I don't like it.

What level of commitment is demonstrated by a home that says "we'll take it if it's free but not otherwise"?

I honestly disagree with it in principle, however their hand must be forced - its the old supply and demand stuff.

The £70 or so fee charged by rescue centres not only helps them fund their activities, but also ensures the owner can stump up £70 one month, i.e. an indicator they can afford to pay soemwhere around the average monthly cost of dog ownership

i also agree it deavlues the breed in the material world we live in.

however what are their choices with the situation they face? what are the concequences if they hit the point where they cannot accomodate any more rescues? what happens to those dogs?

the situation must be very serious indeed.

it appears to be london area....can anyoe here not take a foster for a few weeks to help out?

i agree, i kind of got jake on a whim... i had wanted a dog for ages (ever since we lost sam 3 years ago) but my parents just decided the day before i got jake that i could get a dog... but i love him to pieces and he aint going anywhere. so for us it worked, he is what i have always wanted. he was from the SSPCA for £70. whereas, my sister got a chocolate lab from a breeder on a whim and she kept poor ellie for 2 days before realising she was too much work (yes, she is one of those ). im not sure how much she paid, but it was more than £70... .

i agree, well said!

i agree, i think most people who would get one (as long as they are spayed/neutered) will be genuine people just wanting a lovely pet... most idiots who want a dog for 'status', i would imagine, would want an entire male to look tougher or an unspayed female to breed from...

i think thats a very good point, im the same. i can afford what jake needs and for his insurance etc. but i couldnt afford to pay loads of money for him...

they dont normally rehome the the week or two leading up to xmas, as long as all the home checks are still done then i dont see the problem. We have rehomed a cat for a donation of £5 before now, that cat is now loved and well cared for, just after sorting out everything they needed for the cat the couldnt have affored anything else, what is the harm in that?? At tey end of the day these staffs are suffering from being in kennels for so long it isnt fair, something has to be done.
ATD x

Three of my five dogs were free rehomes, two came with issues and no frankly I wouldn't pay for the priviledge of taking on a dog with issues, maybe thats just me. I am however just as committed to those three freebies as I am to the two that cost £800 each. They're all treated equally and all issues have been addressed with time and effort, should I have needed to use cash to deal with the issues that would have been forthcoming too. All three freebies arrived entire so neutering etc was paid for too.

It's not always black and white!

I got Jones from my local RSPCA centre in September, the cost was £95 but this changed last month to £125...

The adoption procedure at our local kennels are as follows..

On inquiring

You are handed a form to fill in which about the only thing that they didn't ask was your income

Then you have an interview with a staff member, who goes through the form word by word, gleaming every detail written or unwritten said by you..

If you get passed this little lot, you are handed a file with all the available dogs to look at.. They don't allow looking around the kennels because they find this too stressful for the dogs, which I do agree with in many ways...

If you see a dog that interests you they have an area for you to meet and they bring them to you, the dog has to meet every member of the household, and any dog you might own...

Then you get the home check, which isn't as bad as the interviewing I must admit, but they do check house, garden security etc... (advise if anything needs altering)

The home checker then reports back her findings to the centre manager who makes the final decision whether you can go ahead or not...

They phoned our vets (we have two cats) they also phoned the kennels where I work as relief...

We were almost refused Jones on the bases that we hadn't had the cats spayed (they were only just 4 months old for goodness sake a bit too young)

If they follow the same procedure that I was put through, then I feel it doesn't really matter if they give the dog free of charge...

I have mixed feelings on this,

I cant quite make up my mind if Im for or against,

but...........if it helps the dogs, great there are so many staffies needing homes just now.

I do wonder if it will have a negative effect on breed rescue who poss cant afford to give them away for nothing/

so the RSPCA get rid of there dogs and the smaller breed rescues are left struggling even more?

My Springer was a free rehome. The first placement he had (where they paid £150) was a disaster and the Rescue folks were desperate to find any where for him at very short notice. He came to us with no recall, was weeing and pooing indoors and was chewing everything in sight. He does none of that now but he could be just the same. I took a chance that paid off and perhaps I was more willing to give him a chance because of the financial incentive. I was looking for a rescue expecting to pay and they offered me the Springer from hell for free.

No, it's not. Rehoming is, in large part, playing the percentages.

How typical do you feel you are?

I'm obviously a unique and wonderful individual but I think many who rehome/rescue do so because they believe it to be the right thing to do rather than because the dog costs a fraction of a pedigree pup etc. Ok many may not do what I do which is actively seek out and take on dogs with issues but that's not the important bit because many dogs in rescue and up for rehoming don't have issues.