Why we have rules

As a rescue we get a lot of flack from unsuccessful potential adopters. It isn't very nice being on the receiving end of that but all too often we are, sadly. Our priority is to safeguard the dogs in our care. Most have them have been through rather a lot of instability in their lives and we try to make sure that every dog rehomed by us is rehomed for life.

Over the years we have had to put these rules in place because we have found out what works and what doesn't. So, we will have a go at explaining them. 

We don't home to families with children under 5 years old.Children under five are generally rather unpredictable and not great at following instruction. They don't tend to understand when a dog needs its own space, and they also demand rather a lot of attention from their parents so it gets more difficult to allocate time for the new dog. At five they can walk/talk/go to school and are a little more independent and dare I say a little more sensible! We realise this isn't always the case and many children under five are dog savvy but we do have to draw the line somewhere. All other pets must be neutered and vaccinated.  We are a responsible rescue who are all too aware that the population of unwanted dogs in the UK is out of control. It's all about taking responsibility. All the dogs we rehome are neutered, unless they are under six months when rehomed and then it becomes the adopters responsibility, but we will follow this up. The last thing we want to do is add to the amount of unwanted pups being put to sleep or ending up in kennels. This is why we will never rehome a dog to a household that breeds or plans to breed from their dogs. This one is more of an ethical rule and something we always stand by. Vaccinations... again, goes without saying. We don't want our dogs catching anything nasty. Those renting must provide a letter from the landlord. We have many dogs come into our care simply because the tenant got a dog without asking the landlord first. When the landlord threatens the tenant with eviction, the dog usually has to find somewhere else to live. We don't want this to happen to any of the dogs in our care so this is why we ask - so we can be assured that the dog isn't going to find itself homeless when the landlord finds out. Dogs should generally not be left alone for more than four hours. Puppies need to be in a home where they are not left for more than two hours. Puppies need constant attention. They are like small children in the sense that they need frequent toilet trips, frequent meals and lots of attention. A pup shut in the kitchen or crated for any length of time without any human contact or constructive input is likely to develop problems in later life. We don't want to see any dog come back to us but young adult dogs that have had no training and behavioural problems prove almost impossible to rehome, especially if it could have been prevented by having some rules in place. Adult dogs can often cope with being left for a little longer, which is why we have the four hour rule. If you work full time and plan on leaving your dog for 8/9 hours a day on its own it needs to be able to cope with that. Dogs are social animals but occasionally we come across one who is happy to be left for a little longer, although they few and far between. We certainly don't wish to offend anyone and know it is unrealistic to expect people not to work but the welfare of the dogs is paramount. It is a condition of adoption that our rescue dogs must live as part of the family and should not live outdoors and we insist that only positive reward based training methods must be used. As said above, dogs are social animals and are part of the family. A dog kept outside is not able to be part of that family so this one speaks for itself. Positive training methods only - these outdated methods using the dominance theory are still used but thankfully most people have moved on from this. It is a condition of adoption that puppies have to attend training classes and we will ask for details of the classes. In some cases we may suggest or insist that adult dogs undertake training classes, where we have identified the need for ongoing training. Again, this is pretty basic stuff. If dogs/puppies aren't trained then problems may arise. As well as the social aspect of dog-training classes both you and the dog will benefit from 'being on the same page' with regard to training and behaviour. You will need to visit the dog in their foster home and return on a mutually convenient date to collect your dog if your application is successful - we do not deliver dogs to your home. We are a charity and are all volunteers. We juggle our day to day lives and do not have the time or the funds to run around the country to visit you in your home with the dog in question or deliver it! All adoptions are subject to a satisfactory home check. For a dog the minimum donation is £ 150 - your dog will be neutered (if old enough), microchipped, flea treated, wormed and vaccinated. On average it costs us £250 to get each dog in our care ready for rehoming. Average. Some dogs need very little veterinary care other than flea and worming treatment and microchipping. Other dogs need serious medical attention which can easily run into thousands of pounds. Our minimum donation is £150 which is exactly that... a donation. It is non-refundable should you decide to return your dog. I hope this clears a few things up and helps people realise that we're not horrible, we don't discrimate but we do have to look out for the dogs in our care and if that means turning down a home we don't think is suitable for that dog then so be it.