Adopt a Terrier

Rescue is not second best

Rescue dogs aren’t second best..To Rescue is about being there for a dog that needs you. If your first option is to buy a puppy understand the ethics involved. You’ll never have the thrill of saving a life and your money will ask the breeder to breed again and further contribute to the intense dog problem we have. Rescue, and with the right guidance, you get the dog of your dreams.

Dog breeding is mainly commercial nowadays. Terrier pups come cheap and are sold like bars of soap indiscriminately from every free ad paper or website. Terriers need a special kind of home, sadly for them, so often bought for their looks or on a whim. They often start moving from home to home within months. Terriers need to be highly socialized and managed, as they can’t take the stress of being top dog which a babied terrier becomes. Sharp teeth and claws; busy ‘scampish’ ways and yes the hardest dogs to train. You can’t train the terrier out of a terrier. If a terrier gets into the wrong family they become a disappointment; an annoyance; labeled aggressive or simply trusted beyond their capabilities. Terriers get lost, killed on the road or put to sleep just for being a terrier!

Our Adoption Process

Our Questionnaire

We ask you to complete our homing questionnaire, informing us of key factors in your stage of preparedness and suitability for this breed type. Terriers are lively ‘working’ individuals with strong personalities and wilful characters. They begin to calm down after ten years old and remain full of character to the end; their life expectancy is 16!

Prepare well

Our terriers are waiting and ready. If you’re not ready, please don’t submit our questionnaire. Use the time to prepare ‘your mind set’. Go out of your way to meet terriers and talk to their owners about the restrictions terriers can impose on their lives. If your terrier has recently passed away re-acquaint yourselves with what a young terrier is about; it may come as a shock! Make your garden terrier proof- 6′ wooden panel fencing and high solid gates are ideal. We do not home our terriers in with unneutered dogs for many, many reasons. So neuter and vacinate existing dogs, gain landlord permission in writing where appropriate. Then you’ll be ready for the homecheck.

Ready to start

Ready? Acquaint yourself with the website we have a lot of information here. Complete our homing questionnaire in detail, attaching photos of your garden as this gives a clear idea of their boundaries and ‘free running’ space. Read each dog’s details factually; try to see beyond the picture. We say this as specifying a particular dog when you so obviously haven’t read about them is off putting for us. Be realistic in your preferred choice. Realism is key to owning a terrier! Save the completed form if you wish before you submit it. We will follow this up with a phone call over the next few days so we can chat through any issues and answer any questions you have.

As our dogs are all over the UK, in various situations, the procedure varies from dog to dog. Some terriers are homed directly home to home. Their adoption donation helps to pay the kennel fees of others less fortunate. We operate as a rescue on the strength of people’s generosity. We have no paid staff and don’t claim our expenses. All donations go to pay our vet and kennel bills. So you are offering a terrier your home or supporting our work… thank you!

Our on lead commitment as a rescue

Rescue Realities

Dog Rescuers explore expectations, risks and tolerances. Most people looking for their new family member are attracted on looks and familiarity of breed traits. Let’s be honest Rescueremedies’ dogs have been dumped because they didn’t live up to the demands placed upon them, or families going through changes of circumstance and find they can no longer carry their dog forwards as part of their lives. 

Rescue of Last Resort

For many years we have never gone out looking for “easy to home” dogs. We are renowned for taking only death row dogs: Dogs with no more time in their council pounds where other Rescues have picked off the easy dogs, we then step forwards for the dogs left behind. We take the dogs from vets who have refused to insert the needle. Very often these dogs have low self -confidence and deficits in dog skills.

WHY THEN do we as a Rescue ask for our dogs to be kept on a lead? 

We specialise in bull breeds (Staffierescue; Ambulldogrescue) and terriers (Terrierrescue and Patterdaleterrierrescue).

Bullbreeds and Staffies

Bullbreeds and Staffies are social beings and will look to run over to people and other dogs. The general public do not want a bull breed running over to them, especially if they have a dog. If a bullbreed is challenged by another dog, very few will turn the other cheek. Therefore other dog owners have a point, as they will not be able to totally trust the encounter. We should never inflict our dogs on others. Generally bull breeds don’t like dogs running over into their personal space, so that is why it is best to be at hand with your dog on a lead to manage encounters and ensure your Staffie’s social etiquette is honoured. People’s views differ but we take this stance as a Rescue. Better safe than sorry.

Terriers

Terriers have an independent mindset. Many are not 100% trustworthy in dog encounters as they can be cantankerous if pushed. We deal with ‘high end’ terriers such as Fell terriers, Patterdales and Parson’s Jack Russells who have hunting instincts. If off lead and they ‘commit’ to some reference point in the distance, they are rarely distractible and will run over roads, down fox holes and to that item of fascination to engage with adrenaline flowing. We all know terriers who have lessened traits but our terriers have been given up because families found they had a “high end” terrier or they were actually found stray and unclaimed.

Off lead risks

We have many examples of where we have homed our dogs into responsible families and later heard of incidents mainly due to being off lead: A Staffie has a control order imposed upon them with “muzzle for life” even though they didn’t start the altercation: Some have been seized. We have had Terriers that are killed after getting out of a front door, running after a fox, or killed a cat. Accidents do happen but we are looking for responsible families who are astute to risks. We ask for our homing families to step up to plate and give our dogs safety and security. 

Our dogs have already lost one or more homes before arriving at our door, and had a close shave with death. Our commitment to them, and ourselves, is their next family will be responsible and offer them safety first: Our dogs need to be under our control in public. Our bull breed families need gumption to stand firm for their dogs. Our terrier families need to be alert to risks and secure their dogs outside; in their car and in the home, to counter their ‘flight’ tendencies. Many of our dogs would have been dead had we not put ourselves out to take them in. We are happy to wait for the right family. 
We will not accept abuse over our Rescue’s policy and if we are not convinced a family is firmly signed up to safety as their key concern, we will close the application down.