I have an elderly poodle with a lot of health problems. Her name is Peka (I also call her Paquita sometimes). She was a total wreck when I took her home but is doing much better. She is dying though and the vet said she may only have a couple months or she could have a couple years. Its just hard to tell with congestive heart failure. The shelter I used to work at and still volunteer at contacted me about her 2 or 3 months ago. They know I'm a sucker for dogs in need. She had been sitting in the pre-adopt area for SIX weeks! They weren't doing anything for her, just planning on euthanizing her. They refused to even pay for her to see a vet to deem her quality of life. I don't think they should have made that decision themselves (being a no-kill shelter and all). Anyway so I took her to the vet to see if she had quality of life and turned out she did Although she was miserable at the time, she's happy now.