My sons girlfriend works in Battersea Dogs home, she was working in the section where people hand dogs in ( the name of which currently escapes me) and I'd get chapter and verse on the lame excuses people give when handing their dog in. She got sick of it and took a sideways step but the way I see it is they don't want the dog better they hand them in than flog them to someone in the pub. That said I have never had a rescue but have taken on several rehomes over the years. Usually rehomes with issues that I feel more than confident to deal with.
I think people would get rid of an unwanted dog some way and somehow, better they go into rescue without too many probing questions than meet an untimely end. So tbh I don't think rescues make anything worse, I think people do.

I grew up in the days when people's dogs just roamed the streets all day and were brought in at night and hardly anyone owned 'pedigree' dogs and hardly any dogs were spayed and were not taken to vets when pregnant and just had the pups under the stairs or in an outhouse and unwanted litters of pups and kittens were just drowned in buckets. And lots of people took on a dog just because it was going to be drowned in a bucket!

But I can't remember a time when there wasn't some sort of 'dogs home' - Battersea is the only one I remember being aware of yonks ago.

This is what I think. Yes there are people that abuse the system but it takes thought and energy to drop at dog in rescue rather than dump it at the edge of the road. I once answered the phone to someone, who it turned out I couldn't help, who thanked me because I was the first person that day to be polite to them when discussing them bringing their dog in as we'll as offering them other options for relinquishing their pet.

So stopping the responsible breeders for 2 years will also so the BYB/Puppy farmers/Pet breeders ??? You really believe that ?????

Give me strength, they banned PBTs being bred & yet you can still buy PBTs in the UK & that is from 1991 ! 22 years later it has failed.

Are you suggesting that the GDBA stop breeding guidedogs ? when there is a known shortage of available dogs & not all their dogs make it.

The same goes for Police & forces dogs-few now are gifted as the gifted dogs have a 95% failure rate on health & ability grounds.

The shepherd who needs a good working dog can pop down to a rescue & get a suitable dog then ?

The reason that dogs end up in rescue isn't always down to the breeder(s)it is down to the owners, I bred a GSD & the owner put him in a GSD rescue aged 7 & told the rescue that the breeder(ie me)had told them to f**k off when they decided to get rid of him, because the hubby's sister in law(who bred & still breeds unregistered Irish Setters)told them he would "turn"& kill them & the children in their sleep because that is what"alsatians do" Fortunately for the dog & me the rescue is run by someone who has known me since I was a young child & also knew that I would never have turned this or any other of my dogs away. He was back with me after 6 days in kennels & after he went Res BIS at a Local show, his old owner wanted him back ! He tried to get him out of my van, but was frightened off, when my other GSD barked at him, stupid man was surprised his dog didn't recognize him & had barked at him-yer right my other GSD was Gold & Black & his ex dog was an almost black Bi Colour !!! It was he who could not recognize his ex dog not vica versa.

There is ample legislation in place to close down puppy farmers, but as I have said time & time again, the Local Authority would rather spend their money on the DDA, instead of the Breeding & Sale of Dogs Act 1999. The LA actually license puppy farms.

There are a lot of pedigree dogs in rescues all over the country so I think my point stands up OK.

Yes rescues act as enablers for the feckless ......I help to run my breed rescue, we currently have two litter brothers aged 2 years handed in, stick thin, filthy dirty, flea ridden , pot bellied with worms and so matted up they had to have their coats clipped off. They are from a brother / sister mating , last month we took in five pups from the same breeder, these are aged 5 months so are past the 'cute' sellable stage no sooner had we taken them in than we heard this breeder has just had yet another litter ....in effect what we are doing is allowing her to carry on by taking care of her unwanted stock , our small breed rescue is feeding her unwanted dogs, paying their vets fees and enabling her to continue .

But it's a tough call, how can we say no to these dogs ? .....perhaps though if she had to take them to her vet and hold them herself as they died it just might deter her from continuing to breed in this way , by taking the problem off her hands she can simply carry on knowing that rescue will solve her problems for her.

Pedigree dog does not equal responsible breeders.

Anyone can breed pedigrees, plenty of FP/BYB do ,

The clue is in the "responsible" a responsible breeder will take a dog back at any time in its life, an irresponsible one wont.

Banning the breeding of ALL dogs for a period of time is not going to fix any situation, all that will do is stop the responsible from breeding responsibly...

In my opinion , rescues are a necessary evil (if you like) , we need them, but due to their existence, it allows the irresponsible to offload their problems,

The thing is though Jackie we all know the irresponsible would still offload their unwanted dogs, better to offload to a rescue than the side of the motorway.
The rescues are necessary to pick up the pieces of the human race. If only all they had to deal with was the genuine cases.

I know and agree with you, and I don't know the answer, but whether we like it or not, rescues give the irresponsible a get out.

I'm not so much talking about the person how finds themselves no longer to look after their pet, ( this is what rescues are about). But the breeder who offloads their dogs that are no longer of use.

As Bijou says if these people had to fork out to do their dirty work, and have nowhere to offload, then maybe they would think twice about breeding.

OK , I Know the argument of how these people would get rid, but as I said, I dint know the answer......