Dogs Trust


Dogs Trust, known until 2003 as the National Canine Defence League, is a British animal welfare charity and humane society which specialises in the well-being of dogs. It is the largest dog welfare charity in the United Kingdom, caring for over 15,000 animals each year. Dogs Trust's primary objective is to protect all dogs in the UK and elsewhere from maltreatment, cruelty and suffering. It focuses on the rehabilitation and rehoming of dogs which have been either abandoned or given up by their owners through rehoming services.
Dogs Trust has 20 rehoming centres across the UK. Its first international rehoming centre opened in November 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. Its charity guidelines ensure that no mentally or physically healthy dog taken into the protection of its rehoming centres are euthanised. Dogs Trust also manages microchipping and neutering schemes in the United Kingdom and abroad, in order to reduce the number of unwanted litters of puppies and stray dogs.

History

The National Canine Defence League was founded in 1891 at a meeting during the first Crufts show chaired by Lady Gertrude Stock. The NCDL campaigned against vivisection, unnecessary muzzling and prolonged chaining, as well as providing care for stray dogs. It also campaigned against cruel treatment of dogs by railway companies, who often refused to provide water for dogs. More unusually, in the 1920s, it provided AA wardens with pistols. This was because dogs and other animals were often involved in car accidents, and the pistols were provided to allow the wardens to euthanise the animal as a last resort in the worst cases. In 1957, the NCDL campaigned against the use of the Russian space dogs in space flight, organising a minute's silence in honour of Laika, who died in orbit from overheating and stress. In 2003, the NCDL was rebranded as Dogs Trust. In 2016 the Trust declared an income of £98.4 million and expenditure of £86 million. In 2017 the Trust declared an income of £106.4 million, an increase of £8 million from 2016. In November 2017, Dogs Trust assisted in the effort to reduce dog homelessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by contributing to the funding of a major rehoming centre. On 14 March 2019, Dogs Trust officially unveiled plans to open a new rehoming centre in Cardiff in 2021.
The charity is best known for its slogan "A Dog is for life, not just for Christmas", which is used either in full or shortened to "A Dog is for Life" in advertising. The phrase was created by Clarissa Baldwin, the former Chief Executive of the charity, to reduce the number of dogs which are abandoned as unwanted. The slogan is a registered trademark. More recently it has adopted another slogan: "Dogs Trust Never Put a Healthy Dog Down".

Rehoming

Rehoming aims to rehome most dogs under its protection at the Dog Trust's 21 rehoming centres across the UK and Ireland. It also obtains two large mobile rehoming units known as 'Dogmobiles'. These are large vehicles fitted with air conditioned kennels and are specially designed to tour the local area, carrying a small number of dogs from nearby rehoming centres that are desperately seeking new homes.
Dogs Trust never euthanises healthy dogs, however some dogs suffering from potential trauma are unable to be rehabilitated in order to live in a normal home environment. The charity takes care of these dogs under its popular .
They have also created an animal sanctuary where selected dogs unable to be rehomed can live together free from excessive human contact.
List of Dogs Trust rehoming centres:
At the beginning of June 2012, the charity opened its eighteenth UK rehoming centre in Leicestershire. Dogs Trust Loughborough aims to be the greenest animal rescue centre in the world. The centre runs on renewable energy from its biomass boiler, green roofs, under-floor heating, solar thermal panels, photovoltaic panels and a rainwater recycling system. The project will be constructed with the aim to achieve BREEAM outstanding classification and the highest levels of sustainability. The charity says the facilities will significantly reduce running costs.

Campaigns

Dogs Trust has campaigned against docking of tails and unnecessary euthanasia, such as that carried out on foxhounds after fox hunting was banned by the Hunting Act 2004. It also offers free neutering services in certain poorer countries and runs international training programmes for other animal welfare charities with the aim of reducing feral populations.
In 2010 the charity introduced the term 'battery farming of dogs' to associate the practice of Puppy farming in the minds of the public with that of battery farming of chickens, and aims to educate the public as to where they can safely go to buy a ‘cruelty free dog’.
In 2009 Dogs Trust started the process towards making microchipping compulsory for all dogs. They successfully lobbied for changes to the laws in the United Kingdom to make that happen starting in 2015. In 2017 they declared the program a success and lead the public to believe that their microchip program reduced the stray population of dogs in the UK and prevented euthanasia. However, they failed to mention that they had nearly doubled the amount of spay/neuter services for five years leading into the implementation of compulsory implant of microchips in all dogs in the UK, and have promoted a misconception that microchips instead of spay/neuter reduces the population and prevents euthanasia. The following is a table of the UK dog population and the Dogs Trust spay/neuter and microchip services published by Dogs Trust.
YE 31 MarchUK StraysUK EuthanisedYE Dec. 31stSpay/NeuterMicrochip
2009107,2289,310NANANA
2010122,0006,404200945,814NA
2011126,0007,121201048,52010,677
2012118,000NA201164,69162,367
2013111,0008,985201267,244144,600
2014110,6757,058201368,61990,968
2015102,3635,142201473,549264,240
201681,0503,463201577,047196,214
201766,2772,231201633,453107,826
201856,0431,462201722,789NA

Compulsory implant of microchip laws allow shelters to implant the pet upon intake without hold times. In 2017 Dogs Trust reported 15,446 dogs cared for and 312 deaths, the highest for the last 10 years. The report for the year ending 31 March 2019 shows 15,015 dogs cared for and 331 deaths, and increase of another 10% in the death/care rate. Adverse event reporting for microchip implant became compulsory with the implant laws. Yet it does not appear that any of their deaths were reported as adverse events of microchip implant, but just dismissed as another death in the shelter. Shelter deaths are a concern in themselves and also as a general indicator of the health of the population. It is a wonder that the mandatory microchip implant program was put in with adverse event reporting, but no monitoring of the inflammatory markers of the pets being implanted.

Celebrity support

;Patrons
;TV game show winnings
From 2009 to 2011, Dogs Trust held an annual charity event held at locations across the UK, where members of the public could complete either a 5 km or 10 km walk around a course in an area which is usually close to the rehoming centre for that location.

Dogs Trust Honours

In 2008, the charity created Dogs Trust Honours, an annual 'Doggy Pride of Britain Awards' ceremony celebrating the relationship between Human and dog and honouring dogs who have greatly helped their owner, local community or society.

Rehoming figures

YearDogs cared forDogs rehomedDogs reunited
with owners		Dogs diedReference
200513,50611,563168273
2006 15,162 12,993 192 215
2007 16,177 14,022 185 334
2008 16,238 14,169 190 260
2009 15,886 13,909 178 226
2010 16,813 14,590 237 276
2011 15,986 13,830 178 309
2012 16,879 14,825 202 199
2013 16,879 14,865 220 238
2014 14,630 14,419 203 214
2015 15,196 12,987 204 188
2016 15,343 13,067 226 270