“Information on rehoming on the website is different from that being given by the call centre which resulted in me making two trips to the Bridgend centre, spending £30 on fuel and ending up with no dog. Was informed that they could not keep the dog for a week but the website says process takes 8 days! They seem to change the process to suit themselves. Got the impression it is all about the money rather than the welfare of the dogs in their care. They are clearly a very wealthy organisation if the fleet of vans in the car park is anything to go by.”
“Most of the staff were unhelpful, patronising and rude. We were looking to rehome a dog after losing our 15 year old collie/husky cross. He was a rescue also and despite any issues he came to us with he became a lovely family dog who had a great life.
Dogs trust staff found reasons why any dog we were interested in was unsuitable, saying one particular dog could never in his lifetime be let off its lead even in our own secure garden, as our gate was only 4ft high.
This charity is not doing itself any favours as we left and have bought a new puppy instead.”
“I have visited the Salisbury branch four times the staff just aren’t interested in showing any dogs even though I had been told by the call centre they had been contacted and would show me them.
I have had dogs in my life as a child and responsible owner for 60+ years and for the past 35 of them they have been rescue dogs.
I am a widow and after losing my elderly dog just before Christmas I am now looking for a new dog to keep me company. But after going home in tears because of their attitude I have given up hope”
“The website says 'come and meet me'. How can you meet a dog through a glass screen? The Leeds branch shows about 45 available dogs; only about a third of those were on display and several of those were posted as being reserved. I had a list of 6 dogs I was interested in seeing but none were on display and could not be seen. I spent about 2 hours at the site and was interviewed by the single staff member carrying out interviews (there must have been a dozen staff on the site).
All the dogs we wanted to see were described by the interviewer as unsuitable for a variety of reasons; one disliked men, another was destructive, another was aggressive to other dogs. None of these undesirable traits were mentioned on the dogs details on their website. However, the interviewer did then try to interest us in some dogs that were on display behind the glass screens. I came away with the clear impression that the staff were only interested in 'selling' the dogs that were on display on the day and not providing the potential adopter with the opportunity to see the dogs they were interested in.
Most unsatisfactory visit and I travelled 60 miles to view the dogs.”
“A total waste of time, only tried them because my local RSPCA had nothing suitable at the time. Unable to get any sense over the phone, had to travel for a full hour (each way) to my nearest centre only to be given plenty of negatives about their dogs undertaken by someone who obviously wanted to be elsewhere at the time. Left them somewhat scratching our heads.”
“Compete waste of time!
To be honest our visit was a little fruitless, it looks like they are clawing all-lot of money with the new fancy building at Evesham. Personally upon our visit most dogs were out walking. The centre is only open to the public 4 hours a day and staff decide to walk or clean the kennels out most of the dogs at the same time. So your unable to see them. And when you ask what the rehoming process is it’s covered with red tape before you even get started they tell you that you have to be there at the crack of dawn to get the right dog. I won’t be rescuing a dog from here!”
“Well, what went right.? Amused at your invitation to Dogs Trust to give a viewpoint, to answer it's critics. The charity always has to control the agenda. If this is not possible it says nothing silence being the default position. If you explain you lose. Dogs Trust never loses.”
“We are long term Staffie owners and recently lost our beloved Hagar, Considering a rescue we looked on Dogs Trust Web site, They had a dog we thought suitable, rang the phone number, this was a call center not the rescue center, They had no additional info to that on the Web Site, said they would enquire as to if the dog was avaliable, I asked them to ring me back when they had some info or give me the rescue center phone number, they refused to do either and told me I would have to visit the rescue center and fill in a form. This involved a 200 + mile round trip, They could only tell me there had been two other people shown interest in the dog and I could not fill in the form via the Interweb. Theis ridiculous beaurocracy is clearly off putting to any prospective adopter THEY HAVE 100 STAFFIES ON THEIR LISTING yet are not prepared go in any small way to accommodate an experienced Staffie owner to adopt a needy dog..”
“I was told outright that the dogs I viewed online was not suitable for me. The only dogs I was allowed to view was behind glass, no real interaction, no offer was made for me to meet any of them or the ones hidden from sight.
They have an impossibly idealistic idea of what is required to adopt one of their dogs. In the time I was there they rejected 3 out of 4 applications, myself included. They were very nice about it and said they would get in touch when they had a suitable dog for me. Months on and no phone call, apparently they have no dogs at all that need a safe, warm and loving home. They make adopting impossible. So they say they want to re-home dogs but has anyone ever passed their tick list. The TV ad is not realistic in any way. So, where do they get the money to have dogs on hold in their care, some of them for years????”
“It's a joke trying to re-home a dog from dog's trust your told it's easy is it f**k got two young children age 5 and 6 but every dog in the centre has not suitable to live with children under 16 because there to nervous
which is hardly surprising being locked in a box all day every day, your told to go look and write down the dogs you like only to be told no, no, no on them all been to the Kenilworth centre 5 times now it's time to give up not bothering now we will go private. THERE IS FAR TO MUCH RED TAPE IN RE-HOMING FROM DOGS TRUST”
