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.

We recently rehomed a 4 yr old lab cross from Dogs Trust Glasgow, and we are happy to confirm how committed they are to ensuring that the dog goes to the right home. We made a donation (£80, I think) but I am under no illusions that that covered the costs incurred by the Dogs Trust (they had her spayed, innoculated, because her records were incomplete, flea treated and she had follow up treatment with their vet for a slight problem following the spaying).

We also have a full lab bitch, who we bought from a breeder recommended by the Labrador Club of Scotland. Our vet actually recommended spaying her before her first season, as this apparently confers the greatest protection against a particular cancer (sorry, I can't remember which one). However, had she come into season before we got her spayed, we would not have let her off the lead around other dogs, and we certainly wouldn't have encouraged an entire dog to come round to play.

Please send the pups to the Dogs Trust.

Lol, DOoing.

But on a serious note, thanks to all of you. Many of you have taken the time to write up about your experiences and provide lots of thoughtful advice on the homing options. I haven't responded to all your posts, because i often got sidetracked into arguments.

We will go with dogs trust, and I will be having a follow- up chat tomorrow. The statistics that Red quoted from Scuttle's article are compelling, along with the personal experiences some of you shared.

The discussion did get quite heated, but I do appreciate that a lot of it is coming from love an concern for dogs. So thank you everyone.

Shhh, don't tell MNHQ that the thread turned out okay

Just kidding. Glad the info was useful.

Flatbread- the costs I quoted are vague because they vary between regions and even between vet practices in an area.

I'm not trying to be ansty, and I'm saying you need to donate £1000+ to DT, but just saying I know what the vacines/ spaying/ neutering is likely to cost based on what it would cost me to do it. Just to let you know what costs are involved.

I deal with Dogs Trust (as well as many other charities) and I do things as close to cost price as I can for them, but it is still a big expense. Of course you can decide the level of your contribution- I was only trying to make you aware of the costs involved for the charity- and as a charity they are dependant on donations, and have no other source of income. They do charge people for the pups, but that doesn't cover the costs in full, which is why they need to fund raise in other ways.

I hope your pups all get good homes.