41.”
“We get a lot of abuse, I have been called dirty, smelly b****, why do they say things like that? If they have a problem they are small minded, it’s my choice what I do with my time.”
A one-hour documentary is currently being filmed on the couple’s unusual lifestyle, which will air on British network Channel 5 next month. “It’s a stressful existence living amongst 41 dogs and Lynn and Tony have a very fiery relationship, especially when it comes to matters concerning the dogs,” produces said.
“In this film, we learn all about their lifestyle and witness the effect it has on their relationship. We meet Lynn’s disabled dogs and she explains how she gives every dog a chance, no matter how much it costs her.”
via Yorkshire Post
