Help Us In Our Work

At the Dog Welfare Network we have a clear set of aims and objectives that we’re seeking to achieve. These include:

• The support of existing dog rescue organisations in their work, helping to provide resources and raise awareness of their role.
• The development of a large-scale dog population management programme, introducing neutering schemes, thus reducing the numbers of unwanted dogs.
• The funding of education programmes to change people’s attitudes towards dogs and help them to become more responsible owners.

In order to achieve these aims, we are looking to recruit more volunteers to our organisation. We are looking for people who may be able to visit local rescue organisations and promote their work; people who can translate our web copy and literature into other European languages; people who can assist with fundraising; individuals to help with admin duties and any other tasks within the organisation.

To find out more please visit www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/our_organisation.html

You can contact us via Twitter, or by clicking on the envelope logo on our website.

Can you help?

Introducing GAWF

At Dog Welfare Network, we support and promote animal rescue organisations and charities across Europe, with the emphasis being on helping stray and street dogs.

There are a number of organisations that are joint ventures between the UK and various countries around Europe, which are working to reduce the number of stray dogs and to improve the lives of the many street dogs.

One such organisation is The Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF), operating in Greece as Animal Action Greece. GAWF is a charity based in both London and Athens that strives to improve the welfare of all animals in Greece.

Founded in 1959, GAWF works with street animals, working animals, pet animals – any animals that need help. As well as practical and often life-saving veterinary work, GAWF campaign and lobby the Greek Parliament, support smaller animal welfare groups in Greece, run education programmes and offer training in animal care.

Their work includes:

Helping street cats and dogs.

Running a neutering programme.

Working with and supporting animal welfare groups throughout Greece.

Providing financial assistance in the form of grants to local animal welfare organisations and individuals.

Raising awareness of the importance of animal welfare, particularly to the younger generation.

You can read more about GAWF by visiting dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/animalactiongreece or animalactiongreece.gr

To read about other dog rescue organisations that run as joint ventures with the UK, as well as other centres across Europe just take a look here

Other partnerships include:

SpanishStrayDogs

OurFriendsDogRescue

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.

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!

A Little More About Us

If you’ve only just found us on Twitter, or are reading our Blog for the first time, then you may like to know more about who we are and why we do what we do.

The Dog Welfare Network was created by the founders of Lucky Tales: Dog Rescue Without Borders, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation that rescues dogs from Italy and Greece. We are a very small organisation, dedicated to the improvement of animal welfare across Europe and, indeed, the world, giving our time and effort on a completely voluntary basis.

Based in Kent, we have helped to re-home many dogs from European rescue centres, finding them caring families and individuals in the UK. We oversee the dogs' journey to this country and are in contact with relevant rescue centres across Europe.

However, it came to our notice, that in many countries, dog rescue charities and organisations were operating with minimal resources and were often unknown. In some cases shelters were running in close proximity to one another, striving for the same aims, yet unaware of one another, missing out on a great opportunity to pool resources.

We therefore decided to create a single website bringing together dog rescue organisations around the UK and all of Europe, highlighting their needs and bringing them to the attention of the general public and one another.

All the shelters that we feature are in need of your support, whether it be monetary, through donations of food and equipment or by practical help in the form of dog walking or fostering.

In addition to their needs, as an organisation, we are looking for further sponsorship in order to increase the support that we can give all the wonderful individuals and organisations that are doing so much to help the many stray dogs that are suffering on a daily basis.

What can you do to help?

Please visit our website www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk to learn more.

We would value your feedback via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk about any shelters that you visit, so that we can add up-to-date information and ensure that shelters that are exhibiting bad practice are not being featured on our website.

Thank you for your time and support.

Helping The Stray Dogs of Spain

You may currently be preparing to go on holiday in Spain or one of the nearby islands. As you check out the things to do and the places to visit at your chosen destination, take time to see if there are any dog rescue centres that would appreciate your help while you’re there.

At the Dog Welfare Network, we have information about many dog rescue shelters across Europe including those in Spain.

If you’re travelling to Andalusia, perhaps you could offer some assistance to the people of A.I.D. who look after and try to rehome the stray and abandoned dogs in this area of Malaga. For more information see dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/spain-aid

Meanwhile in Cadiz, the folk at Happy Ending Final Feliz would appreciate help with walking the dogs that they care for and would appreciate donations of food and bedding. Read more at dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/spain-happy_ending

S.A.T. on the Costa Blanca would also value your help with practical support and donations. You can see their details at  dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk/spain-sat

At the Dog Welfare Network website you can also read about organisations on the islands of Fuerteventura  Lanzarote and Majorca and what you can do to offer them your help.

Visit www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk for more information. We value your feedback on any shelters that you visit, so please contact us via replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

Thank you for your support.

Introducing Marmaris Dog Shelter

The Marmaris Dog Shelter in Turkey was built in 2005 and was originally designed to house 150 dogs. Today it has over 250 dogs in its care, with new arrivals constantly being admitted.

The shelter is run by a group of volunteers across several nationalities, all working to improve the lives of the animals in Marmaris. Their aims and ongoing objectives include:

  Caring for sick animals, administering medication and taking them to private vets when necessary, which is paid for by fundraising schemes.

  Supplementing the inadequate food allowance with supplies provided by fundraising. Volunteers visit the Shelter for three hours each day to ensure equal distribution of food, and provision of supplementary feeding for weak or nursing dogs.

  Creating separate areas for weak dogs, mothers with puppies, orphaned puppies and sick animals. Volunteers are building more covered areas and kennels to provide extra shelter as well as maintaining and repairing broken doors, fences, bolts etc

  Finding suitable, temporary foster homes for recovering animals and orphaned puppies.

  Finding permanent adoptive homes both in Turkey and other countries, with a follow-up system for dogs leaving the shelter.

To achieve all of this it is necessary for the volunteers of Marmaris to constantly hold fundraising events, ranging from raffles, sponsored events and table-top sales to encouraging ongoing donations to the scheme.

Volunteers often provide essentials out of their own pockets and desperately need your help to improve the lives of the stray and abandoned dogs of Turkey, where the government policy is to trap, neuter and then release dogs (TNR).

Perhaps you will be traveling to Turkey this year for your annual holiday or for business purposes. Marmaris is a popular tourist destination, with many clubs and bars, aquaparks and local entertainment and is renowned for its sailing centre. Add to this the friendliness of the locals and you have the makings of a great holiday. But please, whilst enjoying all that Marmaris has to offer, spare a thought for the dogs and volunteers of the Marmaris Dog Shelter and help them in any way that you can.

You can find the shelter at:

Marmaris Hayvan Rehabilitasyon Merkezi

Otogar Yani

Marmaris – 48700

Or find out more at:

info@marmarisanimalwelfare.com

www.marmarisanimalwelfare.com

www.facebook.com/marmarisanimalwelfare

Follow on Twitter @MarmarisAnimals

You can read more about how to help the many dog rescue shelters across Europe by visiting www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk

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