BRITAIN'S UNWANTED PETS - PANORAMA-BBC One, Monday 2nd August, 8.30 pm

victoriaplus4

i watched the programme and it was very very sad,i blame the breeders and the people that see a cute pup without knowledge of the work and financial commitment to having a puppy i dont know what the answer is but i cannot see the situation getting any better any time soon as our area alone is flooded with a certain type of person walking what has become a status dog there is money to be made selling pups most of which when i was younger where called mongrels and most of the time you couldnt give them away let alone sell them for hundreds of pounds.

foreign_correspondent

CFC wrote: »

Ah, there we differ. I see it as eugenics in dogs as well (or as good animal husbandry should apply to people, perhaps!). I also disapprove strongly of the tendency to 'professionalise' everything in life.
I see the suggestion as putting far too much power into the hands of professional breeders. As far as breeders are concerned, soon it would be KC breeds only, the genetic genepool would be diminished, and sooner or later the only dogs you could purchase, instead of healthy mongrels, would be dogs who were totally unable to walk after reaching puberty or with heads guaranteed to explode from the pressure of their brains within their skulls. That's how responsible breeders actually are in truth....

I am not at all sure that limiting breeders to registered pedigree breeders would be ideal or workable either... I have always had mongrels, out of both preference and chance. There are few breeds I would actually want to own (although I have always had a but of a hankering for a bedlington, or bedlington cross) - and I think dogs should be bred for function and temprement, rather than for some socially contructed ideal of a breed standard.

hethmar

Well, something has to be done and we can only put forward our roughed up ideas rather than sitting back and saying "nothing will make a difference".

If you want to change something you have to make a start, not just say its not possible.

Beckyy

It was horrible seeing it all happen, but not something I'm at all suprised about. I have a great dane who is 8 months old and he attends training classes/meet and greets, gets 2 walks a day, has his own freezer and gets food delivered every month., he's treated as one of the family. It disgusts me knowing that there's so many dogs out there who don't have a chance of having a loving home. I was brought up with 3 staffies, amongst other breeds and when they're properly trained and cared for they are fantastic dogs. It's never the dogs fault, it's poor owndership which creates these situations.

simontheiceman

hethmar wrote: »

If you want to change something you have to make a start, not just say its not possible.

Hooray - common sense and truth in one sentence.:j

foreign_correspondent

One thing I have thought of, and I dont know how well it would work, is making microchipping pups compulsory befoire they are sold on - so that they can be traced back to their breeder - if animals from the same breeder keep coming up in rescue, or in aggression cases, the breeder could be penalised...

Traceability has become a big issue in many businesses - my dad was a market gardener and all his caulis that were sold in the supermarket had to be traceable back to him - and he had to be able to evidence where they had been grown, what they had been spayed with and when... if we apply this level of due diligence the the producer of a cauliflower or cabbage, why should we expect less from the producer of dogs?

Silveralice

How do you trace a cauliflower? I have visions of microchipping them...

But yes, there's no problem with microchipping a puppy at 6-8 weeks - in fact, they seem to feel it less then than a bit later, in my experience - and I think compulsory microchipping might go a long way to solving many of these problems, as long as it was enforced properly.

foreign_correspondent

Silveralice wrote: »

How do you trace a cauliflower? I have visions of microchipping them...

But yes, there's no problem with microchipping a puppy at 6-8 weeks - in fact, they seem to feel it less then than a bit later, in my experience - and I think compulsory microchipping might go a long way to solving many of these problems, as long as it was enforced properly.

lol - the traceability is based on codes embedded into the labels - which is one reason why supermarkets prefer veg to be pre-packed, or shrink wrapped! Meat animals are traceable too - as the cloned cow meat ending up in the food chain has evidenced.

gettingready

Perhaps if there was less competition for rescue spaces (i.e less dogs coming in, and more homes available), dogs like Brandy would be worked with and trained, rather than put to sleep.

More homes available - there ARE more homes available but most rescues have conditions that are close to imossible to meet which sadly shortens lives of so many dogs

I posted this several times here on the forums - I have tried so many places when I wanted to adopt a GS and was refused every single time, no even a home visit.

I was assumed to be unsuitable because I do not have a garden and I work.

As I really wanted a dog and as I really wanted a GS - I eventually bought one (off the infamous Gumtree where she was advertised at 16 weeks as "grew too big").

Zara will be 4 years old on the 28th of August and will be with us forever.

No, I do not have a garden - I live between massive open fields on one side and massive woodland on the other with ponds for her to swim in and lots of dog friends to play with.

Yes I work - s she is insured, has a good vet care and good food as well as a dog walker that she adores who takes her out for over an hour every day lunchtime while I am at work. This is of course in addition to me walking her before and after work - in total she goes out 4 times every day for about 3-4 hours all together. The rest of the time she covers the sofas/armchairs with mud while asuming a horizontal position and snoring hapily away while I am out. And really - she is not that long alone as my daughter and her boyfriend live with me so.....

To be able to adopt a dog you seem to MUST have a garden. No offence to anyone but we all know about people having a garden and their dogs never been walked - just confined to the garden walls, lonely and bored.

I live in a flat, 1 st floor too - assumed unsuitable for a dog, any dog.

So - yes, they will always be BAD people (like myself) who will go out and BUY a dog not from breeders as they stand no chance of a rescue dog who may need a home. And more dogs will be put down and more people will buy dogs and we are in circle 22 situation really.

Zara is spayed, microchipped, insured and - happy.

Ok- rant over.....

What absolutely broke my heart in that programme was the old staffie being walked out of the van into the vet's garrage and being put down while on the garage floor... I do feel for the vet and rescue people that had to transport him BUT - this COULD have been done in a bit more humane (IMHO) way and in a bit better conditions. NObody holding , cuddling the dog for his last moments, the surroundings and the black bag at the end - will stay on my mind forever.

Bob_the_Saver

They baa code sheep you know - honestly.