Thoughts on "many Tears" or other rescue centres in the South of England?

[diplodocus]

We're seriously thinking of getting a young dog or puppy in a few months and would be hoping to get one from a rescue. We have DCs aged 5 and 7, so are looking for somewhere that will let families with young children adopt suitable dogs. I'm quite keen to use a rescue that "fosters" dogs in a home environment and obviously we're keen to use an organisation that will put a lot of effort into ensuring they match us with a dog that suits our family (and will like living with us!). We're quite interested by Many Tears - any of you have views about them? Otherwise any other good rescue centres you can recommend in the South (e.g. Hants, Dorset, Surrey, Sussex etc.). Any advice gratefully received.

We adopted from Many Tears, about 18 months ago - a 5 month old pup.

We had a positive experience, the foster carer was lovely, all their questions made perfect sense (I'm glad they ask them, tbh), and the local lady who visited to do the homecheck was also lovely. I didn't find any of it daunting or scary, and actually found the homecheck practical and helpful!

Our kids were nearly 5 and nearly 8 at the time, and our pup seemed fine with kids. After a few months, it became clear that he had issues with being touched/cuddled too much - he was in a pound for the first 3-4 months of his life, so hadn't had much socialization with humans! So we had a few behaviour issues as adolescence hit.

I emailed MT, and they phoned and gave advice over the phone - helpful as they could be, but for us it wasn't really as useful as having someone meet the dog and give advice. So we paid ourselves for a one-off visit from a behaviourist, who was worth every penny. Our pup is not aggressive by nature, but he is scared of strangers - especially kids - and has growled, so we tell visitors to ignore him till he gets to know them. Its working beautifully, he's gaining confidence and our kids and their friends are fine with him.

BUT, as rescue pup, he does have issues - and we went through a stressful patch. He's not the dog I thought I wanted, iyswim, but I do want the dog we have

I digress! MT were fine, and the only thing I'd do differently is pick a dog who has been fostered with children, as opposed to just meeting lots of them when out and about: behaviour is different in a home setting. I have learned.

There are some lovely young dogs and puppies on Lurcher SOS and Scruples whippet rescue at the moment.

Stubbington Ark is ashore, give them a wide berth! Try Dog's Trust instead. If you'd consider a greyhound try Celia Cross kennels near Guildford. They do great work.
Re the Ark, I know so many people who have had problems adopting animals from there and the reasons were ridiculous! One person was refused a cat because she works, another was refused a dog because when they turned up unannounced for the home visit my friend's DH was collecting their daughter from school and friend had put on the form that someone was home all day (her DH works from home)!!! They continually bleat in the local press that they are struggling spacewise etc - I wonder why???

Sorry, on my mobile! The Ark is shite!

Many tears have recently stepped into save a dog I know who originally came from them. Unfortunately the owners didn't have insurance and she needed a really expensive operation. MT stepped in at the last minute after the children had done their final goodbyes and gone to school, the op was a success and the dog doing well

There's also a MT fosterer who walks where we walk our dog. She goes to a lot of effort to make sure the dogs she looks after are really well socialised. My dog sitter fosters for Dorset Animal Workers Group which is a small rescue. Our cat (the sloppiest of the 4 we have) came from Pound kitten Rescue in Poole. They also have dogs - Pound Puppy Rescue.

Many tears is a not for profit . It has mixed reviews. Some say that it is genuine. Others are very angry and say that they work hand in hand with puppy farmers enabling them to continue farming by taking their puppies and dogs and selling them. Some claim the dogs are misdescribed. They had financial assists of over 98,000 at one point prob more now but claim to be broke. Company is set up in a way that not easy to see how funds are used. My advice be cautious and research thoroughly via multiple trusted sources.

Do not bother with Many Tears if you work from home! I have wasted a lot of time filling in the adoption form, only to be told "we do not consider people who work from home". They should clearly state this on their website. I have worked from home about 11 years, had a dog for 9 years, she is perfectly happy and healthy and we just wanted to adopt a friend for her. The fact that I work from home does not mean I cannot do anything with the dogs! Quite the opposite! I feel discriminated and just wonder where these dogs actually get sent to.

I too rescued from Last Chance, in Edenbridge, Kent, a alsation/collie cross back in 2001, we lost him in 2015, the best dog we ever had, very much missed. I also got my two of my cats from there, in 2004, they are still going strong. My last rescue dog Poppy is from Turkey, from Happy Tails, rescue without borders, they are on Facebook.Had her just over two years now.

"They had financial assists of over 98,000 at one point prob more now but claim to be broke."

I know it's an old post on an even older thread...but...

Third sector organisations running as they should, should at all times have 6 months running costs in reserve...anything less than that would be considered mismanagement.

So it is entirely possible for a not for profit organisation to have what seems like a large sum of money and simultaneously have no spare funds.

I know nothing about MT's finances and haven't dealt with them in anyway, but I do know that it is standard practice to have ringfenced reserved funds.