Panorama 2nd Aug

Britain's Unwanted Pets.

Must watch I think...

Be an interesting watch if it wasn't for that Damn Awful 'Presenter' Tom Heap

Have to say I have the Batersea dogs home app on my Iphone (for personal torture) It is updated every couple of days with new dogs looking for homes well over 90% of which are staffies, bull breeds or crosses with these breeds clearly in there.. the others most commonly up there are designer breeds, handbag dogs that clearly outgrew their handbags and I''m sad to say Huskies.

Including this little girl, she is described as 'mongrel... but is that not a husky cross staffy to you?

Oh, that sounds like it will have me in tears... Will still watch it though. I always do

I'm sure this is the episode they were doing some filming at the Chilterns Show for - they filmed part of the flyball comp?

She does look to have both breeds in her. It seems that no breed is exempt from being involved in a staffie cross. If that is what she is then her basic requirements will be pretty high maintenance. A wonderful dog in the right hands but a frustrated and confused creature in the wrong ones.

Thanks for the heads up about the show.

Lovely happy looking little girl. I hope someone snaps her up

Cant tell you how often I look at that little girl's happy face and get sooo tempted myself ... I just hope she finds a home with someone who will understand her and train her so she can be all she promises to be.. She already has separation anxiety poor little mite... No surprise really.. she needs all the family of a staffy and all the exercise and stimulation of a husky... So many of the other staffy crosses in there, bred with no thought to what temperament the cross may produce!

I hope the program doesn't focus on the negatives, but also promote these poor dogs discarded by the current trend to let your dog have pups and dog breeding as a hobby among young inner city kids and actually try to get more people to consider these dogs as rescues.

I think this is the type of programme that is needed to highlight the Staffie situation in this country. Hopefully it will open Joe Publics eyes


Britain's Unwanted Pets

Last year saw a big increase in the numbers of stray dogs recorded as being picked up in the UK. Tom Heap discovers that many of the unwanted dogs in pounds and rescues are Staffordshire bull terrier types - and asks why so many of them are being let go and destroyed.
Has the fashion for aggressive looking 'status' dogs contributed to the numbers of abandoned pets the authorities are now having to deal with? Panorama has gained access to one of the most famous animal rescues in the world, Battersea Dogs Home, and reveals the shocking truth of the numbers of dogs it is having to put to sleep

It's very sad but true that many rescues can't cope with the influx of stray/abandoned dogs & that SBTs seem to be so high on the list. Unfortunately the bad publicity these breeds get doesn't help them find new homes. Obviously any dogs that show aggression (to other dogs or to people) stand far less chance of finding a new home, or may need intensive behavioural therapy before they can be rehomed. The staff don't have the time to devote to these problems, especially when they could have rehomed maybe 3 other dogs in the same time. So what's the option? PTS for the more difficult to rehome dogs .

The Dogs Trust's catch phrase of never putting a healthy dog down is also sadly under threat as they are struggling to rehabilitate dogs with behavioural problems too. The staff at different rehoming centres are under pressure to improve their rehoming statistics, being compared to other centres, not having staff replaced when they leave, &, sadly, having to make life & death decisions on dogs that are difficult to rehome & not coping in kennels.

And yesterday evening as we were returning to our cars after walking the dogs, a man approached us & asked if we knew the person who owned a young, entire male staffy that had been following him & his dog around for the last 30mins. He'd tried to go home but the dog followed him, he'd asked everyone he saw if they knew the dog but no luck. The friends I was with were wearing their DT uniforms so he obviously thought we were the ones to ask!!

Once the staffy was happily sniffing round our dogs the man beat a hasty retreat leaving us to deal with this dog & knowing that we would not just abandon it. It was a friendly little dog so we put a lead on it & started knocking on nearby houses, asking people in the park etc but still no joy. The dog was in good condition, clean, shiny & well fed & had a very nice new collar on ~ but no ID tag! My friend was just about to take it to the local vets who will put up dogs overnight till collected by the Dog Warden, when we found the owner. Apparently her young son had not shut the garden gate & the dog escaped. It could easily have been yet another staffy left in a rescue awaiting a sad fate