Almost 50,000 a Year :-(

[arealhuman]

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Just searching for something online and found a 2015 article saying that >47,000 dogs are abandoned in the UK each year. That's shameful and sickening . The article is here in case anyone wants to see it.

 

[Violet Turner]

This is awful! why so many? this makes me angry because how can someone just abandon an innocent dog?!!

 

[JoanneF]

There will always be dogs that end up in rescue through nobody's fault (owner dying etc) but I really wish it was harder for people to breed and for people to get dogs. For every responsible breeder out there (and a responsible breeder will take back any dog they have bred, at any age, regardless of the circumstances) there are goodness knows how many irresponsible people who either don't know or care about good practice. Or people who see the opportunity to make a quick buck. And let's not even start on puppy farming. As for getting ownership, in an ideal world prospective owners would need to be able to demonstrate they had made provision for getting a dog, and some degree of understanding their chosen breed. And yes, it is a happy place in my little fantasy world!

 

[Josie]

It’s so sad how many dogs there are in this world that don’t have loving families. You give one rescue a home and then another comes straight along to replace them again :-(

 

[arealhuman]

I watched The Dog Rescuers last night, it just reinforces what's said in that article, just with smaller numbers

 

[Caro Perry]

There will always be dogs that end up in rescue through nobody's fault (owner dying etc) but I really wish it was harder for people to breed and for people to get dogs. For every responsible breeder out there (and a responsible breeder will take back any dog they have bred, at any age, regardless of the circumstances) there are goodness knows how many irresponsible people who either don't know or care about good practice. Or people who see the opportunity to make a quick buck. And let's not even start on puppy farming. As for getting ownership, in an ideal world prospective owners would need to be able to demonstrate they had made provision for getting a dog, and some degree of understanding their chosen breed. And yes, it is a happy place in my little fantasy world!

I completely agree. I've thought for a long time that dog breeders and owners should be officially checked and licensed. Hopefully the microchipping legislation is the first step but there is an awfully long way to go.

It isn't helped either by the number of animal charities bringing in dogs from Romania and Spain for rehoming. We have a huge oversupply of dogs here already. Whilst the plight of the street dogs over there is heart breaking I really believe that they should concentrate on changing things there. Bringing dogs to the UK does nothing to tackle the actual problem. I wonder how many of these imported dogs are then subsequently abandoned to UK rescue charities - a fair number I suspect

 

[arealhuman]

It's difficult, isn't it @Caro Perry? If there was a ban on rescued foreign dogs, I wouldn't have found Jimmy I think as a species, we humans are just too selfish and callous really, that's the root of the problem IMHO.

 

[Violet Turner]

It's difficult, isn't it @Caro Perry? If there was a ban on rescued foreign dogs, I wouldn't have found Jimmy I think as a species, we humans are just too selfish and callous really, that's the root of the problem IMHO.

In the Spanish shelter there was so many strays, i also know they don't send any to the UK and they transport them after they have been picked and vaccinated.

 

[JoanneF]

I wonder how many of these imported dogs are then subsequently abandoned to UK rescue charities

You make a good point. I do understand both sides of the argument for taking foreign rescues - the one you make, and the opposite view that at least dogs in rescue here are humanely treated whereas in some countries they are killed in the most horrendous ways (I am not going to go into detail but if anyone is interested pm me). But I have also heard so many people ending up with street dogs that are frankly, feral and not suitable in a family home as a pet. And these are the ones that are most likely to be dumped or put into shelters here. And because our shelters have non euthanasia policies, dogs with severe behavioural problems will live out the remainder of their existence in a shelter environment, rather than being humanely put to sleep - I know it sounds harsh but for some dogs, especially ones who have been free-roaming all their lives, that is sometimes a kinder option.

 

[BrianLovesAkitas]

If you guys like rescuing check out hope for paws yt channel.

 

[JudyN]

I have a friend with four rescue dogs, three from Romania. The latest two were brought over without homes or a rescue space lined up and she was only supposed to have them for a week while something was sorted... one of them is so traumatised that she hasn't been able to get a collar on him after a year so he's never been walked.

Many of these dogs would have been better off left on the streets or euthanased. Being rounded up, crated, and shipped over here is enough to do irreparable damage to many of them. I don't know how we persuade these countries to deal with the problem - they may regard street dogs as no more of a problem than pigeons - but we could do so much more in this country to stamp out puppy farms and irresponsible breeding.

 

[arealhuman]

I can't bring myself to see euthanasia as a viable option really im these circumstances. To my mind, it's the easy way of fixing a problem. As @JoanneF, said, the methods in some countries are exceptionally brutal. From my own very, very limited experience, it seems that some countries just don't see dogs as we do - they don't often neuter, and when a dog isn't wanted anymore, it's just abandoned I've heard stories (and yes, only stories, no evidence) of dogs being put in cars, driven to somewhere, kicked out and left. Honestly, I just feel all kinds of sadness, guilt, and occasionally rage when thinking about this. I suppose if you go to a country like this, see the canine suffering first hand, one is spurred into action by trying to save as many dogs from a brutal execution - because that's what it is - and a life of untold pain and suffering. I know if I saw something like this my urge to act would be almost irrepressible. Dogs are just one species to0 - think of all the other animals that suffer a life of abuse at our hands (donkeys spring to mind). I go back to the point in my earlier post, as a species, we have a lot to answer for.

 

[Nanny71]

Dudley is not strictly a rescue but before we had him we looked for a rescue dog but the majority were staffies which I did not want. My daughter has a lovely staffie just not my type.
We had just put a deposit on a cross breed puppy when my granddaughter had a personal tragedy which meant she couldn't keep Dudley.
We had him and I have never regretted it. I did wonder if she would want him back but after six months she said he was too attached to us for her to have him back

He would not have been my first choice but I really believe your dog chooses you, not the other way round. My husband and I adore him.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Shameful.. we are not in the uk but even though we have always had rescues starting out with our Battersea rescue way back in 1983, this time we chose a pup from a breeder . The reason was as has been mentioned earlier. Nearly all the rescues available were staffs or Belgian herders which all came with a list of not suitable for xyz homes and that just made it impossible for us to adopt this time.

In the past our battersea dog Sheba was given up because 'she wasnt a good guard dog' btw she was a great guard dog when guarding those she loved!
Oscar the BC beaten and taken by police his owners said he was too hyper
Benny beagle came from one of the best breeders in the country sold to a woman who weighed about 200kg and could barely walk. When he did not fulfill his role as a lap dog her son tried to drown him..
Remy a JRT cross, who knows what his 'crime 'was but his owner beat his head in and dumped him in a field to die. He survived although he suffered permanent brain damage.
In each case the breeder had not cared who they sold to and the owners were not fit to own these dogs. It takes more time and paperwork to buy a bike than a dog that is shameful.

 

[leashedForLife]

.

my first "own" dog was the puppy who was dumped in our farm-driveway at between 9 & 12-WO; he & his sister, who looked nothing like him, were 2 of TWELVE pups born to a Keeshond-mix who was bred by a visiting friend's GSD.

We took the F to the local shelter, & she was adopted within 2-days - i phoned to check on her. We kept the M.

The owner of the Kees-X dam was a multimillionaire who lived just 3/4-mile away from us, but i didn't know where the pups had come from until Wolf was over 6-MO; another kid from a neighboring farm came by, & told us that the "country home" of a NYC tv-producer, up the road a bit from their own farm, was where Wolf was born.
Turned out the barsteward drove the 12 pups around the county in his van, & just dropped them off, hither & yon - in driveways, on backroads, in the woods on overgrown rights-of-way to former woodlots, anywhere. // It was early Spring, & cold - my mother wouldn't let him in the house, nor his sister; i put them in the barn to keep them safe & warm, out of the weather, & fed them.
The bitch left for the shelter the next morning. // When Wolf was going on 3, my mother's best friend, Anne, called us on our party-line phone from her house in the village. She said, "I don't know how to tell U this - Wolf is here, & he's dead. A car hit him in front of our house."
I was shocked, & stammered something to the effect that i'd come down - when i opened the door, there was Wolf, asleep on the porch. [With 3-acres of lawn & fruit trees around the house, & 5-acres in pasture, plus 30-acres of woods, he could easily be out of sight - but he rarely left our farm. He was usually within 40-ft of the door. Hence my shock, at hearing he'd gone to the village without us, let alone being HBC.]
I walked the 2-miles to the village & thru it to the far side, to Anne's house; sure enuf, other than a bit more sable tipping over his shoulder-cape & a reddish tint to his fawn coat, he was virtually a clone of Wolf. // It was one of his brothers.

A few years later, i was on my way to Hellertown for groceries & driving on Lehnenberg road; I came around a corner to see Wolf, trotting down the middle of the road! - a mile & a half from home. I pulled over, got out of the car, & called, "Wolf! - go home!..." angrily, & the dog glanced over his shoulder, looked panicky, & bolted into the woods, crashing away at speed thru the underbrush. Home was behind me - he ran the other way.
Another of his lookalike siblings - obviously feral; i was surprised to see one still alive, as farmers in the area shot strays on sight, even owned dogs if they were not recognized as belonging to near-neighbors.
He wore no collar, & was thin - not gaunt, but underweight. His petticoats had burrs in them.

The owner of that Kees-X could easily have afforded to keep every one of those pups for their lifespan, S/N, build a kennel for them with I/O runs, hire a carer for them, & never notice the expenditure. His name was Arnie Knox; he owned the rights to NYC's Romper Room among other 1960s TV-shows that broadcast from NY, NY, & he was very comfortably well-off.
Romper Room / New York City Kid Shows / Classic TVNew York City Local TV Stars

Arnie was a nice guy - except for his absolutely irresponsible behavior toward his dog, as he was too dam* lazy to spay her, & his appalling callous abandonment of the pups. // He did spay her after that litter; it was her 3rd, & largest, in her 5 years as an intact F.
Too little, & way-too late. :thumb-down: Coulda shoulda - i wonder if he drowned the 1st 2 litters?...

- terry

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[arealhuman]

Some really sad stories here