I agree, Staffy. In my opinion if someone who needed to rehome their pet (warranted or unwarranted) and they first visited a few pet forums on the net to see if they could place their pet in some rescue sections (home wanted) and read the original post it could put them off trying to find the pet a rescue centre/or a good rescue home through this forum.

The whole object of the original post is to make people aware of the problems of falsehoods that rescuers face in the day to day running of a rescue. This I agree with but I just feel it is worded (and as pointed out it is a quote) to strongly.

As I see it I would rather someone who couldnt be bothered with their pet take their pet to a rescue centre than dump it by the side of the road (where it may or may not live to reach a rescue centre) or be given to more unsuitable owners.

We all know that their are many people who buy pets on a whim only to want to rehome after the initial fun has worn off, yes they will lie to the rescue centre as to their reasons for their actions and yes it is heartbreaking for the rescue centre to have to deal with the aftermath of those lies.

Experienced dog rescuers can tell in a few seconds if the person is genuine

You will probably not believe the reasons people give when they call to "get rid"of their pet. The favourite at present is emigrating or going to work abroad tomorrow ! More than half give this spurious reason

I had a call from an"army"wife going to Germany for two years-her vet had told her that she couldn't take their dog with them as Pet Passports take 6 months to obtain to take the dog out of the country. when I put her right she was in tears of happness & off to the vets PDQ to get the dog chipped & vax for Rabies & to get his PP started, they weren't leaving for 6 weeks plenty of time to get the titre test done so he could come back in two years time ! She really didn't want to part with her dog & I could tell that in the first sentence she spoke

Then I had a call from someone wanting"rid"of her two dogs because she was moving to her new house the next day-breeder not interested in either dog as they were 13 & 14 years old & "a bit arthritic"so the dogs had to go-why ? She had no reason & as there is no way we could rehome two such old dogs so they would have to stay in the kennels for the rest of their remaining years-thats ok said the woman they are kenneled here !!!!!!!!! My parting shot was I hope you new puppy will suit you better-her reply silence then-how did you know about the puppy ? At this stage I put the phone down. As we only have 13 kennels which are always full there is no way we could fill them up with two old dogs who would be needing medication etc & in the end who never be rehomed stopping younger dogs & genuine rescues from having a chance & also passing to our rescue lady the decision to have them PTS at some stage

Sorry but the posting is so very very accurate for so many irresponsible owners-including those who want us to house their dogs for free whilst they go on holiday(Oh yes that has happened several times-our rescue lady has actually always been able to rehome such dogs before two weeks later the family return suntanned usually)having changed their minds !

Maybe this piece should be printed out and handed to people as they buy their puppies/dogs, all those people who don't realise puppys soil, chew, grow up, get ill and don't come ready trained. The problem is the puppy farmers and BYB wouldn't want to put people of buying, good breeders select their puppy homes with care, most take dogs back or refer them to breed rescue.

I can see the sentiments behind this piece completely, if I worked in rescue I would be wringing my hands at the fickleness at humankind.

As Joedee says I am sure Rescues can spot the obvious genuine rehomers, those in despair at losing 'a family member '(I am agonising at the moment because I know someone who needs a home for 2 Minis because the owner is seriously ill, they want the dogs to stay together which may be why the breeders haven't taken them back)

If more people thought before getting that cuddly puppy there would be less dogs needing places in rescue and that would make more space for the dogs belonging to genuine cases.

Willow's breeder told me of a time when a family came to meet a pup of hers. She had about seven of her grown cockers in the garden, playing, when the family came to the gate. The dogs were excited and ran towards them and the children started screaming and ran off.

The couple were adamant that they wanted a pup to help with their children's phobia of dogs . For heaven's sake

The breeder rightly refused them a dog however they apparently went off to someone else for one. Poor thing, whatever it was

I should have added, I understand the reason why you've posted and the frustration you must feel when you come across these cases.

we all know the fantastic work the rescue centres do in this country and unfortunatley we do need them as this is not the ideal world, and we thank them whole heartedly for the work they do.

But this letter could and would scare off the genuine people who , for whatever reason need to rehome their pet.
then we go back to pets being dumped and left to die being the norm.
no one wants this.

as much as we would all like to 'slap' some people for their lame excusses this is NOT what the rescue centres should be advertising. it gives them a bad name and makes them very unapproachable, especially to the genuine people.
they should be open,friendly and sympathetic to all cases and keep their opinions confidential.

we all have strong opinions about this subject but surley the pets wefare is paramount at the end of the day so letters like this should not be shown in public.

this letter should be destroyed.