A System Of Sharing

When we originally formed the Dog Welfare Network, although we eventually aimed to reduce the number of stray and unwanted dogs by the implementation of wider neutering programmes, our immediate thought was to link existing dog rescue organisations together in some way, so that resources and knowledge could be shared.

On trips to some of the Greek islands, we became aware of how many dog shelters existed in a small area, seemingly unaware of each other and the opportunity there was to share their skills and resources. We therefore set up our website www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk to let centres across Europe and the UK learn more about one another, as well as help them to be recognised by the general public.

Since joining Twitter we have learned of so many wonderful dog rescue organisations around the UK, working tirelessly, often with extremely limited resources, to care for and re-home stray and abandoned dogs. We often see requests made for bedding and food items, home-checkers and dog walkers, which set us wondering whether any centres ever receive a slight surplus of any item or type of help, whilst still falling short in other areas.

Could the answer to all this be a system to share extra resources with each other and exchange lists of reliable home-checkers and walkers that would be happy to serve more than one centre in a given area?

How would you feel about such a system? Please feel free to leave your comments, thoughts or requests on this blog, or tweet us @dogwelfarenet to have your say or to leave details of items or services that you need, or those that you can offer to other like-minded dog rescue centres.

Together we can help stray and abandoned dogs.

Developing The Dog Welfare Network

At Dog Welfare Network we’re aiming to create a centre of expertise to assist our partner organisations, encouraging more professionalism within the dog rescue sector.

We’ve already started to build a register of dog rescue organisations across Europe (see www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/network_map.html for more details) and our next task is create a database of volunteers, to assist with the running of our organisation, work on fundraising and support existing dog rescue centres.

Currently we’re looking for volunteers to translate our website and resources into various European languages, so that we can reach a wider number of individuals and organisations. If you can help with this task (and are ideally based in Kent) then please contact us via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

We will create a best practice guide to rehoming dogs including a sample questionnaire for home checkers to use and will also provide examples of fostering and adoption agreements for use by our partner organisations.

Ultimately, we will provide a forum for dog rescue organisations to share fund raising ideas and offer support to one another.

We look forward to working with new volunteers and partner organisations in the future.

Holiday Plans

At this time of year your thoughts may turn to holidays. You may currently be scouring brochures and websites for your ideal holiday destination, ensuring that it offers everything that you want from a holiday.

But when making your holiday plans, do you ever consider what help you could offer the area that you are visiting?

At Dog Welfare Network we have collected information about dog rescue organisations across Europe, highlighting the areas in which they would appreciate your help. You may only be in an area for a couple of weeks, but during that time a visit to a local dog rescue centre, taking with you some dog food or bedding, or offering to walk the dogs, can make a big difference.

To find dog rescue organisations in your chosen destination, just visit www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk and select your chosen country. We’ve included centres across the UK and Europe that need your valuable support and hope that you will take the time to pay them a visit during your holiday.

We would value your feedback via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk regarding any shelters that you may visit, so that we can ensure all our information is kept up-to-date.

Thank you for your support!

Become A Volunteer

With so many stray and abandoned dogs and so many dog rescue centres needing help, organisations are always on the lookout for volunteers.

Many of you reading this will be dog lovers you would love to help, but for whatever reason are unable to adopt or foster dogs that need homes. But don’t worry – you can still do your bit! Contact a dog rescue centre near you (or help out at one overseas whilst on holiday) to see how you can help.

Here are some suggestions of things that you may like to do:

Take some dog food or treats to the rescue centre to help them cope with the constant strain feeding the dogs housed there. It's a good idea to check with the dog rescue organisation first about what type of food they will find most helpful.

Donate other useful items such as dog toys and bedding.

Offer your skills to a local rescue organisation - anything from building to gardening to helping to organise a campaign or fundraising effort.

Visit a shelter and volunteer to walk a dog. This is a simple activity that you can perform even whilst on holiday and it involves the whole family.

Make a donation to the local neutering campaign, or sponsor a dog that you find on the streets to be neutered. A single female dog can produce up to 120 puppies in her lifetime - more for a male - the only lasting way to tackle this problem is to prevent further puppies being born on the streets.

Please visit our website for more suggestions: www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

We would value your feedback via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk regarding any shelters that you may visit.

What Is Our Vision?

At the Dog Welfare Network we care passionately about dogs, the way in which they are treated and the worldwide problem of stray and street dogs. There are far too many dogs being abandoned and left to fend for themselves, with dire consequences.

Our aim is reduce the number of stray and unwanted dogs by the implementation of wider neutering programmes, education schemes and the bringing together of existing resources.

What is our ultimate aim? One of our founder members explains:

“Our vision is of a world where every dog is loved and treated with respect. There will be no homeless, stray dogs wandering the streets and no healthy dogs have to be put to sleep just because they are unwanted.

We aim to transform the quality of life for dogs worldwide by aiding communities to provide population management and support for community dogs, and aiding adoptions, thus enhancing local environments and enriching human-dog relationships in the process.”

We are looking for volunteers and sponsors to help us with our aims, and will be adding new volunteer information to our website shortly.

Read more at www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

We would value your feedback via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk regarding any shelters that you may visit.

Our Aim For The Future

At Dog Welfare Network we support a number of dog rescue shelters and organisations across Europe, highlighting the practical and financial support that they need, and explaining what you can do to help.

We promote the fostering and adoption of dogs that have been forced to roam the streets and are often left to suffer or are even abused. But this is only part of the story.

As the old saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”, therefore the ideal situation would be to reduce the number of dogs left to roam in this way in the first place. How do we do that? By rolling out a multi-national neutering programme, thus reducing the number of unwanted dogs and preventing the problem spiralling even further out of control.

Many dog rescue shelters do operate some kind of neutering programme, but their resources are limited and therefore so is the impact that they are able to make. We ultimately aim to raise funds to initiate and maintain larger neutering programmes in the areas where they are most needed.

In the short term, we will be inviting businesses to advertise on dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk on a page that gives information of a dog shelter in their area, in exchange for the cost of neutering a dog or number of dogs.

You can also visit our website to identify which rescue centres are already running neutering programmes and would welcome your donations.

Don’t let more dogs be born into terrible conditions just to suffer. Let’s look after the dogs that we already have, which includes running a responsible neutering programme.

Stray Gang

The Dog Welfare Network arose largely as a result of our own experiences, both as dog-loving individuals and as founder members of Lucky Tales: Rescue Without Borders, a Kent-based not-for-profit organisation rescuing dogs from Greece and Italy.

One of the first dog rescue centres that we had experience of outside of the UK was Stray Gang on the island of Rhodes. It seems only fitting therefore, to feature them in our latest blog post.

 

Stray Gang is a registered Greek charity run by Maria, Anastasia and Natassa in their free time, balancing the care of the dogs with their regular jobs. With around 50 dogs in their care and emergency veterinary assistance also provided, they are in need of a constant supply of funds and other support.

Donations of dog food, volunteers to walk and play with the dogs, escorts to accompany dogs to their new homes and building materials to keep the shelter in a good state of repair are all much appreciated by the caring trio.

To discover where you find Stray Gang and read more about what they do, visit dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/rhodes-stray_gang

You can learn more about dog rescue organisations across Europe at www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

We would value your feedback via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk regarding any shelters that you visit.

Thank you for your support!