Animal rescue charity cats and dogs

missbiggles1

SeduLOUs wrote: »

The kennels local to me are 90% staffies, 9% general crossbreeds, and 1% other 'pure' breeds where the owner has passed away and there's nowhere for the dog to go.

Perhaps you live in the same area as the other poster?

http://www.battersea.org.uk/apex/webgallery?pageId=019-dogsforrehominggallery&type=dog

Hardly a Staffie to be seen.

dunroving

Dog rescue breeds do seem to be regional for some reason. Some centres are mostly full of staffies, others seem to be mostly greyhounds and lurchers, or mainly Border Collies.

Where I lived previously (southeast US), "black dogs" (mostly Labs and Lab crosses) were the unwanted/common rescue breeds. Romanian rescue dogs seem to be mainly shepherd crosses.

But most general rescue centres do have a variety, even if it is mostly one type.

Sorry, a bit off-topic ...

pinkshoes

How did the bite happen? Did the dog just jump up at your son when he was sitting and bite him randomly? Or did your son have his face near the dog, and/or any sort of food was involved?

If the former, then I would want to know what assessments the charity carried out to state that the dog was suitable for a family with children.

If the latter, then I am not so sure I would have given up so easily with the dog, but taught your son not to put his head so close and rules about new dogs.

We have had a rescue for a month, and the dog was assessed fully before we rehomed him. My 4 year old knows not to put his head near his face, and ignore him when he is eating.

hollydays

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Perhaps you live in the same area as the other poster?

http://www.battersea.org.uk/apex/webgallery?pageId=019-dogsforrehominggallery&type=dog

Hardly a Staffie to be seen.

That's greater London.. Obviously highly populated..not exactly representative of the rest of the UK.
I can only speak from experience . There's a so called charity near me that's not "endorsed " by the rspca and due to animal loving acquaintances I've learned this place ships in desirable dogs from puppy farms .

In the last few days alone I've met two people , just by chatting, who've thought they've rescued a dog from a terrible life but who in fact have been completely hoodwinked, and no, I didn't tell them.several hundred pounds changed hands.

It can be easily found on the Internet .classed as a rescue, actually a very hard nosed business.

There are numerous place that claim to be rescuing puppies that just play into someone's desire to get a puppy-now-if not sooner. Expect a life of vets bills is all I can say.
The problem is , when people visit rescues they are already in that marshmallow gooey state of mind to " help " a badly treated dog. If you step back and do your research with a bit of savvy, you'll realise it's the dogs and the owners that are being exploited. Poor doggies. If there's a market -someone will cleverly exploit it.

Shelldean

SeduLOUs wrote: »

When walking around my local kennels, the most they will ever commit to saying on the boards is "seems to be OK with cats" or "needs a home without children", but most say nothing at all or just the sweeping statement "history unknown".


It seems very strange for a rehoming centre to make very specific statements about the nature of the dog, especially things like "good with children" - most of the time it isn't that a dog has a problem with children, it's that children don't know how to act around dogs, and stick their hands or faces in the face of the dog which is a very threatening action to an animal.

I'm not saying anyone is at fault, but introductions between newly homed and possibly nervous dogs and young, innocent but inquisitive children requires caution, experience and patience.

When we rescued Clint, he and all the other dogs had comments on their cards. Ranged from good with cats, should be only dog, needs to be with another dog, avoid livestock, no children, children over sixteen etc etc etc.

We was told Clint was ok with others dogs and cats. Which was great as my sister who he'd stay with while we were.on holiday has a dog and cats. Unfortunately neither statement was true. Luckily we was able to adapt and now our children are adults we never all go on holiday together.

I'd take what any rescue.said about a dogs temperament with a a pinch of salt and make my own mind up.

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I've never known any rescue kennels not to have a wide variety of dogs needing homes - why you should think this unusual, much less suspicious, totally defeats me!

You obviously haven't visited any of the rescue centres we visited when searching for our new family member. The majority of dogs were staffs. And as the biggest and well known cats and dogs home had recommended that due to our family dynamics we didn't rescue.a.staff, it left us with a problems.

And we visited four rescue centres owned by two charities. All four were overwhelmed by staffs.

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Perhaps you live in the same area as the other poster?

http://www.battersea.org.uk/apex/webgallery?pageId=019-dogsforrehominggallery&type=dog

Hardly a Staffie to be seen.

This was one of the centres we visited and it was mainly staffs then , as was their Windsor centre. This was five years ago so maybe things have changed????????

RichardD1970

The RSPCA is NOT the only reputable animal charity and the others in no way require "endorsement" from the RSPCA to be a real charity.

hollydays

RichardD1970 wrote: »

The RSPCA is NOT the only reputable animal charity and the others in no way require "endorsement" from the RSPCA to be a real charity.

I agree somewhat, but they do know which other so called charities are not to be touched. I knew the word " endorsement" would be flagged up, that's why I put it in speech marks, but it's not who they " endorse" , but who they don't that I believe is really important for people inexperienced at looking for a rescue dog.

hollydays

RichardD1970 wrote: »

The RSPCA is NOT the only reputable animal charity and the others in no way require "endorsement" from the RSPCA to be a real charity.

So what is your personal experience of this?

hollydays

The person on gumtree who claims to be rescuing Romanian dogs.. I suspect thevrspca isn't endorsing them.

missbiggles1

hollydays wrote: »

That's greater London.. Obviously highly populated..not exactly representative of the rest of the UK.
I can only speak from experience . There's a so called charity near me that's not "endorsed " by the rspca and due to animal loving acquaintances I've learned this place ships in desirable dogs from puppy farms .

In the last few days alone I've met two people , just by chatting, who've thought they've rescued a dog from a terrible life but who in fact have been completely hoodwinked, and no, I didn't tell them.several hundred pounds changed hands.

It can be easily found on the Internet .classed as a rescue, actually a very hard nosed business.

There are numerous place that claim to be rescuing puppies that just play into someone's desire to get a puppy-now-if not sooner. Expect a life of vets bills is all I can say.
The problem is , when people visit rescues they are already in that marshmallow gooey state of mind to " help " a badly treated dog. If you step back and do your research with a bit of savvy, you'll realise it's the dogs and the owners that are being exploited. Poor doggies. If there's a market -someone will cleverly exploit it.

Probably more representative than a small town, although my experience of rescues includes Shropshire and the IOW - neither of which are thriving cities!

Given your inside knowledge, why on earth didn't you tell these people that you've met?