How we started...................
The
Origin of SHWA(UK)
The
Welfare situation in UK Siberian Huskies was fairly stable through the 1990's.
The creation of a new online market via the internet resulted in a massive
increase in the indiscriminate commercial breeding of Siberians by puppy
farmers/backyard breeders and naive/greedy "pet" breeders. The
resulting sale of dogs to naive and ill-prepared new owners with little or no
support, meant that the welfare situation at the beginning of the 21st Century
began to spiral out of control.
By
the middle of 2006, a group of individuals based around the Dreamcatcher
Online Forum who
had been working independently to rescue and rehome unwanted Siberians found
that their commitment to welfare had increased to the extent that it was barely
manageable as they were being overwhelmed by the demand! In the year
up to Christmas 2006, they found they had rehomed 70 unwanted Siberian Huskies.
At
the same time, the SHCGB Welfare Scheme was going through a crisis of its own
and in December 2006, the club decided that its Welfare Section could only deal
with KC registered dogs bred by or owned by club members. This meant that there
was no breed specific safety net out there for the vast majority of unwanted
Siberians. In response to this, a group of like-minded individuals organised the
founding meeting of SHWA(UK) in February 2007.
Thanks
to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, almost two years on and 400
rehomed Siberian Huskies
and 88 volunteers later, we are still going strong, growing each day and
have established ourselves as the biggest and most successful Siberian Husky
Rescue/Welfare organisation in the UK.
What
you need to know about SHWA(UK)? ........
As
you read the following lines you will hopefully gain an insight into the way
SHWA(UK) works:
We’ll start with the most important issues for you to understand:
SHWA(
UK) IS A SERVICE FOR THE DOGS, NOT THE PEOPLE
SHWA(
UK) is a service for the dogs. Helping you find the dog of your dreams is,
hopefully, a happy result of that, but our main concern here is the
dog
and what is best for each individual dog.
We endeavour to ensure each dog goes to the right home depending on the
individual dog's needs. This may mean that people looking to adopt a dog may not
necessarily get the dog they enquire about and may have to wait till a suitable
dog becomes available.
It may be frustrating for a person wanting to adopt a dog but please remember
this rule if for the good of the dogs and by consequence is for the benefit of
the new owner. The last thing we at SHWA(UK) want is to have to take back a dog
because it wasn’t matched to the right family.
SHWA(UK)
DOES NOT HAVE A KENNEL WHERE YOU CAN VIEW THE AVAILABLE DOGS!
SHWA(UK) doesn’t have a centre that you can visit, pick out a dog, and take it
home with you. There is no place to drop by and window shop, no business hours,
and no specific times we are open.
SHWA(UK) is a group of people that love their breed and want to give something
back. They are volunteers who foster the dogs and take them into their own homes
as a part of their family until their new forever home is ready for them.
We will take your applications, screen them, and then have people come and visit
you with the dogs or have you visit the dogs in our homes. See… no kennel
involved!
SHWA(UK) IS NOT A PHONE SERVICE
On the end of any phone number you are given there is a volunteers’
home. Please respect that.
If you are phoning to give up your dog please remember volunteers have very
little time to deal with the emotional side of giving up your dog and have even
less time to deal with your indecision about keeping the dog or giving it up.
Please do not think us cold or callous, but we really don’t have the time to
offer ongoing emotional support to every person giving up a dog.
If you’ve taken the trouble to find a rescue and call or email, then 99% of
people have their minds set on getting rid of the dog. Don’t lie to us or to
yourself. Simply tell us the reason you are giving the dog up and answer the
questions we ask frankly and honestly. Remember the information you give us will
be used to help select the right new home for the dog so we need honest answers.
We will not judge you for giving up your dog. If you have done everything you
could do before coming to rescue, you should not feel guilty. We understand
things happen in people’s lives that make hard choices a necessity.
Rescue should be one of your last resorts. Try obedience training, try crate
training, try asking advice from experienced Husky owners, try everything you
can before you make the decision to give up your dog. When you’ve done all
that you can, then call us and let us know why you’re giving up the dog in the
least amount of words you can. We’ll ask questions, you answer them. Quick,
Simple, and Honest.
SHWA(
UK) IS NOT A 24/7 SERVICE.
SHWA(UK) is a group of people who already have a life, a family, a full-time
job, their own dogs, foster dogs, 50 e-mails a day looking to adopt or give up a
dog, 20 phone messages a day looking to adopt or give up a dog, calls from
shelters needing a rescue to take a dog who is about to be put down, not to
mention applications to process, vet appointments for foster dogs.....and
countless other things that rescue involves.
Of course, this does not include the volunteer eating, sleeping, and having a
(relatively) normal life with their own dogs......
SHWA(UK) IS NOT A WAY FOR YOU TO FIND A PUREBRED SIBERIAN HUSKY FOR LITTLE OR
NO MONEY
SHWA(UK) is a safe haven for unwanted Siberian Huskies, with people that know
and understand the quirks and personality of that breed, and have the knowledge
needed to handle that breed, it’s medical requirements, and who can access an
application to be sure it would be an appropriate home for that breed.
SHWA(UK) IS NOT A BABY-SITTING SERVICE FOR YOUR DOG, A KENNEL, OR A PLACE
THAT WILL TRAIN YOUR DOG
SHWA(UK) is an organisation that dogs who are homeless, about to be homeless, or
in a shelter, come into where they will receive the medical attention, physical
attention, and behavioural attention they need. SHWA(UK) is often the only thing
standing between a dog and a lethal injection.
Please understand that when you give up your dog, you sign away all rights of
ownership to it. You cannot come back to us in six months time saying you’ve
sorted your life out, or you have split up with the boy/girlfriend who hated
dogs and can you have the dog back now? It doesn’t work like that!
CAN
I GET A DOG FROM SHWA(
UK) THAT IS NOT SPAYED OR NEUTERED?
SHWA(UK) is responsible about the reproduction of their breed. In fact, rescues
believe that the only breeding that should be done is by the FEW responsible
breeders out there, and only to improve the breed.
Responsible breeders are folks that care about their puppies and take pride in
placing them in loving homes where they will be cared for. Responsible breeders
have quality pups that are lovingly raised, given proper care, and sold only to
homes that are appropriate for the breed. Responsible breeders will ensure that
only health tested dogs which are excellent examples of their breed are bred
from. In addition they will usually have a puppy contract which states that for
any reason you can no longer look after the puppy you will give the dog back to
the breeder.
If every breeder did this we would have no need for welfare associations at all.
For this reason all SHWA(UK)
dogs are spayed or neutered before adoption so that no "accidents"
happen.
SHWA(
UK) CANNOT TAKE UNSAFE DOGS.
Because all our dogs are fostered in our volunteer’s homes, SHWA(UK) is unable
to accept dogs that are not safe for anyone to own. If, due to someone not
telling the truth about their dog’s temperament we inadvertently take in a
human-aggressive dog, it will be humanely put to sleep. Please bear this in mind
when giving up your dog. Because all SHWA(UK) dogs are fostered in the homes of
our volunteers, alongside their own dogs, we are also unable to take in dogs
with dod-dog aggression issues. For the same reason, no dog will be accepted for
fostering unless its vaccinations are up-to-date.
We
do work with every dog to see if they are just frightened, or have an issue that
is solvable. Those who are scared or have an issue that is solvable, we work
with and allow them time to adjust and overcome their fear. Those who we cannot
work with are put to sleep.
Some people think a welfare/rescue that euthanizes aggressive dogs is horrible,
but the reality is, without a dedicated secure kennel and a dedicated staff of
behaviourists (all of which are well beyond our meagre resources) we simply have
no choice!
SHWA(UK)
IS NOT SERVICE TO FIND YOU THE DOG OF YOUR DREAMS
…….
the dog that loves kids, cats, everyone, doesn’t bark or howl, is perfectly
housebroken, is free, does tricks on command, walks to heel off-lead, is
perfectly obedient and knows how to act in every situation.
SHWA(UK) is the place that gets calls from shelters and owners who have a dog in
need. Sure, we may come across a dog like the one described above, but chances
are it will be adopted quickly and it will be a long time before we see another
one like it.
We work with each dog to make them better pets than they were when they entered
rescue, but we aren’t miracle workers. Every dog has his own personality, and
that is what matters.
Be realistic about what you want/need out of a dog. If you need a dog that ticks
all the boxes you may have to consider that this breed is just not suitable for
you.
SHWA(
UK)
2010
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