Dog shelter

My friend took me to the local dog shelter today as she is after a pup. So many staffies lots of white ones like Lola it was heartbreaking    

God I don't think I could go, I still think about the ones that were there when I adopted Daisy now   

It really upset me visiting shelters, but I could only rescue one at a time - could have taken them all Xx

Looking at the rescues on here makes me want to give them a home let alone a shelter   

A lot of shelters are now changing their visiting procedures, at Wood Green you can only go and look at dogs if you are seriously considering adopting. The dogs do get stressed by families visiting so this is a good change, I think.

Aww Claire I can imagine it being really upsetting.

It broke my heart when we were looking to adopt, I was in floods of tears it's so sad to see stressed dogs

Another sad thing is seeing the dogs that are there for ages. I adopted the lovely Douglas in Feb 2013 (from the SSPCA) but remember at that time a beautiful dog called Biscuit at the Dogs Trust in West Calder. She's still there! After 14 months! And possibly for several months before I came along as well.

I was a hair's breadth from offering a home to Biscuit, but there was some reason why the DT didnt think she would be suitable for living in Edinburgh - despite the fact that she would not have been left during the day (run own business from home), adult household, no kids. So I'm particularly sad to see Biscuit's profile still on the DT website. Spare a thought for the old-timers.

Douglas was also in the rescue for a long time - 9 months -before I requested him. Knowing what I know of his personality, he would have absolutely hated being cooped up without a 1-to-1 person all of his own.

I agree yeahbut! I had a staffie called Cassie that had been in kennels for 6 years, she finally got adopted when transferred to another centre but took another year there she's living out her retirement very peacefully after a life in kennels! And another 3 legged Rottweiler called Pebbles who was there for 5 years, I cried when she went home, she was a real challenge but I just loved working with her, apparently when she went home she slept for hours, snoring like an old man

There are so many wonderful dogs in rescue that have been waiting for such a long time, always crushes me a little seeing so many people going straight for puppies on here.

It's a real pity that everyone quotes and knows the expression - you cant teach an old dog new tricks. This daft saying is probably partly what propels the drive for a pup. It's so untrue. You can (I have done so) teach lots of tricks to an adult dog. Re-wiring the deeply ingrained bits (behaviour with cats, rabbits etc), ok that may be beyond reach, but certainly an old dog is very capable of learning new tricks which other people can find very impressive.

I daren't go would upset me too xx

One happy story - a friend emailed me to say recently that she had adopted a Staffy who had been waiting in rescue for THREE years.

We are lucky in this country to have so many rescue centres and dedicated volunteers.

Plus: I really do believe the image of Staffies has radically changed in the past three or four months. This may just be my imagination but I see all sorts now with Staffies, or crosses.

both of mine had a few months in the shelter, Maya was rehomed once already and taken back so I don't know her total time spent in Kennels, thankfully I don't think its in the years length though probably not far off. One of the other dogs we were considering when we picked Calvin is still there and its coming up to a year for him. I feel abit bad because it was a hard choice between the two but if we had taken him home it would be likely that Calvin would still be there especially as he is an unpopular colour. I think many people would actually be better off getting an adult rescue dog instead of a puppy, mine have both come house trained and have the basics of recall and also sit, puppys don't and I know it can be hard to teach these things to them, possibly a reason why so many end up in shelters aged 6 months up. You can also have a dog that is ready to go for decent length walks and have some adventures with whereas you need to wait for the puppys to grow first. Calvin has no behavioural issues and Maya mouths abit but is getting better already and we have only had her a few days. Even dogs with behavioural problems can have awesome lives and improve greatly if rehomed to the right person.

Rupertsbooks wrote:
Plus: I really do believe the image of Staffies has radically changed in the past three or four months.

Difficult to know without doing some actual research, but this article ('I have inadvertently become a middle-class Staffordshire bull terrier lover') which was published by the Times 4 months ago will surely help elevate the status:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article3951690.ece

Being the Times, they wont allow free access, but the article seems to be reproduced here:

http://www.caninecrusaders.org.uk/forum-2/all-about-bsl/dont-be-scared-of-little-old-me-how-the-staffie-is-clawing-its-way-up-the-social-ladder/

In my view, people dont hate particular dog breeds; they hate other people. It is often the case that better-off people (often only slightly better off people) feel superior to people who earn less, who drive low status cars, who live in low status cheap housing in low status areas and whose kids get called 'feral'. Such people can get dismissed as chavs, oiks, numpties, pikeys, neds, untermenschen, plebs or anything similar. The problem for the innocent staffie is that his image has become associated with this group that occupies the lowest social rung. The higher social groups dislike (and fear) the lower social groups and despise all the tokens that manifest lower social group identity: the clothes, the cars, the houses - the DOGS. While the staffie continues to be an identifier of low status, then his own social climb is stalled.

The same happened to the pitbull in the US:

By the early 21st century, the pitbull breeds in the US had undergone a wholesale transfiguration from noble and popular family pet, working dog and cultural icon to demonised negative sterotype associated with criminal gangs and drugs.....this cultural transformation is attributed to a move from white middle-class family ownership to black and latino ghetto and barrio ownership.

This from a book called 'Unleashed', Simon Harding, 2012, p28.

What would be nice would be if the queen were to adopt a rescue staffie - supreme justification for the public purse continuing to fund royal family expenses.