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

meerkat2007

Youdontseeme wrote: »

But surely the point is if you cant afford the £50 for a licence then you really cant afford a dog? Food, vacs, insurance, etc.. none of it is cheap so at the end of the day £50 is a drop in the ocean.

Or are we again getting into the "only good owners will bother" territory again?

Good idea in theory, but at the moment, I couldn't afford £100 a year for two dog licences - well, certainly not as a lump sum without having 12 months to save up for it first. My dogs are chipped, neutered, vaccinated, have regular vet checks, are on a good diet, and are insured. One of them is also on just over £21-worth of medication a month, which is unfortunately not covered by the insurance (pre-existing condition). Including the insurance - and this is the frightening part - they are costing me around £1,900 a year, and I don't begrudge a penny of it.

Due to a recent change in household circumstances, my budget is now so tight, it squeaks whenever I look at it. Hopefully, this is a state of affairs that is temporary, and will become better in a few months' time, but the point is, I really couldn't find two lots of £50 as a lump sum the way things are. And there is no way on this earth that I will give up my dogs - I've had them for 14 years, and they are my family.

gettingready

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

gettingready - I understand your points, but ultimately you cannot balme rescue organisations, (who are often comprised mostly, or totally, from volunteers doing theur level best) for this problem - as the vet on the programme so eloquently said, the ultimate responsibility should lie with the owner of the dog.

You could have walked into any pound and come out with a dog - but most people prefer the back up, support and assessment carried out by rescues - but the flip side of that is that you have to accept they have a duty of care to the dogs and will use their discretion when deciding where dogs are homes - if, in their experience, a lot of dogs rehomed to a full time worker living in a flat with no garden are returned, probably often with more issues and learnt (bad) behaviour than they had, I cannot fault them for erring on the side of caution.

A dog that was hard to rehome may be impossible to rehome once it has developed seperation anxiety, chewing from boredom and soiling in the house due to being cooped up too long and not taken downstairs to go out frequently enough.

FC - all very valid points of course BUT some decisions should be based on a bit more than just ticking the boxes "lives in a flat" and "in full time work" and an automatic refusal. That way less dogs would need to be put down....

foreign_correspondent

gettingready wrote: »

FC - all very valid points of course BUT some decisions should be based on a bit more than just ticking the boxes "lives in a flat" and "in full time work" and an automatic refusal. That way less dogs would need to be put down....

.. some rescues do - it all depends on the organisation - independant rescues are exactly that - they decide their own rules, and some use their discretion, others have blanket rules.

However, many rescues are small groups of people who put in hours of their own time, money and energy to save each dog - as I know you did with that Rottie - and ultimately it is up to them where the dog goes, based on their own judgements and experience.

I can see both sides of the arguement, and sometimes rescues may be too strict, sometimes too relaxed - both can be problematic - but overall they do a good job, often for no reward other than helping dogs. I do understand your frustration though.

CFC

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

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.

Absolutely agree, apart from the Bedlington bit!

Hethmar - you say that any start on these ideas is desirable, but anyone can say 'let's walk to the moon', it's not any use putting forward ideas as a solution that are neither workable nor desirable imo.

Youdontseeme

And there is no way on this earth that I will give up my dogs

Oh gosh, and I wouldn't want you to! Just thinking "out loud" so to speak (or type).

Maybe there is some way that insured dogs get huge discount on the licence, or buy 1 get the 2nd reduced etc..

I would think amount of info you can place on a chip these days is massive maybe a link between all 3 could work?

For example, Microchip + insurance = validated license or something similar?
A bit like a car I suppose, if you drive without a licence or tax your insurance is void, not an ideal analogy but a bit of a linked up jobby, if you see what I mean?


Of course then you have all the dogs with pre-existing conditions that cant get insurance...... I dont think one answer is ever going to suit everybody.

YDSM

foreign_correspondent

Compulsory microchiing wouldnt penalise owner who were less well off - especially if it was made the responsibility of breeders. Yes, some people will ignore it, as they do with any legislation that doesnt suit them - but if people are made aware that all pups should be microchipped by law before they take them home, then customer power may just have an impact!

It would certainly mean some of the dogs that just get lost in the system now would end up back home rather than at the pound - I wondered if Brandy's owner saw the programme - seven days isnt always very long to track a lost dog down - if that was my dog I would have been devastated.

Mrs_pbradley936

I am fearful that if responsible dog owners do not suggest ways to "stop the rot" they will be in a position whereby they have to foot the bill i.e. huge fees to pay for schemes to alleviate things they do not contribute to.

meerkat2007

Youdontseeme wrote: »

Oh gosh, and I wouldn't want you to! Just thinking "out loud" so to speak (or type).

Maybe there is some way that insured dogs get huge discount on the licence, or buy 1 get the 2nd reduced etc..

I would think amount of info you can place on a chip these days is massive maybe a link between all 3 could work?

For example, Microchip + insurance = validated license or something similar?
A bit like a car I suppose, if you drive without a licence or tax your insurance is void, not an ideal analogy but a bit of a linked up jobby, if you see what I mean?


Of course then you have all the dogs with pre-existing conditions that cant get insurance...... I dont think one answer is ever going to suit everybody.

YDSM

Sorry, didn't mean to sound quite so bolshy! Just love the little blighters to pieces , and like I said, I'm going through a (hopefully) short-term household budget issue at the moment. They get the bag of good quality dog food, I get the noodles for the month!

Ninasmum

I quite like the idea that when you breed a dog, or acquire a dog, it's chipped and your details are stored on there. Then when you rehome your dog for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to make sure those details are updated to the new owner- the cost of doing it could be a matter of negotiation between the parties involved, you pay, you split, or the new owner pays- but it is ultimately down to you to m,ake sure it gets done. If the dog is picked up weeks down the line and the update wasn't made, so the chip is scanned back to you- that dog is still yours, YOU are charged for the expense of it's care in a pound etc., and it is down to you what happens to it- so if you say no it's not mine and I won't have it back, the euthanasia was your decision to live with and you'll be paying for that as well!

Just a thought. My dogs are chipped tattooed and wear their ID tags, so I'd like to think they would never not be traceable back to me!!

Lucy1973

I missed the programme but sky plussed the repeat this morning. I need to psyche myself up to watch these kind of programmes,but I will watch at some point:(