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?)

I have a supposedly 'unhomeable' dog actually - he was due to be PTS by the RSPCA after they prosecuted his owner, due to a combination of age, breed and physical condition.

I have pretty mixed feelings on it. I can't bring myself to give to the RSPCA, they would have killed my gorgeous happy loving old boy, but at the same time I'm glad they were there to take him out of that awful situation and make sure someone was held accountable for it. And I can't take the many other dogs in the same situation, sadly. There are other homes for them, maybe, but not enough relative to the number of dogs.

It seems to me that there are just more, far more, unwanted dogs out there, than there are rescue kennels or potential fosterers/adopters. The small rescue we support (and who rescued our old dog from the RSPCA) do a fantastic job, and often if a dog is impossible to home due to health reasons or aggression or age, they will take that dog home themselves and find a way to cope, sooner than consider PTS. They prioritise the dogs most in need, not necessarily the easiest to pass on. But they always have a waiting list, they can't take every dog offered to them, they don't have infinite space or funds. The problem is that the breed is suffering badly from over-breeding - not as bad as the Staffie situation, but bad enough that dogs are dying just because they're surplus to requirements.

I find the ignorance of the people who continue to breed Staffies beyond comprehension - the free ads, Preloved etc are full of ads for huge litters, there are dogs offered at stud and people looking for stud dogs and the dogs homes are full of them. The one fault that I see with the breed is that they sometimes don't get on with each other, unlike whippets and greyhounds it is not easy to adopt more than one, which means there are more of them looking for homes for that reason alone. Surely if people really loved the breed they would stop allowing them to reproduce until the numbers came down a bit?

DogsTrust? Ha! Complete shit bags.

Why, mango?

They crippled a beautiful rare breed 18 month old dog. Made a healthy, happy dog into a dog trapped in a useless body and in immense pain.
I'm still extremely angry and upset about it two years on.

How?

We live in East London and the 'City Dogs' van stops regularly in our local park. They give advice, neutering vouchers, microchipping, ad hoc training classes, flea treatments etc etc.

They're good. But I'd never be chugged by anyone, sorry.

Please remember when making a comment regarding putting a dog down by Dogs Trust that many of the problems that dogs have is because of previous owners bad treatment, either ignorance, neglect or downright ill treatment! So when they say a healthy dog and you read that some have psychological problems its not always their fault but human ill treatment, so why after suffering at the hands of some idiot should they then be destroyed, they are sentient creatures and like all life, even animals that are part of the food chain, should be treated with respect and compassion.