Zak. long story, find a cuppa and a comfy seat. :)
Re WGAS for a start... nothing new, sadly. They told the owners of a dog I know well and who is now in independent rescue after the owners had twins and couldn't cope they wouldn't take him but they should take him to the vet for PTS ("put to sleep" - it ain't effing sleeping, it's death FGS!). That dog is now a real darling, allegedly protective over his space and folk entering his door yet we have video of a child entering his kennel, sitting in his armchair and playing with his toys and him, with him as pleased as punch to have a then 12 yo playmate.
But I digress...
Pounds...
A pound is council owned or council paid for - i.e. paid for by YOU, through your council tax. Many are subcontracted out now, often they are private boarding kennels who run a council pound contract as a sideline. Often they bear the name "Dogs Home" (such as Battersea, Manchester, Cheshire and Birmingham "Dogs Homes" which are in fact dog pounds) or "Kennels" or even "Rescue Kennels". There are rescue kennels which bear that title which are indeed just that, don't get me wrong - I volunteer for a genuine no kill rescue kennels near-ish to WGAS, close to Ely. But, many are pounds. WGAS is the pound for East Cambs and Cambridge City, possibly others, I'm not up to date with who they currently have a contract with tbh.
Pounds come in all forms, from the more responsible rehomers like WGAS and Battersea, to the downright dreadful... and your and my area has the latter too, sadly, Lodge Kennels in North Herts area being one such dreadful one. They have two main functions - to take under contract and no matter what the area's strays and, in the case of a select few, to take, under secrecy, dogs detained under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Their brief is identical. They must take in strays and keep them, as the law insists, for just 7 days, after which they may rehome direct from their premises (ie sell), hand to rescue or kill the dogs in their charge. Some also take in dogs direct from the public, by doing so carrying out along with rescue the job which the RSPCA now refuses to do at all. Any dog handed into a pound by his owner (a "surrender") may by law be rehomed/handed to rescue/killed immediately. That of course includes dogs like your own.
A rescue also comes in many guises, from the bigger ones like Dogs Trust to the little independently run ones with little or no support and funding like the one I help out at. Even rescue is a bugger to understand from the POV of the unaware, average dog owner. Some have no-kill policies (the one I help at has a 100% no kill policy and it means what it should mean), some don't, some say they have but question them carefully and you might find that they will kill aggressive/old/ill dogs under the banner of "ill health".
The moral is, as rehomer or potential owner, pick your rescue carefully and know your rescue from your pound.
The problem pounds face is economics. They don't have infinite kennels and if there's another batch of strays due in and too many already in their kennels the longest stayers, those who have been there more than 7 days, will be killed to make room for the next bunch. In Ireland the strays only get 5 days before the law says that they can be killed, btw.
The deciding factor for which to kill isn't just longest stayers. A Lab might have been there for longer than the old dog or the Staffie but you can bet your bottom dollar it will be the oldie of the Staffie who will die first as they are harder to rehome. Some pounds, for example, will kill a dog with kennel cough - it's a piece of pistachio to treat with ABs but spreads like wildfire so it's cheaper to kill the one sufferer than to treat him and 20 of his kennel mates who have caught it. Likewise some - I'm looking at YOU, Fleet Kennels in Yorkshire - will kill all Staffies, Mastiffs, Rotts, GSDs and the like on day 7 of their stay as they claim not to have the time to work with rescue to get them to safety and they know that these dogs will take up valuable kennel space for a while as they are harder to rehome than cute little fluffy Spaniels and the like.
Besides that councils will only pay for 7 days kennelling for strays, to comply with the law. Anything over that comes at the expense of the pound and because so many of these are not council run but, like WGAS, Battersea, Lodge and Fleet, council contracted, they are in it for a profit, they don't want to have to pay for food, heating, lighting, kennel staff, vet treatment and the like for a longer-stayer.
WGAS is by far, far not a bad pound as they go. At least they vet treat their dogs, neuter, vaccinate them and homecheck potential owners. I know of pounds where dogs have been found to have been lying dead for days, pounds where sick dogs have remained untreated, pounds which when they have been investigated have been condemned as unfit premises and deemed suitable in the eyes of the council EH officers only fit for being pulled down to the ground - that pound, when they were closed down, left freezers full of dead dogs rotting. I know a pound which promised rescue - ME in this case - that they would hold a dog over the weekend, knowing that he had a rescue place to go to on Monday morning, only to kill him Saturday night when all the staff and public had gone home. Will link to Bryn's story in a mo.
Most of the pounds run from other profit making businesses like boarding kennels will NOT homecheck, will not assess the suitability of the potential owner, will not neuter, vet check or vaccinate and will not promise to take him back if EVER in his life you can't keep him AND not kill him if you do. A decent rescue will. With many pounds you can just roll up with or without your kids and family or other dog/s, pick your dog, pay your money and leave with him that day... and if he bites your kids, fights with your dog or your DH wants him out - for they won't ask to meet all the family and check that you are all in favour of owning a dog - they MIGHT take him back but they may well kill him. They certainly will if he's a biter or a problem dog, THEY won't assess and train him... reputable rescue will.
WGAS will assess, train to an extent and responsibly rehome but they're a pound, the aggressive dog - and bear in mind that IMHO and IME with the right help and sufficient time and effort 99% of such dogs can be rehabilitated and that IMHO those which can't deserve sanctuary for life in rescue - well, that dog doesn't stand a chance.
I'll shut up now and go find that link to Bryn's story and the video of the dog I first mentioned, a Boxer X whose owners were told by WGAS to take to the vet to be killed.