Dog's Trust

[ExitPursuedByABear]

I have just been chugged by a chap on behalf of the Dog's Trust whilst leaving Tesco. He is phoning me shortly for my bank details.

Don't much about them - are they a reputable charity or does anyone on here know of any issues with them?

(Where is Val when you need her?)

The Dog's Trust?? Its one of the better known Dog charities. They claim to never out down a healthy dog.

Val would ask you to think about donating to a local or independent no-kill rescue as they don't get anywhere near the funding the large charities do.

Dogs Trust is not all that it seems - it may not put any dogs down but it turns away a hell of a lot that are "not suitable"

Personally I would NOT give out my details to a so called Chugger. You can donate food etc or money to a local rescue which would need it more and then know that it is being used for the correct purpose

We have some really dodgy local rescues though.

It is only £2 a week and I can cease it at any time. He wasn't so much a chugger - they had a stall at the exit and I am a sucker for a sob story.

I suppose I could do it for 12 months?????

I've always wondered what they do with the healthy dogs that no one wants. Do they keep them in kennels for the rest of their lives?

Apparently - or at least they keep funding them. The spaniel I asked about has been with them for years, but where or how I don't know.

We sponsor a Dogs Trust dog - as you say it's only a couple of quid and I reckon its quite a good thing if you've got a dog-mad child.

The sponsored dogs are the 'hard to rehome' ones, but DD is now on about her 4th because 3 of the previous ones have been rehomed. According to the letters her dog sends she has a regular carer who takes her for walks on the beach etc.

In addition to helping individual dogs (obviously they can't take them all - no rescue can) they are big enough to run campaigns and do educational stuff. There does need to be an organisation with enough clout for that sort of thing as well as the smaller rescues - its not an either/or.

I have handed over my bank account details over the phone, and asked the chap about where the dogs live. Apparently the hard to home dogs have lovely big kennels with sofas etc and have 'socialising' three times a day with walkers/volunteers. Because they have been in kennels so long they would not be suitable for a family.

Makes me very sad when my boy is lying under my chair, with his nose pressed against my heel, but I suppose it is better than being tied up in a yard all day.

The one I have chosen to sponsor says he cannot be visited - a spaniel with anger issues apparenlty.

Good for you, Exit. I think there is a place for different kinds of rescues, and I like that the Dogs Trust has educational campaigns (e.g. against puppy farming). Like you, some of the 'rescues' near me are unfortunately very dodgy (as in, incurring legal action) so I think it always pays to ask questions about where your money is going!

P.S. I recognize your nn from shakespeare, but I always want to ask if you have ever been pursued by a bear?!

Ours can't be visited either because she's too scared of new people. (The previous ones, who did get rehomed, we could have visited but its a bit far from us)

I think it's really nice that you can sometimes visit the sponsored dogs. I didn't know that.

RedwingS No - I have never been pursued by a Bear - tis from Shakespeare.

I used to sponsor a pony at Redwings Horse Sanctuary. I couldn't chose from the list they sent out as I cried too much when reading it, so I asked them to pick one for me. They picked a youngster who had never suffered a days hardship in his life . Is your name anything to do with them?

Our dog came from DogsTrust (actually NCDL because it was before their name change). I had walked dogs for some time before that with them - and there was a collie that was with them long-term because it was unhomeable. They had one man that walked for them every day who would take a succession of dogs out for walks for them and always ended with the collie. If I saw him out when I was walking I stayed clear - it was very aggressive to people and dogs. So - yes, it was well cared for and despite the problems, it was still walked on a daily basis.

ExitPursuedByABear, no, I was RedwingWinter but didn't want to be reminded of winter any more when it is meant to be summer. I couldn't be just plain redwing because someone else already had that nn, so the S is for summer.

I think your shakespearian nn is excellent.

My younger dog is adopted from the Dogs Trust. My impression of them was very good, the dogs were well cared for (in the poshest kennels I've ever seen!) and they were very thorough in the rehoming process.

I've also heard that they can be very selective about the dogs they take. It's the dilemma facing most rescues though, it's often just not practical to take every dog in need, and also commit to homing or keeping that dog for life. There are hard decisions to be made, and I don't envy the people who make them. I couldn't do their job :(

Why would they never put a healthy dog down though? That doesn't seem very sensible to me. It can be humanely done and it's not as if the dog knows you're going to do it. I've never understood why this is a selling point for the Dogs Trust. If they assessed dogs, destroyed the ones that were unlikely to be rehomed and spent their money on retraining and preparing for rehoming, that would be a far better use of funds, surely? And they could afford to be less choosy about who they helped, thus helping more dogs in the long run.

I'm not a dog person though, but saw this on 'Active' and do shout "WHY?" at the TV every time the Dogs Trust and comes on and says this line. Perhaps I just don't understand .

Other rescues certainly do take that approach, and I can understand the argument for it. I guess it depends on your moral viewpoint, to some that purely utilitarian view of dogs is repugnant as much as it would be if applied to people. To some it's just the sensible thing to do, given that they're 'only' dogs.

Personally I lean more towards the Dogs Trust way of doing things, but I have a hard time being too judgemental of the other way because I can't see any perfect solution to the problem.

camel - as the history of my DDs sponsor dogs shows, some which are initially thought to be difficult to rehome do get rehomed. If they didn't have their no-kill policy, those dogs might have been PTS.

The one we've got now - she's got a life and a home, the fact that it's with DT rather than in a private home may not matter to her. Its not a service to provide people with dogs, its a service to provide dogs with homes, of one type or the other.

As far as rescues go, Dogs Trust is one of the most responsible IMO. I know there's debate about the never putting a healthy dog down, but at the rehoming end, they are very thorough. When we adopted from DT, they asked loads of questions, and made sure I was a suitable owner for our (then) very difficult dog. They checked our home and garden, spayed the bitch etc. Dogs Trust, as mentioned above, are also very good at education programmes. Our bitch had been through some therapy/training, even if we had a lot more work to do. And the DT kennels are clean and as stress free as possible for the situation.

Last week we got a dog from a local rescue. I know they are trying hard, but the place was disgusting and made my heart break. It stank, was filthy and every single dog was visibly highly stressed. We only went there because we'd been told about this particular dog who could be a good pairing (not for breeding, just company) with our difficult bitch. Once the dog was out of the kennel to meet us, I refused to put him back. They didn't put up a fight and let me take him that day, no questions asked (but money taken). He had not been neutered and for all they knew, we lived in tiny one-bed flat with no garden, not suitable for this big dog (part Newfoundland). What really annoyed me about that rescue was that it operates also as a boarding kennel (as if) and that they were breeding a particular breed as well.

Turns out our new dog had been taken to DT though, and they wouldn't accept him because he is chipped. Unfortunately, the owners he is registered to denied all knowledge. If only there was a law to make them responsible. He's a friendly big mutt, desperate to please us and his only fault so far has been an upset stomach. I just don't get why he was abandoned. When he's not being walked or having a quick play, he's curled up on my toes Anyway, I strayed off point. The rescues all have their faults, but DT is, overall, a good one.

Camel, many dogs can be retrained, even ones that appear at first to have big problems. A lot of dogs that are given up for rehoming have simply never been trained and taught how to behave. Even a dog that has bitten someone can usually be helped with appropriate training, though rescues differ on whether or not they would take such a dog on.

The Dogs Trust gives support to people rehoming dogs and behavioural advice. They also have lots of other campaigns/programmes such as funding for cheap neutering (to reduce stray dog population), help for the dogs of people fleeing domestic violence, and so on.

I'm closely involved in dog rescue and think it's great you are sponsoring DT. DT are big enough to get involved in things like:-
Free neutering/spaying for low income owners and for other rescues
Regular free chipping events with local authorities
Work with social landlords on tenancy agreements that encourage responsible dog ownership
Help for people leaving DV situations who have dogs
Education work in schools on responsible dog ownership
Political lobbying both in Westminster and the devolved Govts on behalf of dogs.

All of these are essential and complementary to the fire fighting work done by smaller, local rescues, and in many cases, DT work well with smaller local rescues too (certainly that way here in Wales).

They also have a good team of professional behaviourists, are very thorough in their rehoming process and look after the dogs in their care very well.

Personally I can't abide chuggers but that's a completely different issue.

To stress, they weren't chuggers as such, they had a stand at the exit of a Tesco store with pictures of dogs and asked as you went by whether you would be interested in sponsoring a dog. I did feel slightly pressured as I am a bunny hugging animal lover but I had left the store and then went back, thinking I was going to chuck some money in a pot.

But having read their website and all your comments on here, I don't regret doing it. It is only £2 a week and I can stop it any time.

I fully understand and endorse their policy of never destroying a healthy dog. Life is all we have, and should be cherished.

nearlythereyet - a lot of our local rescues are like the one you have experienced. I know they are probably doing their best but ......

I signed up for them last month, there was a nice chap in Morrisons. He hadn't said a word to me, I went over and volunteered . Ended up having a long old chat about primary school appeals.

The dogs were BOGOF! So the children now have one each, one of which we can visit if we like and fairly local-ish.

I know they are pretty decent. I would have more dogs but we have an old terrier mutt (from a less highly regarded pound rescue) plus a one year old BC. And 2 kids under 6.

Exit - ah, but in practice it's quite hard to stop because, as the DT slogan says 'A dog is for life' - that's the clever thing about sponsorship, it makes you feel personally responsible. Which IMO is a good thing, especially if the dog is being sponsored on behalf of a child.

My old dog died last week. He nearly died two years ago because The Dogs Trust rescued all the dogs in a pound with him and left him to be PTS because he was aged 8 and a Staffie. I send my donations to a genuine "no kill" rescue that doesn't discriminate.