It's a fact of life that some people love their dogs more than they love other human beings. We can't help it: to be honest, most of the time, dogs are just better. They're the best listeners, the most faithful companions and, even if they do somehow manage to annoy you, they're so darn adorable you can't stay mad at them for long anyway.
Bearing this in mind, let me ask you a question: if you had to choose between your dog and your spouse, who would you choose?
For one woman, there was no choice to make. For Liz Haslam, it was a no-brainer and she immediately chose her 30 rescue dogs over her husband of 25 years when he offered her an ultimatum.
Mike, her 53-year-old husband, reportedly grew frustrated because Liz's hoard of 30 mutts were costing up to $16,000 (£12,000) a month and taking 18 hours a day to care for. Deciding he had finally had enough, he told his partner to choose between him and them, and ended up packing his bags and leaving.
Speaking of her estranged husband, Liz, 49, said: "I thought after 25 years he should know giving up the dogs was not what my intentions were. "But I wasn’t prepared to give it all up. So he decided to go. I didn’t think twice about leaving the dogs."
The mother of one added: "I haven’t seen or heard from him since. I thought after 25 years, he should know giving up the dogs was not what my intentions were. He’d got to the point where he’d had enough and wanted to slow down. But I wasn’t prepared to give it up. So he decided to go. Obviously that was his choice."
The pair had reportedly fallen madly in love when Liz was just 16 years old. They married in 1991 and had one son named Ollie, who is now 22.
In 2010, the family moved into a two-bedroom farmhouse in the Suffolk village of Barnham in the UK. When moving in, Liz saw an opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream: the property had half an acre of land which allowed her to set up a boarding kennels business.
Dogs had always been part of Liz’s life, with her mother having bred West Highland terriers and her father having owned an animal food business. The 49-year-old eventually founded BedforBullies, a rescue charity for bull terriers, all with behavioural and medical issues and unable to be re-homed.
She eventually adopted 15 dogs as pets and began caring for up to 15 others; the canines took over her life, with her walking each dog four times a day and her doing up to ten loads of washing per day.
Her husband, business manager Mike, walked out back in September 2016. Nonetheless, Liz claims she's never been happier. She said: "He knew from the moment that we got together what I was all about. I don’t know what he expected. He told me he was going and had sorted out some other accommodation so he packed his bags. Before we split up he kept saying ‘I do not want to be doing this, I want to get a passport and go away.’ I said that isn’t going to happen so we might as well go our separate ways, which we did."
She added: "My life how I have got it is how I want it."
Hey, they do say life is what you make it. Let's hope her husband is as happy without the 30 dogs, as she is with them.
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