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.
