The Rescue Dog: A Guide to Successful Re-Homing

This is a really excellent little book which explains why rescue organisations have rules on rehoming which may seem needlessly obstructive to would-be adopters. Taking on an adult or nearly-adult dog who may have had bad experiences cannot be the same as starting with a pup who knows no other home than yours.

The authors are possibly a bit over the top about the degree to which rescue dogs are likely to suffer from fearfulness or anxiety — many dogs who need rehoming are stout, cheerful characters who take life in their stride. However it may save lives by helping owners to recognise that their new dog is not being difficult or "challenging" and just needs help to settle in and feel safe.

Please don't phone about the St Bernards yet

I don't have access to any information beyond the published news stories and we are not one of the kennels which have been asked to take some of the dogs. Anyone interested in adopting one of them if they are transferred to the ownership of the RSPCA is probably best advised to keep checking the national website www.rspca.org.uk for further announcements. 

Please don't phone any of the emergency contact numbers as this will stop callers who need urgent help with sick or injured animals getting through.

There is absolutely no question of any of the dogs being put to sleep unless a vet advises that they are too ill to be treated, nor of other dogs being put to sleep to make space to house them.

Our home-checkers are wonderful

I don't know which RSPCA animal home originally decided that Times journalist Alice Miles was not really suitable to adopt a dog, but they appear to have been spot on in their assessment. 

Incidentally, her experiences trying to house-train her puppy demonstrate exactly why we say that there are potential problems if people who work full-time adopt dogs.

Thank-you, Dogsblog!

Since we registered with Dogsblog our rate of dog rehoming has dramatically improved - particularly for the older or more hard-to-place dogs. Ghost now has a home booked, after nearly a year in our care.

Just to get the weekend off to a good start...

Thirteen dogs signed over from an address in Newmarket. RSPCA West Suffolk have kindly offered to take the mother staffie bitch and her puppies as they have a suitable foster home where the pups will get proper socialisation rather than being in kennel conditions. We're taking four adult dogs (all friendly, young adult females) — a Belgian Shepherd, Husky cross, Rhodesian Ridgeback and an Akita.

If you might be interested in adopting any of these dogs, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

RSPCA Rescue dog of the Year Show

You can vote for Rescue dog of the year on the RSPCA website from Monday 8th September.

Due to various mishaps and shortage of helpers we didn't manage to run a heat in 2008 and we need to be starting our planning now if we're going to run one in 2009. If you might be able to help, please email either of the two Rosemarys. There's some further information about what's involved on the branch website. You don't need any special training or experience - except that if you have any experience of judging and would be willing to volunteer to judge "fun" classes we would love to hear from you. Helpers are needed to serve on stalls, make and serve refreshments, act as judge's runners, book in dogs etc. etc. We'd like to get together a small team who would be prepared to get together for monthly planning meetings. Previously we've tried to make arrangements during our normal branch committee meetings and it's never been a success because it just means we don't have enough time for either the show or the committee business to be discussed properly.