I just can't believe some of the reasons why people just discard of them
I know its hard to imagine. But, look at this ... someone brings an oldie into rescue saying they can no longer keep him for various reasons.
The rescue takes the poor old dog in, obviously.
Then, they find out that the person who gave up the oldie, went to the neighbouring branch of that rescue and applied for a puppy .
I know it sounds like the classic ghastly 'fund raising rescue story' , but in this case I know it happened, having been caught up in it all.
I know its hard to imagine. But, look at this ... someone brings an oldie into rescue saying they can no longer keep him for various reasons.
The rescue takes the poor old dog in, obviously.
Then, they find out that the person who gave up the oldie, went to the neighbouring branch of that rescue and applied for a puppy .
I know it sounds like the classic ghastly 'fund raising rescue story' , but in this case I know it happened, having been caught up in it all.
I've heard of similarly sickening (and genuine) accounts - like rescues taking adult dogs in while the child of the family asks when they are getting their puppy and the people that left their dog at a pound in Ireland (who have much higher PTS ratios than we do) and then went off around the pound to look for a new dog
In all honesty I didn't even think about rescue when we started looking for our pup last year, mainly because I didn't know of lab rescue last year (I still don't know a lot about it...perhaps there needs to be more advertisement/awareness ?!) and secondly when we did look in our local dogs home there weren't any labs. We chose a lab beacause I had heard how good they were around children and as a family pet. Having 2 young children I wanted a breed that would be gentle with my children, after all your children are the most important people in your life. I also wanted a pup as in our local home I noticed that they didn't know much about the older dog, or it said 'not good with children' and so on.
I also forget how full some dogs home can be because I could never imagine anyone wanting to hurt such a loving caring animal, because most dogs, when trained right, are the most loyal, trusting animals you could ever meet...it's a shame humans aren't the same! Obviously people do harm/neglect dogs just like they do children. It's such a cruel world.
Sadly every dog home/rescue is full of dogs and has a waiting list of dogs to come in.
Oldies Club, which is a very small rescue charity in comparison to the big centres, has as many dogs on its waiting list as dogs in foster care. At one point last year we had 50+ dogs waiting to come in and we can't help them all as quickly as they need to be helped Not all dogs have been cruelly treated though, some arrive in rescue because of a big change in their owners life such as divorce, serious illness, a new job or having to go into a nursing/retirement home and very sadly of course, sometimes the owner has died
I do absolutely believe that there is a dog in rescue to suit everyone, it's just a question of looking for that dog and some are easier to find than others, depending on your family, work life etc. I've adopted dogs from an eight week old pup, through to young and older adults, up to a 12-13 year oldie.
When I think of the rescue dogs I know of who live/have lived with children, or have regular close contact with children, they are of all sorts of breeds/crosses and ages.
I think Oldie's Club is one of the most wonderful rescues.
My Springer Max is now 13 and fairly crocked. It's heart breaking to think, if anything happened to me and my H, that Max could end up unwanted and unloved in rescue ..... simply because he's an old fella.
I think the message is getting across very slowly. I have been involved in the rehoming of two Labs recently who have both gone to homes with existing Labs that were bought as pups from breeders.
In both cases the adopters said the reason they had opted for a rescue this time round is that they meet so many people out on walks with beautiful dogs who have come from rescues. They had no idea that so many lovely dogs, including Labs, were in rescue.
Four of my own six dogs are rescues & when I finally get the chance to add a much longed for choccy Lab to my pack he/she will most definitely be another rescue
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