Donations are the lifeblood of many rescues, the smaller less well known ones recieve no large legacys or funds whatsoever, they rely purely on the generosity of the public, the volunteers who give freely of their time and the donations they recieve for each dog adopted.

As someone previously mentioned, the donation you pay is a donation to the rescue not payment for that dog, and yes most will be flexible, but when answering emails most rescues will give a blanket reply, can you imagine how many they get?

Let me give you an example:

As part of my work as a volunteer for Lab link rescue I help with getting Labs and Lab x dogs from the public pounds into a rescue. I do this free of charge, but after the dog has served 7 days to save it from being PTS is may have to be moved to emergency boarding at a cost of £5 per day on average.

Then there is the cost of transporting, (volunteers can claim petrol expenses) that 1 dog to the rescue, if the rescue has no foster homes available then it may have to go into kennels again for a short while.

That 1 dog will need vaccinating, possible neutering and vet treatment.

SO:
(all averages)

Emergency kennel £5 per day (average 2- 5days)
Petrol for transport £10
Vaccinations £40/£60
Neutering £150
Kennel costs if no fosterer £5 (until rehomed average 7 days)

So the average cost to save just 1 dog is £270

Now multiply that by the 50,000 dogs (dogs trust figures for the UK) that are abandoned or found straying per year.

That's without the unwanted dogs after Xmas etc that are handed direct to the already overburdened kennels.

In fact only today Yorkie Rescue in Lincs has had to close due to financial and personal reasons.

Now tell me, does £150 seem a lot of money?

breeders, definitely.
rescues, unlikely

(re the breeding moratorium)

I can well imagine that, and I'm very streetwise, no worries there, I don't trust anybody! Thanks for the tip, but I can usually suss somebody out over the phone before comitting myself deeper

[QUOTE=littlelab;1567410]Donations are the lifeblood of many rescues, the smaller less well known ones recieve no large legacys or funds whatsoever, they rely purely on the generosity of the public, the volunteers who give freely of their time and the donations they recieve for each dog adopted.

As someone previously mentioned, the donation you pay is a donation to the rescue not payment for that dog, and yes most will be flexible, but when answering emails most rescues will give a blanket reply, can you imagine how many they get?

Let me give you an example:

As part of my work as a volunteer for Lab link rescue I help with getting Labs and Lab x dogs from the public pounds into a rescue. I do this free of charge, but after the dog has served 7 days to save it from being PTS is may have to be moved to emergency boarding at a cost of £5 per day on average.

Then there is the cost of transporting, (volunteers can claim petrol expenses) that 1 dog to the rescue, if the rescue has no foster homes available then it may have to go into kennels again for a short while.

That 1 dog will need vaccinating, possible neutering and vet treatment.

SO:
(all averages)

Emergency kennel £5 per day (average 2- 5days)
Petrol for transport £10
Vaccinations £40/£60
Neutering £150
Kennel costs if no fosterer £5 (until rehomed average 7 days)

So the average cost to save just 1 dog is £270

Now multiply that by the 7000 dogs that are abandoned or found straying per year.

That's without the unwanted dogs after Xmas etc that are handed direct to the already overburdened kennels.

In fact only today Yorkie Rescue in Lincs has had to close due to financial and personal reasons.

[Now tell me, does £150 seem a lot of money?[/[/COLOR]QUOTE]

For a dog with plenty of years left in him/her no, but for a golden oldie with ailments who may only last 6 months or so Yes, i think its too much Do you rehome many oldies with ailments at £150?

Yes it costs as much to get an Oldie out of the pound as it does a young dog if not more due to the possible vet treatment it may need.

You need to get away from the 'cost' of an Oldie to adopt, its not a cost, its a donation to the rescue for the welfare of ALL the dogs in its care, both now and in the future.

In actual fact more and more people are looking for older dogs of 7+ now, they are just as popular as the younger pups.

Many dogs that have particular problems such as Hip Dysplasia etc may be fostered for life and the rescue will cover vet costs.

Ive just adopted a large breed puppy [5 months], perfect health etc etc, £160. a bit much if you ask me but shes a beautiful dog... despite looking a bit malnourished! and shes worth every penny.

excuse my ignorance but is there any significant difference between a rehoming shelter and a 'charity'? do some rehoming shelters run as a business or something? im guessing thats bordering on being a puppy farm!

i originally went to a rescue centre near nottingham, cash in hand, and i arrived 5 minutes late because of the city traffic, grr! i explained to them it had taken me ages to find the place and the traffic was awful, and id love to see their rescues looking for a home... and i got turned away with a really bad attitude. "we're closed"... come back another day...

but i was only 5 mins late, i even phoned them beforehand :\

a bit ott, I expected her to be a little more enthusiastic about rehoming the animals, but obviously not.

You seem to think that all older dogs that come in will have problems. Yes we get dogs with health related issues but on the other hand we get dogs in that are older but totally healthy and active.

You will find that dogs especially the smaller breeds even at the age of 12 can still live for a good 5 or more years.


A rescue which is also a charity must have a board of trustees and present their accounts yearly to the Charity Commission.

My argument is that some charities would rather keep a dog than reduce the rehoming (donation) cost. I am talking mainly of elderly dogs who act elderly and that do need medication. If the right home came along and a potential new owner was willing to pay £50 a month for health issues plus Insurance (if they could get it) which could end up costing another £50, what would be wrong in giving the dog away. The charity would save on future vet bills and have space to help another.

I'm sure older dogs are becoming more popular. As they are generally a lot less hassle that boisterious puppies that chew everything in sight

There are different ways to 'rehome' a dog

There are your Council run shelters who are contracted to take in the strays from the dog wardens, after they have served their 7 days they can be put up for rehoming by the pound/shelter direct, few if any homecheck and they ask for a small fee no questions asked. Rescue charties will take dogs from here when they can but the relationships are very tenuous and have to be carefully nurtured.

Then you have private kennels who have a council contract to take in the dogs from the dog wardens, these also can rehome but will also work with rescues who take the dogs and rehome them doing all the proper homechecks etc.

You have your big Dog rehoming charities such as Battersea, Blue Cross, Dogs Trust and RSPCA etc.

Then there are the smaller dog rescues, breed rescues and specialist rescues such as the Cinnamon Trust and the Oldies Club.

All of the Dog rescue are charities, the large ones will employ staff on a salary and is permissable under charity commission guidelines, the smaller ones tend to be run by volunteers and are non profit which again you have to be to be a registered charity.

That's not true, no rescue wants to keep dogs in kennels and I know that the Oldies Club have an amazing number of fosterers who voluntarily look after the Oldies.

I have homechecked on numerous occasions for The Oldies and I have never had anyone balk at the donation asked.

Dogs are matched with people, some people are prepared to take a dog warts and all, others are not.

Yes there are some special needs dogs, dogs needing medication for life, some costs are covered by the relevant rescue others not.

I also know of young Labradors who at 6mths old have Elbow or Hip Dysplasia and need special treatment, the costs come out of the rescues limited funds.

You could say the same about buying a puppy from a breeder, who's to say that at some point when the dog is old it isn't going to need treatment?