Stray dogs are taken into kennels or pounds for a seven day waiting period.  Some will be claimed or sold; the lucky ones will go to non-destruct ethical rescue centres.  Others are not so lucky and will be among the thousands of dogs being put down when their seven days is served.  There are Rescue homes up and down the country helping where they can.  We are currently working with several volunteers that get as many dogs off Death Row as they can, from various Pounds/Boarding Kennels in Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire.  Their van can carry ten dogs at a time, so a journey bringing dogs to FAITH is incorporated with the Dogs Trust at Snetterton.  A long and tiresome journey for both the driver and the dogs.  Rescue Homes with full neutering policies are vital in helping these poor animals.  When the dogs arrive they are often quite traumatised by their ordeal.  Some are too frightened to leave the cages they have travelled in and cower as they are given their ID collar.  Who knows what’s going through their minds!  The week spent in the Dog Pound is often very hard and some spend their time hiding and cowering at the back of the kennel, others will constantly bark due to stress and fear.  Hence the dogs that arrive can be completely different from the description we’ve been given. 

In one intake of seven, a nervous Collie bitch that had spent her time flat up against the back wall of her kennel too terrified to move, was in fact a male dog when we checked.  He was very nervous and difficult to remove from his travelling cage.  A scruffy ‘3 year old’ bitch was infact a poor ‘aged’ lass that had spent most of her life ‘in pup’ so saggy is her underneath and she also has many lumps and bumps.  When I put her into her new kennel she just snuggled up in her bed, as I left her I spoke gently to her, she lifted her sad face and wagged the tip of her tail a little.  The nervous Collie became an amazing friendly dog in just 24 hours.  In that same load that week there was also the loveliest black and tan Terrier puppy, a young wire haired Terrier, another Collie, a long coated fawn mongrel and a Labrador cross.  Prior to their arrival that same morning, we had collected a local Lurcher stray.  I said to a friend that came with me to collect him, “well he’ll be number eight dog today, even though the other seven will arrive after him… Oh, ‘After Eight’ – we can call him Minty for short.”  We named the other seven arrivals after ‘After dinner chocolates’ too.

There are many thousands of healthy but unwanted or unclaimed dogs that are destroyed up and down the country.  Adult bitches and dogs, puppies, mongrels and pedigrees – all last to mankind.

It makes me so angry that more and more people are breeding their own pets just to make money.  Take a look in the Free Ads, there are pages and pages of dogs and puppies for sale.  There are far to many dogs already, and I so wish people would sit back and think before breeding and be truly responsible pet owners – but the destruction goes on as does irresponsible breeding.  Dogs and indeed many pet animals have become victims of this ‘throw away’ society.  Easily available and easily disposed of, they are ‘dying’ for our help, we will be there for as many as we can.

Thank you for helping us, so we are able to help them!