Britains unwanted pets

[madmum]

The program was great unfortunatley i felt it was rather preaching to the converted!!If you were watching the program you are already half way there.The" many tears" home that i support has many staffy pups at the moment and they will of course only rehome to sensible ,breed knowledgable homes.The people who breed for gain are more often than not outside the law.Un- traceable and faceless Yes they should be made to pay for the harm they do, but how?.No one should breed whilst pound dogs die especially these much misunderstood breeds who just because of the way they look are deemed dangerous.All the dogs homes do an amazing job in the face of an ignorant ,throwaway society!!GOOD FOR THEM !

[bluebell]

I thought it was a good programme, thought the reporter was very good. He looked shocked after the PTS of that poor Staffy. I have to say that at work the majority of PTS we do for dogs involves elderly dogs with very little quality of life, who have their owners present to cuddle and reassure them.

Very occasionally we may have a dog which is brought in healthy (sometimes with police and dog wardens) after attacking a person, these dogs sadly are PTS because they cannot be trusted again.

Very sad to see a young, healthy dog put to sleep (through no fault of his/her own) as on the programme last night

I got Monty my bigger dog after a guy brought him in to be PTS, his crime - he barked and the man was fed up of him - he said if we didn't put him to sleep he was going to put him into the bath tub that afternoon and drown him. The owner signed the dog over to me, first thing I did was change his name, a new start! If none of us had been able to take him we would have had to put him to sleep, because the alternative (cruelty) did not bear thinking about.

I agree that all dogs should be licenced, I do believe in micro-chipping, unfortunately it's not something all owners will do, especially a certain element

[wendy]

It was fairly well balanced and not a lets knock the rescues, which was a worry.
I shed tears at the little staffies death. More is the pity, whoever bought this life into the world wasn't there to do the same.

How do we solve the problem ?...Heaven knows. I certainly don't know, microchip, licence make new owners go on a course, make new owners take the dog to classes, check all breeding facilities. Sounds great and we all know, if we had too, we would do it. But we are the responsible owners and we will be hammered and the irresponsible would carry on as they are now. Not giving a hoot about these little lives.
If there were some way we could make those breeding more accountable, it would be better.
A responsible breeder takes back any puppies they have bred regardless of their age. That is how I ended up with 8 Akitas. The oldest coming back when he was 3 years old [and very aggressive I will add] he was MY responsiblity. I chose to mate those two dogs I was the one who should take care of his welfare for the rest of his life, not a rescue.
Once the breeding stops, so will the unwanted dogs.
Wendy

[bluebell]

There is good and bad in everyone and this includes breeders.

There are people who believe the old fashioned idea - let her have a litter of puppies before you have her spayed - why on earth do that?? I'm sure every vet in the country has seen deformed puppies born to dogs not genetically suited to breed. Worse, owners who don't take into account bitch may not be able to deliver pups naturally and end up having c section. Big vet bill and hand-rearing puppies, not what they thought they would end up with.

We are supposed to be a nation of animal lovers - why do we let them down so badly.

Its a case of out of sight out of mind for some people, if a charity takes their dog on its no longer their worry.

[lizziedoggarden]

I,ve never understood why people have always said to have a litter before they get spayed

I thought that if you weren,t going to breed a bitch then she should be spayed BEFORE 1st season to avoid her getting some gyney problems.

[p.penn]

No - I spoke to my vet last month and spaying can't be done until 3 months after the first season. So I now have a pup in season.

[bluebell]

Helen, its all down to preference by vet, most vets are happy to spay a bitch before 1st season, but some prefer to spay a couple of months after first season.

[kate egg]

I cannot understand how people can give their pets away to the dog's home they wouldn't do it with their kids...... OH well forget that - when you see the way some kids are treated / neglected there's not much hope for the dog in that sort of family.

Dino is part of our family, he has changed our lives mostly for the better, but things we took for granted before like popping off for the weekend now have to be planned carefully. But without him there would be a huge hole in our lives.

More legislation isn't necessarily the answer either, it's only the law abiding folk that would end up following the rules and being more out of pocket Those that are the other side of the fence would just ignore any new laws, same as those that don't have a driving licence / tax / insurance on their cars, the penalties are a joke but the honest John's end up more out of pocket than ever paying to cover the problems caused by these people.

OK off the soap box now

[wendy]

No - I spoke to my vet last month and spaying can't be done until 3 months after the first season. So I now have a pup in season.

Yeah, the rescue homes did neuter dogs before the 1st season. For obvious reasons. Trying to stop indescriminate breeding. But began to find they were getting a lot of incontinence in the girls that were done before. So now they advise after the first one.
Wendy

[bluebell]

Have to say something we should remember, there are some poor folk who through no fault of their own have no other alternative but to hand a much loved pet to an organisation to care for. It's the folk who don't give a jot about their pet and don't mind other folk picking up the pieces that bothers me.

Oh dear

[Lilo-Lil]

I saw this, and thought it was very fair to Battersea.

Its a shame that they seem to picking up problem dogs other rescues sometimes wont touch. I know of a local rescue centre to me that has the same problem and they are able to rehome many staffies. They are willing to consider any dog, rather than cherry-pick the easily-rehome-able ones.

I went to see a dog today for breed rescue, no papers and certainly could be a cross if you look at him in a certain light. However, what a cutie and so he`s now safely in foster as the owner revealed she is being evicted tomorrow! I spent ages trying to tie together all the info on him as the owner was very vague to say the least. This is what rescue is about - giving any dog a chance without predujuce against the breed, situation or age or health of the dog.

[Steve the Gas]

I really agree with all of you but a niggling feeling tells me that some of the rehomed staffies will join the circle.Not knocking the rescue places in anyway- they are stressed enough.

[kate egg]

The Rescue Centres do a brilliant job and are usually very strict - sometimes so much so that they can put folk off, but they want to make sure that the dog is going to a permanant new home where the new owners truly understand what they are taking on and are ready to do so. I would think very few dogs slip through and end up with undesirable new owners....

It must be heartbreaking to have to give a pet up for the reason that they are being made homeless, what a sad thing that is but I wouldn't think any temporary accomodation would allow dogs

[wendy]

Can only speak for Battersea.
But they do have a rigorous system before you are even allow to see any of the dogs. Then there are only certain dogs that will be suitable for you and your circumstances.
Then there is a home visit, which is what Spencer does, some pass some don't. You cannot get a dog, without everyone from the family going to the home, to see the dog. Otherwise you cannot take the dog home until you all go together.
After they get the dog Spencer then goes back to see the family and dog, to make sure everything is going well.
Every bull breed and every guarding breed gets a before and after visit.
They are so very carefull with all bullbreeds, also all guarding breeds. Not everyone can have them.
Rarely do they go to people who haven't had the breed or similar before.
Also the home has a claim over the dog for a further three months. Spencer and I have in the past gone to pick up a dog that have to be taken back through unsuitable care.
Slightly Tonight we had two new Battersea staffies join our club, and have a further three Battersea staffies going through training.
Wendy