The thought of a new puppy pushed or encouraged the Countdown host Nick Hewer into retirement and in any case he is seventy-six-years-of-age. While self-isolating at home in Northamptonshire during the latest lockdown he got to thinking about adopting a puppy as his partner Catherine apparently bribed him to retire by suggesting that they adopt a new dog.
He couldn’t refuse it and soon afterwards announced his decision to quit Countdown after a decade. They’ve adopted a black labrador puppy who will arrive in February. It all fits nicely into his plans for retirement and let’s be honest, at seventy-six he is due retirement and a bit of fun as he calls it. I totally agree with him when he says that when you get old, “it’s a slow descent through twinges and all the pain, then suddenly you become a bit forgetful and all the rest of it.”
He says it’s time to cram in as much fun as he can and having a dog certainly helps in that goal. He said that his father always had a dog as did his brothers and that, “It’s just something special”.
He had a dog about three years ago when Jasmine, also a labrador died. He’s a bit concerned about his cat, Sid, who might scratch the new puppy. You have to keep an eye out and you’ll have to hope that they get along really well. There’s nothing better than seeing a cat and dog getting along, providing companionship for each other, and often one of them takes the lead and protects the other.
One of the beautiful relationships that you see in homes is a cat looking after a large dog because the dog is nervous about something. Their new dog should be socialised to cats, ideally. I don’t know whether that has being considered. I would have asked the breeder (and they must have bought the dog from a breeder) to ensure that the puppy that they’ve selected has been socialised to cats. Perhaps they have.
Nick Hewer wants to travel a bit in his retirement but he’ll have to wait until we emerge from this ridiculously crazy time which is beginning to get to people. The coronavirus pandemic lockdowns and the constant declarations from the UK government about how dangerous the virus is has caused elderly people to become genuinely nervous. We are so used to avoiding people nowadays on the pavement and in shops. It’s as if we’ve become antisocial, a behaviour which is totally alien to our instincts.
Under the circumstances you can see why people adopt dogs and there has been a surge in dog adoptions, sometimes to the wrong people, I might add, because they are unprepared for it. Nick Hewer is certainly prepared because of his previous experience in dog ownership. And anyway he’s clearly a very sensible bloke. Good luck to you in retirement, you’ve earned it.
If you read this then I’d like to say that I’ve always enjoyed your hosting of Countdown. Great job.
