If you know of someonewho is looking at sharing their life with a dog then please encourage them tohave a look at the RSPCA Puppyguide.  

It will give them allthe information they need to start out on the path of being responsible dogowners.

We have seen firsthandwhat the results of poor breeding can be. 

As you know we seelots of dogs and the owners often ask us to tell them if they aren't happy inkennels.  The more cynical owners assume that no matter what we will saythat the dog is happy - after all we are getting paid so would we really tell youif a dog was unhappy? 

The answer is  thatan unhappy dog creates more work for us  The interesting fact is that wehave never had any problems with dogs that have been adopted (perhaps we areprejudiced our own three are adopted as was the delightful Rastus who is nolonger with us.) 

Nor have we had problems with dogs from reputable breeders. But there have been anumber of instances where we have had to say that the dog was simply notsuitable for kennel life.   

The first of these wasone of these designer dogs.  A sweet and affectionate dog but totallyuncontrollable - hated being in the kennel and was forever trying to get out -the only way we could manage that dog was by spending a lot of time with it. But even then we quickly learnt it was simply too skatty to respond totraining.  What amazed us was that the owners lived in a flat and this wasa large dog that needed lots of space.  When we told the owners that hewas difficult they mentioned he was not good in the flat and so they would puthim down - that too is hardly fair is it? 

Our second encounterwas with a cavalier.  Cavaliers arelovely dogs but extra care needs to be taken when choosing one of these. Thisparticular cavalier had some psychological disorder.  As a result he would snap at us – we triedhard to befriend him but even after feeding lots of treats  and allowing us tostroke him he would still bite. Fortunately his vet had his dogs in the kennels at the time and was ableto give us practical advice about how to handle this dog. For more informationwe suggest that  it would be wise to lookat this website http://www.cavalierhealth.info/ 

Buyinga dog from a reputable breeder with full knowledge of that dog’s history willusually be sufficient protection.  

 So there are twomessages here.  Firstly if your dog is not happy we will tell you - dogswill always be pleased to go back home but we also know that our regulars arehappy to be with us.  (Quite a few of the regulars will jump out of thevan when we bring them in, head for the kennel block and then stop in front ofthe kennel they were in last time!) 

As for new dogs itusually takes about 24 hours for them settle in and realise that this is notsuch a bad place.  

And finally if you care for animals then a regular donation to the RSPCA or Animal Welfare League would not be a bad idea.