I do hope they are only taking bookings. Bailey was an Xmas gift (last year) but its not something I`d recommend normally.

The problem with that is that at six-weeks old these puppies look cute - by mid-January they will not be looking so cute, so how many people will then back out?

I am just a bit concerned that these puppies were publicised so close to Christmas, with their festive names and photographed wearing Santa Claus hats.

The centre I work for rehome over the Christmas period but people are much less likely to take an oldie on a whim. We also grill every potential pre-Christmas adopter on what their Christmas plans are and how they plan to care for the dog. If we feel their plans are too busy or not suitable for the dog to cope with within the first few weeks of them being home (i.e all the family are descending on them for Christmas dinner or they are travelling for miles to see family and friends) we will keep the dog til after Christmas.

I can understand them trying to place the puppies. After Christmas they will be 10 weeks old and will be coming towards the end of one of the most important socialisation periods.

If the puppies aren't going as presents, which no good rescue would allow anyway, and their Christmas plans are suitable for the dog such as the family having a quite Christmas at home then I don't see the harm. For some it's the ideal time to take a pup on as they have up to two weeks forced leave due to their companies closing for the Christmas break. Should they not be allowed to take on a pup just because some people are stupid enough to treat animals like objects rather than living beings?

It will need much more checking and management but if they are willing to do that I don't see an issue.

Incidentally the Blue Cross do not do home checks anymore as they feel it does not affect the likelihood of the homing succeeding.

Do you mean that they just take people on face value and accept their word as to how they will treat the pup?

Yes, which does make me concerned for this litter. For me a home check isn't an opportunity to snoop around people's homes it's a chance to get to know someone in their own environment without the distraction of their new dog being near by. It's a chance to get a feel for how they live and whether the animal they have chosen is really going to suit their lifestyle. We normally home check after the people have visited twice already so we have already had several long conversations with them but the home check really gives us a better overview. We also go through all the history we have on an animal including the owners assessment (filled in when they hand the dog over), the centres assessment and the animals vet history. I roughly estimate a dog home check with no other animals in the house will take an hour. Anything where animals are being mixed I will stay as long as it takes to get a plan for how the house will be managed while the animals settle around one another.

In my opinion home checks are one of the most important stages of the homing process and as far as I am aware the Blue Cross are not even asking for references but don't quote me on that.

I know this rescue centre as I used to be a volunteer dog walker for them for a couple of years...that was 20 odd years ago. I also cleaned kennels, fed dogs and cats etc. I was gob smacked when I saw this on face book. Even given them Christmas names and no mention of Christmas not being a good time to get a puppy.

Both Dewi and Lenny came from the Blue Cross and we had home checks done for both of them, even though I was volunteering for the Blue cross by the time we adopted Dewi. In fact I initially took Dewi home on a socialisation sleep over and then fell in love with him.

They seemed to really tighten up with a lot of things, you used to be able to visit on a weekend and have a look round the kennels to see all the dogs but they stopped that as they felt that it was unsettling for the dogs, which I agree as they would just have all settled down when someone would soak though and set everyone off again.

They also used to accept a whole range if dogs, pit bulls (although they used to call then Portsmouth staffies...jokingly, but this was the time of the beginnings of BSL), lurchers, ...every dog you could think of with all sorts of issues. My behaviourist friend used to assess dogs for them as well. They even had a few who were not home able living in the stock/airing cupboard part for the kennels and lavishing love on them...even though those two were particularly temperamental and might have been PTS in other rescue centres.

Now every dog they take on has to be person AND dog friendly, or they won't even look at them.

RE the BIB. The non home checking policy was rolled out nationwide in the last couple of years. They announced their change at the ADCH conference earlier this year and explained their reasonings behind it.

They have also, as you stated, implemented a closed kennel policy whereby anyone interested in a dog must fill in a questionnaire and look through a catalogue of animals and they will be matched to any suitable that they like. Only then will they be given the opportunity to meet the dogs one at a time away from the kennels. I can fully understand why they have brought this policy in and I will be interested to hear their feedback of how it has improved the kennel environment and their rehoming rates.

It depends on the circumstances if I would rehome any animal just before Christmas, not everyone parties the hole time, some have very quiet Christmas's which is really suitable for an animal going into the home.

At 6 weeks old the pups are too young to be rehomed but as they have already left their mother not a lot will be gained by keeping them but Christmas is not a good time for puppies going into a new home if the home isn't quiet.

It doesn't surprise me this is the Blue Cross, when I worked for a rescue they pts several dogs we sent them, said they were aggressive, these were lovely cuddle monsters but they had problems rehoming them. It was January so not saying any more, you can work out yourselves why.

I did ask why, was told it was aggression, I asked how they came to that conclusion and was told their behaviourist found them aggressive. I then asked why normal girls who worked for peanuts at a boarding kennel found these dogs cuddle buns but their behaviourist found them aggressive, they should change their behaviourist as they were not capable of doing the job. I never got a reply, I wonder why.

I agree with the closed kennel policy but not the no home check one. They're basically just taking people at their word then that there home is suitable.
It's all a bit odd. My behaviourist friend stopped assessing dogs for them, I think, it was because they weren't taking the advice he gave them on some assessments.
I walked one dog one day, and it seemed a bit odd and tense. I didn't like the rigid body posture and flicking tip high tail it was displaying near other dogs but stupidly was convinced by another volunteer to join her on a walk with a cavalier she was walking. My dog, a lab cross, grabbed her dog round the neck....but not a grab and let go, it went totally psycho and was trying to hold the fav between its paws and rip it. We were on a main road by then and the dog would not let go. I had no idea what to do as I was expecting it to grab and let go and we would be able to get the cav out. Even though I knew I would get I tried to open its mouth, and got accidentally bitten by them both...eventually I grabbed what was left of its balls and yanked. Not something I would do now, but at the time I was just 20 and was pretty sure this dog was going to kill the little one. The dog just let go and flipped back to a happy "normal" waggy looking lab. What disgusted me was that both dogs were rehomed the next day, to the families that had already gone through all the checks, and neither family were told anything about the incident!!

Thankfully the cavi was a big chunky one with lots of loose skin and no real damage was done. I had stitches in both hands...nothing serious.

But the lab went on to have all sorts of odd issues. The couple took him to my friends classes and he couldn't cope with being in classes, so had one to one assessments where Kev advised that he felt there was something neurologically wrong with him and advised medication. They didn't want this so he referred them on to a well know, but I can't remember who, APBC behaviourist.....who came to the same conclusion and advised medication. They didn't want that so, as they couldn't afford to keep seeing the top man, were referred back to Kev. He worked with them for a very long time. The dogs behaviour and the woman's dedication to sorting the issues out, even though two behaviourist had told her he was basically incurable, put a massive strain on their marriage and her husband left her. Eventually a dog walker she hired didn't follow her golden rule of using the hall door and front door as an air lock type system so the dog could never get out the house off lead, and he ran into the road ..was hit by a car and killed instantly. A blessed relief really. He was never happy and was truly unpredictable, trying to kill something with minimal warning signs one minute and then flipping back to a happy go lucky dog with seemingly no memory off the incident the next second.

Before he had attacked the cav he had only need in kennels a very short time and was acting fairly normally and the couple took on what they thought would be a fairly easy family pet who they could take everywhere ....and ended up with something completely different.

I left at that point, I was disgusted they weren't told a both the incident and allowed to rethink their decision to adopt him with the new information.

That doesn't surprise me Catrin, we sent them a JRT on condition he came back to us if they couldn't cope with him, he had only been with them a few hours when we were told to come and get him. Yes this dog was bad but it was fear, the girls in the kennel we used turned him round, he found his for ever home and lived happy ever after.