Dogs Trust.

star-pants

Just a note - if you look at the .ie website it says

Our mission in Ireland is to bring an end to the destruction of stray and abandoned dogs. We aim to achieve our goal in a number of ways

They talk about neutering and educating and rehoming. There's nowhere on their website that has any info on 'if you find an injured dog' or areas for sick dogs.

Discodog

I have contacted Clarissa Baldwin, their CEO, & knowing her I will have a definitive answer soon - she usually does her email at 5 am !

They should know about cruelty & sick animals as their director here is Mark Beasley who used to run the ISPCA.

Blueprint

Well, I know for a fact that they take elderly sick dogs in, as they took a 12 year old worn out Collie in off one of the dog rescues earlier this year.

cianer

seamus wrote: »

It's worth noting that Dog's Trust only look after healthy strays or abandoned dogs - they do not rescue injured or sick animals, instead leave them in the pound to be destroyed.

I heard this too, know people who were turned away with strays or abandonded dogs they found

Toulouse

The Dogs Trust centre in Dublin is a re-homing centre, it's not a rescue as such, their goal is to rehome dogs. They take in all kinds of rehomeable dogs, old, young, etc.

I'm sure they will take the odd sick and injured but as a rule the impression I got from them when I visited the centre was that it was strictly a re-homing centre and not a rescue.

Paul91

Is there any chance they might open one up in Cork barring in mind the rate of PTS down here

suziwalsh

seamus wrote: »

It's worth noting that Dog's Trust only look after healthy strays or abandoned dogs - they do not rescue injured or sick animals, instead leave them in the pound to be destroyed.

Although rescuing the dogs is noble, it effectively means that this practise deprives charities which deal with cruelty and neglect cases of their income from rehoming healthy dogs.

Thats not actually correct, Dogs Trust cannot take in strays only surrenders or those going through the pound system. It is not legal to pick up a stray dog and take him/her in for rehoming, they must do their stay time in order for their owners to be given a chance to reclaim them.

Also I have first hand experience of their staff driving to emergency vets with two very sick and injured dogs that a member of the public brought to their attention.

Discodog

That's not strictly true. Anyone can take in a stray. The only legal obligation is to notify the nearest Garda station. There is no requirement to contact the Pound or Dog Warden.

Control of Dogs Act:

A dog warden or a Garda may seize a dog found straying and may enter a premises other than a place of dwelling in order to effect this seizure (Section 11(1)(2)). If an ordinary member of the public, not being a Garda or a warden, finds a dog which is a stray dog they may take possession and according to Section 13(1) “shall forthwith :-

return the dog to its owner, or
deliver the dog to a dog warden, or
detain the dog and give notice in writing containing a description of the dog, the address of the place where it was found and the address of the place where it is detained to the member in charge at the nearest Garda Station to the place where the dog was found, or to the dog warden.”

Give a notice to the local Gardai or dog warden containing the following information-
I) A description of the dog,
ii) A statement as to where the dog was found,
iii) the dog’s new address.

If the person who is a licenced owner of the dog comes to claim him the finder/other person must give him back. However if the finder retains possession of the dog for a period of one year or more, the finder can become the new owner of the dog, the previous owner’s title becomes extinguished.

So whenever any dog is rehomed the ownership of the dog does not revert to the new owner for 12 months. Often the key wording is "licensed owner".
If the original owner does not have a license covering the period when the dog was missing they will have a problem with proving legal ownership.

The moral of the tale is that if you rescue a stray & want to keep him, get a license straight away.

seamus

suziwalsh wrote: »

Thats not actually correct, Dogs Trust cannot take in strays only surrenders or those going through the pound system. It is not legal to pick up a stray dog and take him/her in for rehoming, they must do their stay time in order for their owners to be given a chance to reclaim them.

No, of course, but they will take strays from the pound

Also I have first hand experience of their staff driving to emergency vets with two very sick and injured dogs that a member of the public brought to their attention.

I have no doubt that their staff love animals and will take the above action if a sick animal is found "in the wild". However, I have heard other services complaining that Dog's trust simply won't take an animal if it's missing a body part, in need of constant medical care or otherwise not "showroom", because they can't rehome it. Thus leaving other services to care for these animals.

I could be wrong - the anecdotal stuff could be wrong, and it may simply be a case that they haven't yet set up the facilities here to cater for cruelty and neglect cases.

Paul91

why are we complaining about a group who are trying to help the animals in this country - they are taking in and rehoming dogs, they are neutering and vaccinationg them so they won't add to the problem of too many dogs in the country - unlike the CSPCA who handed me a pregnant unvaccinated GS with no home check - if you wan to complain about a group involved with dogs, look for one who's adding to the problem not ones trying to solve

suziwalsh

Paul91 wrote: »

why are we complaining about a group who are trying to help the animals in this country - they are taking in and rehoming dogs, they are neutering and vaccinationg them so they won't add to the problem of too many dogs in the country

HEAR HEAR

Also to add that Dogs Trust have spent over €5 million neutering dogs here in Ireland over the last 4 years, that is pretty amazing.

Funny enough I was up there today and had a little laugh...the first dog I saw was a 3 legged greyhound

I applaud ANYONE working or volunteering in animal rescue.

namurt

Paul91 wrote: »

why are we complaining about a group who are trying to help the animals in this country - they are taking in and rehoming dogs, they are neutering and vaccinationg them so they won't add to the problem of too many dogs in the country - unlike the CSPCA who handed me a pregnant unvaccinated GS with no home check - if you wan to complain about a group involved with dogs, look for one who's adding to the problem not ones trying to solve

So true. Surely every dog that gets rehomed should be considered a success no matter where they are rehomed from. We are going to collect our new dog from Dogs Trust tomorrow and I can't wait. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

Discodog

I have received a quite detailed response from Clarissa Baldwin CEO of the DT. I will either post the entire mail or a precis of their policy shortly once I have official clearance.

GinaH

Was told yesterday by someone who works in Ashton Pound that the Manager there will no longer give dogs to Dogs Trust. What an awful shame seeing as they are neighbours

JamesTaylorfan

lian81 wrote: »

Hi just wondering if any has been to the new dog trust shelter in ashbourne and what was it like.

I just want to say that it's a long way south of Ashbourne and is probably nearer Finglas.
Aside from that it's very nice and worth a visit.

JamesTaylorfan

YamaMotoYama wrote: »

Hi folks - I know this is a little off topic but are there any bus services that run to the Dog Trust?

Thanks in advance!

The Ashbourne bus 103 from Liberty Hall through Finglas would stop outside it if you asked nicely....after all it goes right past it.

Discodog

The following is a copy of the email sent to me by Clarissa Baldwin CEO of the Dogs Trust. It is posted with her full permission:


Dear Peter

Very many thanks for your e mail. So glad you are hearing many good things about the Dublin centre but disappointing that there are critics out there already!

Some of what they say may have a foundation of truth but overall it is fiction.

Dogs Trust role is to save dogs from destruction and to reduce the number of unwanted dogs. The latter is done through a massive neutering campaign, in Ireland alone we have neutered nearly 30,000 dogs in 3 years, we also have an Education officer investing huge amounts of time educating the dog owners of tomorrow.

The former is clearly the sticking point, first and foremost we believe that the greater number of dogs that we rehome the more we can save. If we fill our kennels with sick dogs we will leave many hundreds of healthy dogs to die. BUT having said this, we are welfare people with vocational staff who would not dream of deserting dogs in need and I give a few examples below of dogs that we have in our care/or recently rehomed that perhaps help to bear out this fact.

Sash (was called Jessie), a black 1 year old female Lab X. Came in from Laois SPCA with a fractured femoral head and metacarpal. So far we have spent in excess of €750 on Jess to nurse her back to health. On top of that we've found her a lovely home where she is now getting hydrotherapy sessions to aid her recovery!

Lisa, a tan coloured two year old female Pomeranian X. Lisa came to us from Wexford Dog Pound with a badly dislocated hip. She has had 2 lots of x-rays so far with an operation in between to put the femoral head back into place. She may still require further surgery if the hip fails to stay where it should. She is a lovely dog and we will do whatever it takes to ensure she regains use of her leg.

Mable and Sherlock and two beautiful (in our eyes anyway!) Staffordshire Bull Terriers. They are 11 and 8 years old respectively and came to us from Dunboyne Dog Pound. Both Mable and Sherlock are 'getting on a bit' and will require on going vet treatment for arthritis and a number of other ailments for the rest of their lives. They are very sweet natured dogs and we are hoping they will find a loving new home soon!



We have been open for business about 6 weeks and I have no doubt the “problem” dogs will grow but we must try to ensure that the greater number for the greater good prevails. Ireland will largely follow the UK pattern where 30 % of the dogs in our care have been with us for over 6 months. These are sick dogs/old dogs or just rather plain dogs. We also have around 1,000 dogs on a foster scheme where we are paying all or part veterinary fees. So hopefully you will agree that our critics are wrong!!!!

Warmest best wishes

Clarissa

Clarissa Baldwin OBE

GinaH

Always loved Clarissa, she is one great & fair lady

Discodog

Yep she is. Mind you she is slacking a bit. She usually emails at 5am but this one was 8am !. Astonishing dedication & to keep it up for so many years. Whatever the criticism it's wonderful that the DT chose to come here & invest so much.

Also how many CEO's are there who would answer in such detail, so quickly & be prepared to have the email made public.

GinaH

Discodog wrote: »

Yep she is. Mind you she is slacking a bit. She usually emails at 5am but this one was 8am !. Astonishing dedication & to keep it up for so many years. Whatever the criticism it's wonderful that the DT chose to come here & invest so much.

Also how many CEO's are there who would answer in such detail, so quickly & be prepared to have the email made public.

LOL that is true Discodog, Clarissa usually replies at about 6am. I could only aspire to be half the woman she is, you should see IGB listen to her in awe.

It was Clarissa that invented the slogan "A dog is for life, not just for Christmas' Many many years ago. She has given us advice and assistance for almost 10 years.

suziwalsh

PAWS animal Res wrote: »

Was told yesterday by someone who works in Ashton Pound that the Manager there will no longer give dogs to Dogs Trust. What an awful shame seeing as they are neighbours

They are currently begging for DT to take dogs but unfortunately Dogs Trust has no kennel space left. I think everyone is full at this time of year

But definately they are sending dogs up there - and you know I am not the biggest fan of ashton at the best of times and a huge DT fan!!!

kanine

seamus wrote: »

It's worth noting that Dog's Trust only look after healthy strays or abandoned dogs - they do not rescue injured or sick animals, instead leave them in the pound to be destroyed.

Although rescuing the dogs is noble, it effectively means that this practise deprives charities which deal with cruelty and neglect cases of their income from rehoming healthy dogs.

DT or anybody else is not capable of saving ALL the stray or abandoned dogs in this or any country. Would you all rather they filled their new centre with sick and injured dogs that are less likley to be rehomed thus causing the healthier ones to come in the future to be put to sleep when other charity's cannot afford to keep nor rehome them and DT is full?? every single animal or dog welfare centre does their damdest to help in their own ways. ALL of them doing a great job.

As for the "depravation" of funds from other charities goes I know for a fact DT are out the door with charities begging and pleading with them daily to take dogs from them. DT do not nor will they ever go in search of dogs from other charities without an invitation. DT try to spread where they take their dogs from as fairly as possible so that they can help as many charities as possible.

No matter how many people praise DT here you will allways have the begrudgers.

You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.