You should concentrate on banning puppy farmers, or educating people how to buy a puppy properly, not having a go at reputable breeders. If all the reputable breeders stopped breeding, even if just for a year the puppy farmers would up production to fill the gap.
Reputable breeders do not add to the rescue problem. It's people who breed and sell to anyone with cash and it's those people who buy without doing any research into the breed they are getting that are responsible in the main to the rescue problem in the UK.
Becky

Well said Eunice,
Again Tink your quoting "strays". If you wanted to buy a welshie you wouldnt find one in rescue and most breeds have there own rescue orginisations and in the case of my breed we foster if neccesary.
Again to say we all stop breeding is madness you only have to look at the native breeds which are under pressure of extinction, and look at breeding pairs of rare breeds that have had to be reintroduced.
There was only 350-400 Welshies registered with the kennel club last year, and theres not many unregistered about.
By the way all my pups go endorsed not to be bred from and I'd only lift the endorsements if I considered the new owner responsible.

I do, im active in my campaign against puppy farms and rehabilitated two ex breeding bitches.

I think you are nieave to think that this is not your problem too, how do you know that you are not selling to someone who has not looked into the breed?

Why not rescue your favoured breed and not breed that way, you could still supply your waiting list, but without adding more dogs to the population!
What is your opinion on the article i posted anyhow?

Any dog can be a stray, even your pedigrees, which sound amazing, they dont sray they find perfect owners and they always have a home to go back too!!!!!!!
So how do you ensure they are not bred from?

I know all my puppy buyers understand the implications as they are throughly vetted, in most caseas interviewed at least three times and I take note of how the react and respond to my older dogs, and as I've also said most reputable breeders do not place a burdon on rescue resources as like me re home our own if theres a problem.
Again as I've said the article is stating "strays" so we dont know the percentage of pedigrees bred responsibly

Tink Lady

I was just wondering why you wouldnt go to a rescue centre?

I suggest you read my post again . I did not say that what I said was that statements such as yours would not encourage me to go to a rescue centre.

Morgan Star I have asked a mod to move these posts to another thread.

It seems a bit silly that my opinion would put you off going to rescue.
My hope is that you do.

RESPONSIBLE breeding by responsible breeders is fine, a decent one WILL take the dog back, and thats the case in this case, its the Dog/Cat breeders that breed irresponsibly that are causing the problems, those that breed from mongrels/moggies with no care for their health status or wellbeing, and there are PLENTY of those!

OK say everyone in the UK stopped breeding, everyone including puppy farmers. What happens when there are no more dogs in rescue?
Where would people get their dogs from then. There'd be no quality breeding stock left.
Reputable breeders will put puppy buyers through the mill to make sure they 100% understand what they are taking on and they will always take a puppy back unless their circumstances have seriously changed.
That is not adding to the rescue problem.
Becky

I think Hope rescue most accuratley answers your comment about pedigrees in rescue!
Why were almost 8,000 stray dogs destroyed last year?

The Stray Dog Survey 2006 carried out by the Dogs Trust found that 100,000 stray dogs passed through Local Authority pounds last year. Unfortunatley almost 8,000 of those were destroyed.

The Environmental Protection Act of 1990 allows for stray dogs to be seized by the Local Authorities and taken to stray pounds, where they are held for a statutory 7 day period. If the dog is not reclaimed by its owner within that period it can be rehomed. However, some Local Authorities do not rehome and will automatically destroy on the 8 th day. Others will rehome from the pound, but there are only a limited number of kennel spaces and often they will run out of space as the Dog Warden brings in yet more strays. When they become full this means those past their 7 days will be destroyed. Many Local Authorities will also work with rescue groups such as Hope Rescue to move the strays at risk of being destroyed in to rescue centres, but rescue spaces and resources are limited and sadly we can't save them all.

Please note that all the kennel pictures used are actual pound dogs helped by Hope Rescue.





Why are the stray dogs not all rehomed?

There are simply not enough homes out there for the numbers of stray dogs that are not claimed by their owners. Competition for homes is high, particularly if you add into the equation the amount of dogs bred in the UK every year. Whilst there are responsible breeders, there are many more whose motives have nothing to do with the love and promotion of their chosen breed. For every dog that is bred it is likely another one is dying somewhere in a Local Authority pound. Puppy farmers and irresponsible breeders must shoulder part of the blame for the stray dog problem. No health checks, no home checks and no back up – many of these dogs will themselves end up in pounds and rescue centres further exasberating the problem. The message is simple:

WHY BREED WHEN OTHERS DIE

But it is not just the breeders fault, they would argue they are simply meeting the demand. And they are right - demand is high for certain breeds of dog. But the problem is many would-be-dog owners still choose their canine companions based on their looks, without any thought given to the breed charcteristics and traits and whether that particular dog will suit their circumstances and lifestyle. The impact is two-fold – demand is created that the breeders happily supply but also those dogs themselves end up in rescue when their owners realise they have made a mistake. At Hope Rescue we have many, many Collie types through for this very reason – they look cute as puppies but are highly intelligent and sometimes demanding dogs that usually require a lot of stimulation.



It is a common misconception that rescue dogs come with a host of behavioural problems. But the fact is this couldn't be further from the truth. Whilst some will require special homes to overcome their mistreatment at the hands of humans, many more are well adjusted family pets that sadly found themselves in a rescue centre or stray dog pound through no fault of their own. Hope Rescue has also seen a marked increase in the number of pedigree dogs coming through the pounds and surrended to us. If you do have your heart set on a certain breed please check with your local rescue centre first before going to a breeder – just look at some of the varied breeds that Hope Rescue have helped, all of whom ended up in a stray dog pound:










What can I do as a responsible dog owner to help?

Dog owners must take more responsibility if the stray dog problem is to be tackled and dogs are to be saved from unnecessary death.

Dogs Trust Chief Executive, Clarissa Baldwin, says :

“100,000 dogs found stray is a shocking number and should be a wake-up call to dog owners. For a nation of so-called animal lovers, it is unacceptable that we are prepared to treat animals as throwaway commodities, and dog owners must take responsibility for their pets.”

The most effective way to reduce the numbers of stray dogs is to neuter your dog to prevent unplanned and unwanted litters. Also make sure your dog is microchipped and wears an Identification Tag to ensure you will be reunited should it go missing – last year 24% of stray dogs were reuinted with their owners through microchips.

The Dogs Trust have worked hard to promote neutering and microchipping campaigns and where they have targeted high risk areas the numbers of stray dogs and numbers of destructions have reduced dramatically.

What is Hope Rescue doing to help?

In South Wales we commit to three Local Authorities to take 100% of their stray dogs after they have completed their statutory 7 days, thus ensuring no dogs are destroyed in these pounds (unless for medical or severe behavioral reasons). We also work with a number of other Local Authorities, individual Dog Wardens and other Rescues throughout the UK to help them when kennel space gets tight.

Some of the dogs we will take in for rehoming ourselves through our Foster Home Network , but our main role is to source other Rescue Centres that will take them. This co-ordinating role is the prime focus of our work and we can move up to around 80 dogs a month at peak times. Sometimes it is not possible to secure rescue spaces for all the dogs. We will then move them to private boarding which we rent specifically as holding kennels until a rescue placement can be secured, thus ensuring their safety. We transport all the dogs ourselves to their Rescue Centre placement which can be anywhere in the UK, even as far as Scotland! Consequently kennel fees and transport costs account for the majority of our outgoings and we cannot recover these costs through rehoming fees as the dogs are moved on to other rescues.



Hope Rescue neuter and microchip ALL our dogs that are rehomed and are extremely grateful for the support it receives from the Dogs Trust in the form of free neutering and microchipping. We also only place our dogs with rescue centres that neuter and microchip (as well as homechecking and vaccinating)

Education and campaigning are essential to raise public awareness of the issues. Resources are stretched at Rescue Centres up and down the country and dogs are continuing to die in stray dog pounds every day. Rescues such as Hope Rescue can continue picking up the pieces and clearing up the mess, but prevention is better than cure. As Hope Rescue develops we hope to become more pro-actively involved in awareness and campaigning.







© 2006 Hope Rescue | Managed By - Willings Way