Reducing Stray Dogs

At Dog Welfare Network we recognise that at the heart of the sorry problem of unwanted dogs in the world today, lays their uncontrolled population growth.

A feature of modern society is that family-owned dogs tend to live longer lives, often breeding more litters of puppies. People also choose to breed dogs for money, adding to an already huge dog population. Sometimes dog owners discover that they cannot cope with caring for their pet, and if there are no support networks in place to allow for the rehoming of unwanted dogs, strays will usually be the result. It is estimated that two homeless dogs can lead to the birth of a further 300 dogs in just 3 years; if you count the births from the offspring as well, the dog population can increase by several thousand within a relatively short space of time.

Puppies are cute - but owning a dog takes commitment!

Large-scale killing of dogs, practised in some countries even today, does not result in the reduction of the dog population. This is due to the very high replacement rate - for every dog killed there are many more that are born. In addition, culling can lead to the problem of aggressive dogs and the spread of disease.

The only scientifically proven method of controlling the dog population is to carry out large scale neutering programmes. When dog populations are sterilised and returned to their communities, this has beneficial results including:

Each dog guards its own territory and does not allow new dogs to enter;

Since all dogs are neutered, they no longer mate and multiply;

The main factors that lead to dog aggression (migration, mating and protecting puppies) are eliminated, dramatically reducing dog fights and attacks on humans;

Over a period of time, as the sterilised dogs die natural deaths, the population is greatly reduced.

Although sterilisation is not an overnight solution to the stray dog issue, it stabilises the dog population over time. However, when dogs are removed or killed, new dogs enter an area perpetuating the problem. This is why DWN is a strong advocate of large scale neutering programmes.

To this end, Dog Welfare Network aim to organise the funding and logistics for large scale neutering campaigns in partnership with our collaborating dog rescue organisations.

We hope to raise funds by sponsorship, support from local businesses and recruiting new volunteers to help the network.

Can you help with our long-term plan?

You can contact us via  replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

Read more about DWN and our vision at www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

Have You Used The Map?

You may be travelling around Europe this year for business or pleasure and feel that you want to do something to help stray and abandoned dogs along the way. That’s where our map showing dog rescue centres across Europe can help.

To view the map, just visit dogwelfarenetwork.map and from this map you can then visit your chosen organisation's request page, displaying contact details, general information and suggestions of ways in which to help.

The Network also aims to bring together some of the many separate dog rescue organisations, allowing them to share resources and expertise. In addition to this, we are seeking to change behaviour in European countries so that dog owners neuter their dogs, feed them properly, and take them to the vet when needed.

We’d value your feedback on any dog shelters that you may visit, just contact us via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

Wherever you are this spring and summer, see what you can do to help!

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.