No matter which party is in power next, they need to change Dog Control legislation immediately

No matter which party is in power next, they need to change Dog Control legislation


The Mayhew believes the government needs to place more onus on responsible pet ownership with revised legislation, but additional focus should also be placed on dog breeders. There is a large and growing problem with the misuse and mistreatment of dogs across the UK, but simply removing these dogs off the streets is not going to make this problem go away. More needs to be done to stop them falling in to the hands of irresponsible owners; this means tighter breeding restrictions.

In effect, it is the people we need to target and work with - not the dogs. More needs to be done to address the unchecked breeding of dogs and also the ease with which dogs fall into the hands of irresponsible owners. The Mayhew would like to see tighter regulations placed on the trade in pets on the Internet and other forms of media, and priority given to the stricter monitoring of both registered and “backstreet” breeders. In addition, there needs to be more thought given to an effective registration system for dog owners which would embody the principles of responsible pet ownership.

The Mayhew believes each and every local council should invest in designated and trained personnel, such as Animal Welfare Officers and/or Dog Wardens, who can work both with local residents and pet owners to deal with prevent a looming crisis and make our communities safer for animals and people alike. Collaboration across the board between government and non-government bodies, as well as animal welfare organisations, will help to produce more comprehensive and cohesive methods to resolve this issue.

Watch the videos below to hear more of our thoughts about what the government needs to do next:

Dog control legislation: Background

In part one of this two part video interview The Mayhew Animal Home share their views on the dog control legislation including the background behind the legislation and why it needs to change.

Dog control legislation: Recommendations

In the second part The Mayhew Animal Home share their recommendations on the dog control legislation and the changes that need to take place.



Bull breeds

The Mayhew Animal Home discuss the rising popularity of bull breeds amongst youth culture and the problems that have arisen as a result of a lack of care and their negative image in the public and press.

Animal welfare crisis

The Mayhew Animal home discuss the animal welfare crisis in the UK including the overpopulation crisis of certain breeds of dog and a lack of care from pet owners

A Halloween special for our 'longest stayers'

I am now surrounded by Halloween goodies after getting a little over-excited in the pound shop this morning for our themed-day on the 31st. We are hosting a Halloween special at the Home with a specific focus on the plight of black cats at rescue centres.

Rescue centres in the UK, and indeed in other countries too like the U.S and Canada, are all faced with the problem of the 'sticky' black and black and white cats. They are the longest stayers in rescue centres as adopters tend to favour any unique looking cats, looking for a pet who is that little bit different. Sadly, this means that when we have cabins full of black cats their chance of a quick adoption diminishes.

So for the one day of the year where they become recognised icons splashed around on posters perched on broomsticks and pumpkins, we have decided to use the day to try and give a little extra push for some of our Cattery residents. Black cats who all have fantastic loving personalities and really should have found a forever home by now.

We will be decking the Home in a Halloween theme and hosting tours throughout the day at 12, 2 and 4pm and there will be games and activities.

Halloween is such an excellent opportunity to highlight this issue, though of course we welcome adoption enquiries for any of our animals, be they cat, dog, little, large, spotty, tortoiseshell, ginger or calico!

Wall of Fluff + Kitten Season

Had the treat this morning to be introduced to the website Wall of Fluff by The Metro newspaper. There was a video featured in The Ridiculant section of a kitten eating broccoli, and for anyone familiar with that section of the paper you will know how they love their kittie videos. It seems to be that anything feline related seems to drive people crazy on YouTube and I admit I had a fair old giggle at this video titled 'Nosiy kittens waiting for dinner'.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiHXASgRTcA

We are all certainly familiar with that sound at The Mayhew, when it is near to feeding time in the kitten cabins!

We are now officially at the end of Summer (how freezing is it today?!) yet we still have a lot of kittens waiting for homes and staff are only at the end of a spate of hand rearing some of them. Every year kitten season eats up so many rescue centre resources, as our Animal Welfare Officers are called out constantly to collect stray any feral litters from gardens, sheds, inside peoples houses, and members of the public turn up left, right and centre with litters they no longer want or have found near their homes and gardens.

The Mayhew has night staff shift workers that are at the Home round the clock, which is essential over this 'season' as the very young kittens need hand fed every two hours and also need the help to be cleaned and go to the toilet, as it is their mother washing them that would otherwise do the job.

At the top of this post is a photo of two ten day old kittens that came in at the beginning of the summer after our AWOs were called out to a building site. Luckily, we had a volunteer foster carer that was able to take them into her home and hand rear them -volunteers like this are invaluable to us.

First installment! Animal rescue: The two extremes

As a relatively small animal rescue home in North London, it is always an issue for us as to how well people know just what we do outside of re homing cats and dogs, and how much they also even want to know.

Many people are happy just to hear about the happier side of our rehoming tales, and may only think that is the scope of our work, but we have four Animal Welfare Officers here who deal with the social issues daily that affect animal welfare to a large degree. Some of these issues are of the graver kind that many people may not wish to acknowledge and ones that need to be given much more attention by government and the media: Issues like dog fighting, status dogs, dog registration and pet advertising.

Our new blog will give constant updates about tales from the Home and what we see here on a day to day basis. Some of it will be addressing the more contentious issues of animal welfare and many of it the day to day unpredictability of life at a rescue home.

Only in the last week, amongst our many arrivals, we have had a peacock as a temporary guestin our kitten garden, a celebrity visit to adopt her new puppy (all to be revealed), two very obese cats arrive (or roll in!) and our impressively statuesque Neopolitan Mastiff, Louie, went to the Paul O Grady show this morning to feature in the Homeless Dog slot on the show.

To be continued.....