Staffies

suki1964

UKTigerlily wrote: »

The shop I know of is the D4U? chain which gets Pups from Puppy farms but i've never come across a shop personally selling Dogs

And your point is?

Because you haven't seen it doesn't make it not happen

I could name a good few pet shops on and around surrey that sell dogs and have them in either Perspex stacked cage type displays in the shop or in puppy pens in the back.

And these are liciensed premises licienced by the council to sell dogs. The ones not sold are handed into rescue ( hopefully)

mrcol1000

cyberbob wrote: »

Without a pedigree its only a Staffordshire bull terrier Type dog

Its only the people who like to have a bit of paper to show off that are really bothered. Do you want your dog to be a pure breed with the piece of paper with all the boxes ticked? Go to a breeder.
Do you want a pet that will love you unconditonally? Try a couple of rescues.
Nothing in life is certain. Certain people on this board are giving a false hope that by going to a breeder your have a well behaved dog that will never get ill. Dogs are only what you make them. Its a shame that people feel the need to go to breeders for Staffs and so encouraging them to churn out more Staffs when they are so many waiting for their 7 days to be up and be put down.
Thankfully some people have me on ignore so I can give my views without her spitting out her dummy and jumping up and down on me for daring to suggest people get a dog from rescue and not one of her beloved breeders.

dollparts

I've been following this thread with interest.

I have been helping out a neighbour who is looking to rehome a staffie. She wants to rescue one as opposed to buying due to her preference of taking one out of the system as it were.

She has a 6 year old daughter who is very good with dogs including the one they used to own (also a staffie who sadly had terminal cancer) and is very sensible and confident around dogs in general.

Now, I know the reasoning behind it and please don't jump on me for stating the obvious.....but: she is having no joy because of the age of her daughter. Out of all the dogs listed on battersea rescue pages there is only one staffie out of around 8 pages that they will consider rehoming with a child under 8.

Of course, I see the logic. The home does not have a history of the dog and cannot legislate for unknown personality/behaviour traits, thus not willing to take the risk.

I just cannot help but share her disappointment and dare I say frustration that despite being ready, willing, responsible and able, she is not deemed a suitable candidate for rehoming so many of the dogs we saw at battersea this week.

I know the explanation is fair enough and responsible. It's just that when you consider that if she was willing to pay £'s in the region of £200+ she could have her pick of hundreds of dogs, no questions asked.

It just maked me a little sad, when I think of how many dog owners I know-99% of then have children as well! They seem on so many levels to go hand in hand strange as that may sound to some?

foreign_correspondent

I do appreciate your frustration, but f a rescue homed a dog with an unknown past with a small child who was later bitten, not only would this be terrible for the family, it would bring the rescue's practice and reputation into question, and probably damage the chances of other dogs looking for homes.

However, without any shadow of a doubt, the right dog will be out there waiting for your friend - and far better the right dog than the wrong dog!

Have a look at dogsblog - if you scroll down on the right of the page there is a blue rectangle with a cartoon dog on it - if you click on the 'search by criteria' tab, you can then select 'good with children' - here is today's list, but it changes daily due to the number of dogs coming into rescue. Dexter is a lovely lab staffy x in london, and Fawkes is a pretty staffy lad at the Mayhew!!

http://www.dogsblog.com/tag/good-with-children/


If you friend is in London, it would be worth contacting the Mayhew as well as Battersea.

gettingready

Dollparts - that reminds me of a time when I was looking to give a home to a rescue GS.

There was no way under the sun any rescue would even consider to meet me - I was probably the worst possible GS owner they could wish for any of the dogs they keep daily in pens etc...

You see:
I live in a flat
I work

Ended up buying my Zara off the very unfamous website - won't mention it here but I am sure everyone knows which ..tree I am talking about.

At 16 weeks she already had problems with her joints and tummy - all sorted now because I work and was able to pay the vet fees.

There is thread here "Do not disturb" - if anyone cares to see what a poor, neglocted GS Zara has become in my care.....

I live in a flat - yes. But my dog gets more fun outside than more dogs who's owners have their own garden (and keep dogs there all day long, bored to death between the fences - just picked up a rottie yesterday, 2 yo, spent the last year in a garden.. surely good owners to be considered by a rescue as they have a garden.., he was not neutered/not vaccinated - again hey.. but the "owners" are at home so good people, huh?).

I take Zara out for an hour before work, have a dog walker who takes her out for 1-2 hours lunchtime 9with other dogs for a good walk and meaningless "out in the garden"), take her again for at least an hour after work and last time for a wee about 11 pm.

Still - no rescue was even considering me as a prospective candidate to adopt a dog that may have so desperately wanted home.

Drives me up the wall to be honest as so many dogs are in rescue places and they COULD have homes.

People will always go and buy dogs one way or another - If I had a choice, I would have taken a rescue dog in but I did nto have that choice.

Ruby_Moon

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Umm I didn't search for a King Charles, I researched breeds & that came out as the best suited, but never actually looked for one as you'd know if you ever read anything, I went to a Rescue & asked for a Dog that fit the characteristics of a Cav. And i've had Staffs before so it's not as if i've just come across the breed, as you'd also know if you ever read anything, i've also said in this thread that not everyone wants a Staff & why should they. Pups in rescue won't have been trained by anyone else, some from breeders will have been trained already to do many things so that's irrelevant. This thread is about Staffs, not Spaniels, so of course we are talking about STAFFS. I'm also not 'singing the praises of the breed' except you hasve selective reading, i've said about my Dog, if you ever read you'd know as a whole the breed wouldn't be right for me & that's why i'd ruled out having one when I was looking. I suggest you start a Spaniels thread & keep out of this as you have no idea about anything it'd seem & can't read what people are actually saying

However you dress it up, Staffies are not working dogs and never will be.

Ruby_Moon

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

the local pounds rehome a lot of staffies round here - most of their dogs are staffs, and most are homed direct from the pound, unneutered, sadly.

I am sure if chips being dug out was happening regularly, we would be seeing some evidence of this.... from vets, welfare organisations etc... people who fight dogs do take them to the vets, apparently, (probably only when absolutely necessary though) usually under the pretence of them having been involved in an accidental dog fight.

Social and economic factors are part of this problem - I felt this was clear enough in the programe the other week - (seven pups for seven people)

If I saw your dog in the park and fancied it for myself and so stole it when you couldn't see I would then have a lovely dog that perhaps had a chip in it and wouldn't want it to be traced back to you.
If I found the chip, I might cut it out.
How would that end up in the news?
Who would report it to the authorities?
What you would get is someone's sisters best friend telling her neighbour that Chavlad cut a dogs chip out and a rumour would start. Pretty much what happens now to be honest.
I can't see why it would ever be in the news.

foreign_correspondent

Ruby_Moon wrote: »

If I saw your dog in the park and fancied it for myself and so stole it when you couldn't see I would then have a lovely dog that perhaps had a chip in it and wouldn't want it to be traced back to you.
If I found the chip, I might cut it out.
How would that end up in the news?
Who would report it to the authorities?
What you would get is someone's sisters best friend telling her neighbour that Chavlad cut a dogs chip out and a rumour would start. Pretty much what happens now to be honest.
I can't see why it would ever be in the news.

really...? well all sorts of other illegal activities that people try very hard to conceal do end up in the news on a daily basis... from murder to child abuse, to animal cruelty, dog fighting, and greyhounds being dumped with their ears cut off...

Thye reason this is not reported is most likely because it does not happen, or happens incredibly rarely - a vet on here said it would be almost impossible to do anyway, as chips are tiny and hard to locate.

It seems that some people on here are sadly irresponsible enough to perpetuate this unsubstantiated urban myth, which may put people off from using what is essentially a brilliant and affordable piece of technology which saves the lives of many dogs annually.

Rachel83

How come we keep hearing about supposed chips been cut out and no clips from reports etc of it been done? I remember a previous poster been obsessed with this and never posting anything.
Guess its more like scare stories and reasoning around why they won't bother doing it, waste of money etc, whatever. I lost 2 cats in my previous house both were taken to Vets over 10 miles away (emergency vets) and I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for their chips, I'd have just thought they'd have run off etc.
All 3 of my cats have chips 1 of them you can feel the other 2 you can't although I know they are there somewhere... To cut out the chips would be a task in themselfs they are about 1cm long so not only would you have to locate them you'd have to make the cut and rout around to pull it out... Presumably this would make a mark and leave a scar, who honestly is going to do it?

foreign_correspondent

You are right, it would leave scars Rachel... just like dogs that have been used for fighting can be easily identified from their scars, I am sure some of these dogs that have (allegedly!) had their chips cut out would later be spotted, when they ended up in rescue, or went to the vets etc...

Also, can you imagine the fight a dog would put up and the noise it would create whilst someone tried to do this .. apparently they are hard enough to find when the dog is anaethatised and the person looking is a vet - never mind someone amateur trying to gouge one out with a penknife, as has been suggested!!

It is an urban myth, (or maybe even an MSE myth!) nothing more...