Originally published 2019-09-01.
One of the Grey Muzzle dogs enjoying an ice cream, one of the small treats on every resident's bucket list.
Nicola Coyle, a retired nurse from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, England, runs a hospice for dying dogs from her own home. Through the Grey Muzzle Canine Hospice Project she takes in dogs that a vet expects to live six months or less, usually old or terminally ill animals left in pounds and rescues, and gives them the best final weeks she can: seaside days, fish and chips, steak dinners, birthday parties and constant company.
She usually cares for no more than two dogs at a time. By 2019, when her story was widely reported, she had looked after more than 30 of them.
How the Grey Muzzle project began
Nicola had been quietly taking in elderly and sick dogs for years before the hospice had a name. The turning point, according to her local paper, the Mansfield and Ashfield Chad, was a bulldog called Dougie. He had been found tied up outside a vet's surgery and was suffering from lymphoma. Dougie became her favourite, and after caring for him she decided to give the work a proper identity and start accepting help from the public.
"Grey muzzle" is a fond term among dog lovers for an older dog, after the white or grey fur that appears around the face with age. It is a fitting name for a home where most guests arrive at the very end of long lives.
Nicola was 46 when her story first circulated, and she has said that her family, especially her two teenage children, and close friends help her keep going through the losses.
A bucket list for every dog
The core idea of the hospice is simple: a dog's last weeks should feel like a good life, not a waiting room. Because many arrivals come with no known history, Nicola gives each one a birthday party. Other regular items on the list include:
- a day at the seaside, with fish and chips and ice cream on the beach;
- a steak dinner at a dog-friendly pub;
- plenty of naps on the sofa, cuddles and gentle walks at the dog's own pace;
- treats and comfortable bedding chosen to suit their health.
She told the Chad that the work can be "utterly heartbreaking", but that someone has to do it. Some dogs outlive their prognosis by weeks or months, and they simply stay for as long as they are comfortable.
One example from local coverage is Bumble, a German shepherd who came to Nicola from the charity Helping Yorkshire Poundies and lived another six weeks in her care. When a dog dies it is cremated, and Nicola keeps ashes in urns or buries them in her garden.
The cost of caring for dying dogs
Hospice care is not cheap. Nicola has put the figure at up to £500 per dog, covering vet bills, pain relief, transport and the outings themselves. She began by paying from her own savings and later started accepting donations because she could no longer fund everything alone.
Her dogs come from local pounds, vets and rescue centres. Joanne Snaith of Helping Yorkshire Poundies was quoted praising her for taking in dogs that had been abandoned at the very end of their lives, and for going through the emotional strain of each loss. Old and terminally ill dogs are rarely adopted, so many would otherwise spend their last weeks in kennels. Nicola has said she believes many of these dogs were given up because their owners could not face large vet bills, or because they were working dogs no longer seen as useful. That is her view from experience rather than a measured statistic, and every dog's story is different.
Putting shelter numbers in context
Stories like Nicola's are often shared alongside shelter euthanasia statistics, and those numbers have changed a lot. The figures usually quoted come from the United States, not Britain. The ASPCA's current estimates say that about 5.8 million dogs and cats entered US shelters and rescues in 2025, and about 597,000 were euthanised. That is far below the millions per year reported a decade or more ago, and the euthanasia rate fell from about 10% in 2019 to about 8% in 2025.
Progress at the national level does not help the individual old dog who arrives at a pound with cancer, though. Senior and sick animals remain among the hardest to rehome everywhere, which is exactly the gap a home hospice fills.
What owners can learn from hospice care
Most people will never run a hospice, but nearly every dog owner eventually faces a pet's last months. Nicola's approach offers a few ideas worth borrowing:
- Focus on comfort. Palliative care for animals aims to control pain and keep daily life pleasant rather than to cure. Your vet can explain the options for pain relief, appetite and mobility.
- Make the good days count. A favourite walk, a trip to the beach or a special meal (checked with the vet first) can matter more than any gadget.
- Watch quality of life honestly. Eating, moving, resting and interest in people are useful signs. Many vets use simple quality-of-life checklists to help families decide when it is time.
- Plan the goodbye. Deciding in advance about home or clinic euthanasia, cremation or burial makes the final day calmer for everyone.
For any specific medical question about a dog, the right person to talk to is a vet.
How to support the Grey Muzzle hospice
The project relies on donations and on the rescues that refer dogs to it. Nicola shares updates about her current residents on the Grey Muzzle Canine Hospice Facebook page, which is the best place to find out how to help. If you are not near Mansfield, supporting a local rescue that takes senior dogs, fostering an older animal or simply adopting a grey muzzle instead of a puppy all help in the same spirit.
Nicola cannot change how her dogs' lives began. What she offers is an ending with warmth, attention and a little celebration, and for an old dog that is no small thing.
Sources: Mansfield and Ashfield Chad; iHeartDogs; ASPCA pet statistics; The Grey Muzzle Canine Hospice on Facebook.
COMMENTS