Puppy dilemma

[Flatbread]

Hello,

Our dog has given birth to 9 pups 12 days back (alert: cute puppy photos on my profile)

Ok, we know she should have been spayed and we will do so asap. But now we have eight puppies to find homes for.

I called up the dogs trust near Glasgow and they said they can rehome all of them, and I should not go down the gumtree ad route. They don't need photos of our pups or anything. She said they could be rehomed within a week of being in the dogs trust ( we will take them in at 7 to 8 weeks)

I have never had any interaction with the dogs trust before, although the lady I spoke with was lovely. Do any of you have any experience with this trust? My pups will find homes, won't they? Most are absolutely gorgeous to look at, but one is a bit grey and we call her Gracie. I worry about her, she is not beautiful, but she has the most darling, gentle nature, a real graceful, soft dog. But not sure how superficial people are when they go to get pups.

Any advice on rehoming is welcome. If we do go down the dogs trust route, we will be giving a donation, we will be so thankful if all the pups find good, loving homes.

I have a dog we took from somone who was going to drown her. She is a truly wonderful Whippy type thing (she is not though, I still vehemently believe she is not an actual dog ). She brings much joy to many lives and has her very own fan club.

I wouldn't be without her and if I had to make the choice again we would still take her in and keep her. But if I was able to go back and undo all the litters that her parents were forced to have I would. Were she not here another dog in desperate need due to unforseen circumstances such as illness or death could be helped as we'd have an extra dog space.

Dear Flatbread, Sorry to see the loonies have come out of the woodwork - and I thought all "dog people" were nice. Just ignore them.

Good luck with rehoming your puppies, and it sounds like Dogs Trust will do a lovely job.

I read your orginal post which asked for advice on dogs trust - not please put on your judgeypants and get out your long pointy sticks and give me a going over.

OP, last year 33 unwanted dogs were killed every day.

This year, so far, they are estimating at 60 per day. No kill rescues are full to bursting. Bastard RSPCA are refusing to help, and turning dogs away.

That is why your dog should have been spayed, why you need to get it done ASP once the pups are weaned, and why you should understand why people on here are getting upset with you.

You MUST rehome these pups through a reputable rescue. Unless you are willing to take every single one of these dogs back if their new owners request it, you really have no choice. You would be compounding your earlier mistake if you didn't.

A decent breeder will do this. A decent breeder has contracts set up just for this very reason. Look around your home, now imagine it with 9 full grown dogs bouncing around. Not a nice thought? No.

You did the wrong thing, now do the right thing. It's best for the pups and best for you.

Who said the pups are unwanted? I said they were unplanned. That is a different thing. The pups are loved now and will be loved in their new homes, we will do our best to ensure that.

My dog was unplanned, but she is loved by us and I know she was loved by the family which had her, because she came to us as a happy pup. If you neurotics had your way, she would not exist.

Peahen, the OP would be deluded if she imagined she would get £300 per pup from selling them. Gumtree is unfortunately awash with ads for pups at much less than £100 and given the breeds of the parents, she would be lucky if she got £50 frankly - I think it's more likely she'd have to give them away. The OP should instead be thinking of spending large sums of money, making sure the bitch is getting all the appropriate veterinary care and support she needs and the pups are getting the right worming, vet checks, vax etc.

So you're going to keep them all then? For the rest of their natural lives? What's that I hear? Don't be so fucking stupid? Ah, so they are unwanted then? They currently have no permanant home, ergo, they are unwanted. It's not rocket science for Pete's sake.

Puppies generally are happy. My Whippy thing was happy when we got her. They were going to drown her. A wagging tail means nought in respects of how well the pup/dog was looked after before they came to you.

Unwanted as in there were not homes lined up for them in advance. You know, like good breeders do when planning a litter to ensure that the pups they produce don't become a burden on rescue?

And for furture reference in case you haven't learned from this mistake...there is an injection (Alizin) that can be given following an accidental mating to prevent any more unplanned litters.

Lt thanks for your advice and slightly patronising post. I understand that dogs die every day. But the point is there is a waiting list for puppies at the trust, so clearly, our pups are not causing the oldies being put to sleep. It is because people want young dogs...rightly or wrongly.

I personally hate the idea of breeders, and dogs being bred for our human tastes. Eugenics worries me and throw in money/ payment for pups, and it is an ugly mix. Both from a personal and scientific perspective.

But I don't go upbraiding people who buy dogs from breeders. I just don't understand all the venom here. You disapprove, fine. Do you have to be so hysterical and tedious about it?

Are you talking to me?

I didn't say your dogs were unwanted. I said that 33 unwanted dogs a day were killed and this year that number has doubled. That's 33 dogs that were once lovely cute ickle wickle puppies. Now they are dead because there aren't enough decent owners to save them. There are too many dogs and not enough homes FACT.

Please do the right thing. I'm not neurotic, I'm a responsible rescue dog owner (and sometime fosterer) who ensured my unwanted, dumped in a sports bag puppy was neutered before she came into season.

X post. Ok you weren't talking to me!

I never knew I was a neurotic! You learn something new every day.

If by neurotic you mean we weirdos who work with dogs and rescue dogs every day, who see the heartache of unwanted dogs (note- NOT unwanted puppies, everyone loves puppies, unwanted DOGS), who care about their health and wellbeing well then sign me up.

You are probably right, OP, if we "neurotics" had our way your bitch wouldn't exist. In that case you could have taken your pick from the other tens of thousands of unwanted dogs in this miserable "dog-loving" country. And if you had gotten that dog from a rescue (as, in our world, you would), it would have been spayed before you got it and your 9 pups, cute as buttons as they are, would not exist either. And the 9 great and loving families who would have loved them would have had to go to a reputable rescue and choose from the tens of thousands.....

And if DT weren't able to say "Oh yes, some eejit will be along soon with an unplanned litter, so we'll have a puppy for you soon enough" would there be so many adolescent dogs still waiting for homes? The answer to that question, btw, is no. Your pups are taking potential homes from less cute, waggy dogs.

Op, you have done a silly thing. Fair play to you for wanting to look how to best minimise the damage, but for the iove of all things holy stop trying to justify what you have done. Accept you did the wrong thing. Make sure it doesn't happen again. Let DT help you.

You really don't get it, do you?

The Dogs Trust will endeavour to place your unplanned pups in a suitable home but they can't guarantee that the pup will stay there forever. And what happens if the pup has to come back to the Dogs Trust in a month or a year or 3 years or whatever for any reason? Then they will be sitting in a kennel being overlooked in favour of the puppies that people are waiting on a list for.

You get to wash your hands of them when the Dogs Trust takes them at 7/8 weeks. Someone else will be picking up the pieces for the rest of their lives.

Plenty of young dogs are killed or dumped/abandoned as well, beautiful healthy young pups, for the simple reason that there are too many of them, and not enough homes.

Most of the 'venom' on this thread, OP, if you mean unpleasantness and name-calling, has come from you.

Your distaste for 'breeders' is quite bizarre - you are a breeder. A breeder is someone who lets their dogs have puppies. Nothing more, nothing less.

The OP has been really irresponsible. That not even harsh, it's just true.

The responses on the thread aren't neurotic either.

Get your dog spayed asap and make a massive donation to the Dog's Trust.

Flatbread, I'm sorry you regard the promotion of responsible breeding as "neurotic". This week, I've been spending time with a lurcher who was horribly mutilated as a pup before being dumped. I've also been spending time with the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, local Councils and Welsh Govt civil servants doing some work on data sharing in this sector. That sounds nice and neutral doesn't it? But what it actually refers to is things like the numbers of dogs that are killed in pounds, the number of cruelty cases, the number of puppy farms that are licensed. Until you actually see, hear and smell some of the realities i'm talking about, it's very easy to think that you can easily rehome these dogs. But dogs that are privately taken on (especially cross breeds that are either free or cheap as pups) have the statistically WORST outcome in terms of still being with their owners two years on. You may think it's unlikely that dog fighting exists; believe me, every large city in the UK has a thriving dog fighting culture and where there is such a culture, these dogs need to train on something, something live. Dogs going free are an obvious source, as well as cats and other animals.

By rehoming your pups with the DT, you will be ensuring that they have lifelong backup, the support of qualified behaviourists, training sessions, regular events and get togethers, thorough homechecks and careful assessments. Can you offer all that? Do you have access to lists that tell you who's been banned from keeping animals?

Jooly, the families who will get our pups are free to choose from the tens of thousands poor dogs ready for homing now.

Instead, they are willing to be on a waiting list, because they know that they want a pup who is healthy and well adjusted and can fit into their families for the long term.

I do think you are somewhat neurotic. Sorry. As are others with dramatic what if scenarios. Lt. most my post was directed to some other very vocal posters here.

Yes, but they are willing to wait because they know they won't have to wait too long for a litter of unwanted puppies to be irresponsibly bred. If DT told them they rarely get in puppies because there aren't many BYBs then they would probably rehome an older dog as otherwise they'd face the same long wait, but three times the expense from a genuine, reputable breeder.

Why can you not see this? You are assumedly of normal intelligence?

The 'waht if' scenarios are not dramatic in the slightest. It is what happens day and daily to many unwanted dogs up and down the country.

But it's obvious that you want to continue bury your head in the sand about the fate of such dogs. It's not 'happily ever after' for them all you know...if it was there wouldn't be tens of thousands of healthy dogs put to sleep every year because there are not enough homes to be found. There is NO guarantee which group your pups will end up in.

scuttle, responsible breeding ? So are you seriously advocating that all dogs are only bred in controlled environments whet certain strains are promoted because they are fashionable at the moment?

Did you miss the whole body of scientific literature that indicates that species that have a greater variety of breeding are more likely to be genetically more adaptable and stronger.

You missed my point, flatbread. Your pups will just add to the tens of thousands of "poor dogs ready for rehoming now". They are, of course, special to you, but you are not going to be responsible for all nine of them for the rest of their natural lives, are you? Therefore they are part of the aforementioned dogs waiting for rehoming.

Yes, they have waiting lists for puppies. But many people on that waiting list will be rejected/ not suitable. And yours will not be the only puppies waiting to find homes. The Dogs Trust do a great job, and I wholeheartedly endorse that you take this route to rehoming, but you are still contributing to the problem, however much you would like to think of yourself as part of the solution.

In real terms, a course of vaccines for puppies is £40-£60 and spaying/ neutering ranges from £80 (male) to £200 (female). This gives you an idea of what your contribution to the DT should be- well over £1000. Then there is worming (around £20/ pup for a course)...

I give up. The term 'educating milk' springs to mind.