Visited my local dog pound today.

Alfasudcrazy

I was passing and heard this very sad crying from a dog so I went in and asked to look at the dogs.
To my surprise I was refused as its not their policy to allow people to view the dogs. I was expected to state what type of dog I wanted and they would see what they had.

She mentioned a Jack Russel terrier but I would not be comfortable getting a dog if I could not see it first.
Probably just as well as I suppose I would have arrived home with two new dogs much to the displeasure of my dobies.

My basic point though is that if I was put off getting a dog from the pound because I could not pick one out I am sure other people must feel the same way.

Seems a silly policy to me a fact even acknowledged by the lady at the counter. :rolleyes:

cowzerp

There obviously kept in poor conditions otherwise they would have no bother letting you view the dogs, something is amiss.

Bainne2

Complain to the local county council. What is the hope of any of the dogs being saved if the public aren't allowed in at all :mad:

rosiec

that is really strange, having had rescued dogs over the years we've always been able to go in and see them

tbh

Same thing for me, years ago. I asked why and they said because when people see the dogs, they just want to take them all home, and because it's not fair on the dogs to have strangers constantly wandering through.

I'm not defending it, although I can see her point, just saying that's what I was told.

kerrysgold

It's ridiculous, no wonder so many poor dogs are killed in this country, the pound ''system'' seems to be a complete shambles. If people were allowed in to look at the dogs I'm sure the dog's would have a better chance of getting adopted. And why pounds let dogs go without being neutered is just beyond me. I'm sure the Co. Co. could supply extra funding to do this, especially when it costs about €20 - €25? to adopt a dog anyway.

tbh

kerrysgold wrote: »

And why pounds let dogs go without being neutered is just beyond me. I'm sure the Co. Co. could supply extra funding to do this, especially when it costs about €20 - €25? to adopt a dog anyway.

Not the pound I got my dog from, in fairness, she had to be neutered before we could take her. Credit where it's due.

kerrysgold

Thats brilliant, was it Ashton pound? they seem to be much more on the ball than other pounds, Leitrim pound sounds like a great example as well. I think they only pts ill/aggressive dogs there?

MsFifers

I suspect it may be down to insurance issues.

I was trying to set up a volunteer programme in my local co.co. run rescue. (They call it a rescue, not a pound). They said that they were not insured to have members of the public on the premises. The insurance would not cover if a member of the public was bitten by a dog, or a dog in the care of a member of the public attacked someone else.

So - no dog walkers/helpers etc allowed to get involved. Which is a pity - because the best advocates for dog welfare seem to be people who get to know the animals and see the sad cases of beautiful, good natured dogs being put down.

Does anyone know what the insurance situation is in pounds and shelters that do rely on volunteers?

kerrysgold

I wonder if you got insurance for yourself would they allow you in? I got insurance for myself before when horseriding at a stables that didn't have their own insurance.

lurchin along

Ashton and Dunboyne allow you to see the dogs,Laois doesn't.It all depends on the attitude of the manager-whether or not they have any interest in saving the dogs or ,as in the case of one that I know of ,they take a macho pleasure in their 'kill rate'

arybvtcw0eolkf

lurchin along wrote: »

Ashton and Dunboyne allow you to see the dogs,Laois doesn't.It all depends on the attitude of the manager-whether or not they have any interest in saving the dogs or ,as in the case of one that I know of ,they take a macho pleasure in their 'kill rate'

Sounds like you've been at the worse end of the Ashtown staff's attitude too.

There's a can of worm's to be opened in that place I'm sure.

lurchin along

Mairt wrote: »

Sounds like you've been at the worse end of the Ashtown staff's attitude too.

There's a can of worm's to be opened in that place I'm sure.

Funnily no I haven't.The manager,Donald,is a stickler for the rules but in his position that's fair enough.Ashton are VERY proactive about trying to home their dogs,they make the phone calls to the rescues that the DCC have approved to remove dogs whenever something that comes in is a candidate for that rescue.They rang the lovely Gina from Paws only the other day to see if she could come and collect 4 lurchers whose 5 days were up(she did of course-despite being loaded to the rafters as everyone is these days)
I have nothing but good to say about Ashton,they've been fine with me and were delighted when I went back (140miles round trip!)to show them the Rottie bitch I took out of there 3 weeks ago now up to weight and no longer a nervous wreck!
The girls are lovely-they take a real interest in each and every dog that comes in- and you can't move there on a weekend for the volunteers who come in to walk the dogs.If all the pounds were like that the problem would diminish slightly.

kerrysgold

lurchin along wrote: »

Ashton and Dunboyne allow you to see the dogs,Laois doesn't.It all depends on the attitude of the manager-whether or not they have any interest in saving the dogs or ,as in the case of one that I know of ,they take a macho pleasure in their 'kill rate'

That's so pathetic. You'd think they'd only give the job to someone with a genuine interest in helping animals. There was a vacancy for a job in the tralee pound before, and I'd say it was given to another heartless dope because the kill rates haven't gone down that I know of. (about 1,500 dogs per year) :mad:

phormium

Heartless dopes! a bit of a generalisation surely. Tralee is a small town and there are very few employees in the pound so it is quite likely people reading this may know them. The most recent vacancy in Tralee pound was filled by a very close relative of mine and I can assure you she is far from a 'heartless dope'. In fact it was because of her love of dogs that she applied for the job, its not exactly the most pleasant job in the world. She puts an awful lot of time and effort into finding new homes for suitable dogs, both during and outside of working hours, she even brings some home herself until she can find a home for them. The 'heartless dopes' are the people who mistreat and abandon animals, without them there would not be the need there is for this service. Dont forget a lot of these dogs are brought in by their owners to be put down as it is cheaper than bringing them to the vet to have it done.

EGAR

phormium wrote: »

Heartless dopes! a bit of a generalisation surely. Tralee is a small town and there are very few employees in the pound so it is quite likely people reading this may know them. The most recent vacancy in Tralee pound was filled by a very close relative of mine and I can assure you she is far from a 'heartless dope'. In fact it was because of her love of dogs that she applied for the job, its not exactly the most pleasant job in the world. She puts an awful lot of time and effort into finding new homes for suitable dogs, both during and outside of working hours, she even brings some home herself until she can find a home for them. The 'heartless dopes' are the people who mistreat and abandon animals, without them there would not be the need there is for this service. Dont forget a lot of these dogs are brought in by their owners to be put down as it is cheaper than bringing them to the vet to have it done.

Hear hear, I agree with you 100%. I work closely with a good few pounds and most of their staff is genuinely concerned, a few peeps even quit as they couldn't take the strain anymore but they are still involved in the rescue side of things.

Alfasudcrazy

Obviously this is not to blame on the people working there - they are just doing their jobs - this decision is more likely down to some heartless bureaucrat sitting in a Kerry county council (the operators) office.

If there was a genuine interest in saving dogs from being pts every encouragement would be given to people to adopt them and surely this would involve allowing members of the public to view the dogs presently looking for new homes.

If other pounds can do it why not the Tralee pound?

triona1

Slightly off topic.
But on two occasions i offered to rehome 4 cats/kittens from two well known cat rescure and i was told i lived to far out for a home check.
Im only living in kildare.

kerrysgold

Sorry for being so blunt but it's just annoying that so many dog's are killed in our pound and other county pounds co-operate with rescues etc. In fairness I don't know if it's down to the pound employees or the Co. Co. that they don't let you in to see the dogs/don't co-operate with rescues (as far as I know!)

triona, did you try the petsireland website? usually if you want to adopt a pet someone from there that lives near you could do the homecheck and report back to the rescue.

triona1

I did kerrysgold.
I browse petsireland a lot post rarely.
I asked if anyone could help as it was two kittens(brothers and sisters)both times they need/wanted to be homed together and i really liked them in particular
I asked on petsireland if they could help.
Got one reply saying they would see what they could do and that was it.
Never heard again. posted again, but no reply then found luckly enough kittens had been homed.
From reading on the site.They were all homed seperate in the end.

Toots

kerrysgold wrote: »

It's ridiculous, no wonder so many poor dogs are killed in this country, the pound ''system'' seems to be a complete shambles. If people were allowed in to look at the dogs I'm sure the dog's would have a better chance of getting adopted. And why pounds let dogs go without being neutered is just beyond me. I'm sure the Co. Co. could supply extra funding to do this, especially when it costs about €20 - €25? to adopt a dog anyway.

My BF's sister adopted a dog last year and I went with her to see them, they let us into the pound area but we had to make an appointment beforehand. As she picked a big dog, they went out to her house a few days later to do a suitability assessment, which is good cos at least they seemed to care where the dogs were going. It's in thier best interest tho, cos if the owner can't look after it, guess where it'll end up? :rolleyes: The lady told us that the dog she adopted had been back with them twice and she really didn't think he could take being brought back again so they wanted to make totally sure he was going to the right home. They charged her €125 for the dog tho, no €25.