Who said anything about a cage?

Can make it a decent home for the animal.

£5 or over 100,000 dogs get killed.

You'd need to be heartless and compassionless to choose putting over 100,000 dogs down over giving 5 pound a month.

We haven't got past christmas and already rescues are full to bursting with abandoned pets and even puppies that haven't sold for xmas are being dumped. You can build more rescues if you have the money but it's not a life for a dog long term and there just aren't enough good homes for all the dogs needing them, especially the bull breeds. It used to be that floods of dogs and puppies arrived after xmas, it now starts before and every year the situation gets worse.

The fantastic people who run the rescues are in bits, they do their best but know dogs are PTS every day as they don't have space, they're the people whose heart it breaks when they have to say they just don't have room. Most are struggling for money too as they attempt to squeeze every last dog they can into their limited space.

As has been said it's indiscriminate over breeding that needs addressing urgently, rescues are just doing their best to pick up the pieces from it.

Yes it's desperately sad that dogs are PTS but there really is worse Louise. I've got 4 rescue dogs and have had rescue dogs for over 30 years. To take any of my beautiful adored dogs and stick them in a bleak concrete kennel would traumatise them. Even the best kennels/rescues are nothing like a home. I would rather they were PTS if that was the only alternative and rehoming an older dog with issues or health problems is extremely hard. How would you feel about leaving your comfortable home to live in a kennel with limited human contact no matter how hard the volunteers try?

People seem to think rescues can suddenly magic up great homes but that's just not the reality of things. A lot of people can't afford a dog these days and many have given them up due to having to work more hours etc. Every time there is a high profile dog attack it gives some people an excuse to dump their dog because it's too much trouble to look after it properly, they bought it for the kids and the novelty has worn off etc etc....

Practicalities and money mean it's impossible to keep the thousands of dogs needing homes in the comfort dogs should live in at home. It just can't happen. We can't home all of the human population in decent accommodation

Just take greyhounds - do you have any idea how many are euthanized because of overbreeding to find the perfect winner? the ones who don't make the grade or start to slow up? thousands are killed at the whim of the trainer or owner. There is no where near enough room for rescues to absorb them and that's just greyhounds.
I don't think it's right, I think it's awful and I am 100% anti racing but that's the reality of life for these dogs. Stop winning/making money and you're dead, or sent for breeding which can be a fate worse than death.

You are missing the point. I'm sure many could afford £5 a month (not everyone though) but many would also object as there are plenty of underfunded human causes which should take priority.

It costs around £5 per dog per day to be kept in minimal facilities let alone vets bills, meds and operations, then building costs etc and that's 100,000 minimum and that was a few years ago I would expect it's closer to 200,000 now if the country wasn't broke already it certainly would be... Unfortunately your utopia could never possibly happen

Battersea alone costs 18 million iirc

I know the racing industry can be cruel as well.

Unfortunately I suppose life just is in general but something should be done to protect the greyhounds from it.

18 million is a lot of money but I believe there is a mixture of reasons for the problem.

You mention breeding certainly yes so neutering animals would help that certainly in the long run but a lot of the dogs in shelters are often lost dogs.

I read recently that 1 in 3 dog owners will lose their dog at some point- that's a lot of people losing their dog-it wouldn't surprise me if bulk of dogs are lost dogs, often councils will bring stray dogs they find to sanctuaries so that would make sense.

People ensuring their dog is either safely in the house or if in the garden it is safe and secure and they won't be able to escape out the gate or over the fence etc.

There maybe should be ads on the tv regarding responsible ownership.

All of that plus a bit of extra money towards it well it may not completely solve it, but it would be a start at improving the situation.

No you don't as someone who isn't well off at all - I choose to put my dogs first, take from them and I won't be happy. I spend time helping a rescue because I have no money to give them. Do you give time to help out ? if you did you would see the problem first hand and realise a human aggressive GSD would have to be caged as it would be far too dangerous to allow it to wander freely amongst people and other dogs.

5 pound increase in tax payment on a monthly wage would not make that much of a difference to the vast majority of people.

At most it's going without a 6 pack of Miller.

I don't help out at sanctuaries as I don't drive and my nearest one is about 15 miles away. I do however have a monthly standing order.

Perhaps we could put an option of paying taxes towards sanctuaries. I believe many would chose to pay towards it if told of the numbers being put down.

£5 for someone on NMW is a whole hour they need to work for dogs, imagine you hate dogs how popular will dogs and their owners be with you when you realise that hour you don't want to work is not going to your rent etc. We have people's wages topped up with benefits so they can afford to pay rent and eat get out in the real world and see it for yourself. And what is miller ? no idea what you are asking me to give up

Everyone's wages goes towards tax.

People are going to be taxed on something.

I've had debt problems so I know about money problems and I'd be happy to give 5 pound towards sanctuaries.

Miller Genuine Draft is a delicious American Draft Beer. You should try it!

Merry Christmas anyway!

I don't believe the majority of dogs are lost, a lot are dumped or owner surrender to rescues because owners don't want them any more. At the moment the number of dogs being stolen is quite scary and some of those are then dumped and end up in the pound. You don't seem to acknowledge Louise that the numbers of dogs way exceeds the number of rescue places. As you probably know rescues do not receive any govt money and nor are they eligible for lottery money so they have to work hard to fundraise in order to keep going which spreads volunteers very thinly between raising money and caring for the dogs in their care. A few rescues have folded this year as they just couldn't raise sufficient funds to continue and our local one came very close.
Backyard breeders, puppy farms and the increasing importation of puppies from abroad are major issues. Most of the puppies from these sources are far from healthy and often don't survive but rescues move heaven and earth to help them and treating these avoidable illnesses cost them a lot of money.
A rescue I know has had to close it's doors as it's absolutely full, it has 5 emergency kennel spaces for over xmas, last year they took 20 dogs over the festive period and had to turn down more - a spit in the ocean and space for no more dogs until some are homed. They've already had a string of pups signed over to them which they've managed to place in foster homes but most needed medical treatment and all will be vaccinated, chipped, vet checked and neutered when they are old enough.

The chance of an older dog being rehomed is remote and the RSPCA is very swift at PTS older dogs or those with health or temperament issues. Smaller rescues generally are less likely to PTS for other than the worst health issues.

No thanks allergic to alcohol so death would be the end result - not something I crave at the moment.

And yes people are taxed on everything including animal welfare - agricultural and pet legislation costs money. But this would be a slippery slope and I don't think many would agree to paying for dogs specifically especially as it would cost more per tax payer to collect a specific tax like this than £5 per month so it would inevitably come out of tax could be better spent on NHS, OAPs, benefits and the like.

Yes I seen a news report on puppy farms.

Very cruel places.

The best thing to do is for the Government to legislate to make it a criminal offence-not 100% sure if is currently illegal but it should be criminalised and minimum sentence of 5 years in prison-as should be min sentence for all animal abuse cases.

Introduce that and implement tough sentences it will put people off puppy farming as they will know they'll get a fairly lengthy jail sentence rather than 3 months inside.

I do believe many dogs are lost but yes there is a problem with people dumping dogs and also stealing dogs as well- stealing dogs particularly if it's for cruel means- such as dog fighting etc should also carry minimum of 5 years in prison.

Do that and we'll see a reduction in animal abuse cases as people know they won't get off scott free.

Also dumping pets should get you minimum 5 year imprisonment.

It would act as a deterrent on many of the causes of this problem

Building more prisons too, how much tax do you think people will stand for ??

Taxpayers money would also be going towards NHS, OAPs, Benefits etc.

Indeed whilst I support the benefit system for the needy and genuine some people are playing the system.

I suspect many would sooner see money go towards animals than someone who is playing the system.

Personally I don't view NHS, OAPs, Benefits as being more important- I view it as equally important and as some of my money would be going towards the above I would see it as fairly distributed.

It would cost a damn sight more than £5 a month, 18 billion to run Battersea, do you know how many dogs homes, rescues, pounds and breed rescues that are out there. I haven't mentioned neutering, you did neutering wont stop it as people are greedy and most of them want tax free money from breeding their pets, they don't think about the aftermath when they've pocketed a grand or more, up to 10k depending on breed.

Then you get the naïve people that think oh my baby would love a baby of its own and I can have something to remember them by when they're gone.

There are not that many lost dogs that are wanted, a lost dog that is wanted is normally reunited with its owner very quickly, through word of mouth, social media, vets and scanning for microchips...its normally people that abandon and turn their dogs loose,then when you ring them if they have microchips the chipping information is no longer correct and so on and so forth

There was a case in NI recently where a man poured petrol over a border collie and set the dog alight.

The dog was rushed to the vets but despite best efforts sadly died- there was very much public anger at him, he even received death threats.

He got less than 2 years in jail. I suspect many people would be more than happy to let him do a long stretch in jail.

Also at most you'd have to build 1 prison as it can hold plenty of prisoners and as I said it would be a deterrent- people commit animal abuse because they know they will get off with it.

Introduce this legislation it will greatly reduce.

I don't think you have any idea about cost of building and staffing prisons any more than you seem to understand dog rescue.

All my time in rescue I have seen rare lost dogs, most are handed in when families break up or the owner dies, work hours change etc And top of the list behavioural problems, some we can try and work on but human aggression the dog is not safe to rehome so will be PTS and better the owner does it lovingly than it's put in a kennel and stressed by being taken by a person it doesn't know to be killed.

5 pound a month is 60 pound per person per year.

I'm not sure how many workers there are in the UK but you'll be talking millions.

Even if it doesn't raise enough it will go a good way towards helping the situation.

No a good way would be to legislate against indiscriminate breeding and have less dogs born.

It's questionable if a prison would have to be built.

It's only every now and then you read of animal abuse cases and convictions.

And there should be enough prisons throughout the country to spread prisoners about.

If not then building one prison and staffing that prison will provide much needed work to builders and prison officers which would help the economy whilst doing something about animal abuse.

Prisons are over crowded and no signs of them being able to take many more in, again you seem to have no idea about the real world.

[quote=molliepops;76169374]Prisons are over crowded and no signs of them being able to take many more in, again you seem to have no idea about the real world.[/QUOTE]

I have concluded that and given up now