Pawprints Dog Rescue

Pawprints – Dog Rescue.

Covering pounds for Rugby, Daventry, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Bedworth, Nuneaton and the surrounding areas.

Stray dogs taken to local council pounds have just seven days to be reunited with their families or they can be either rehomed or put to sleep. Due partly to the recession, pounds across the country are full to bursting and so more dogs are being euthanased than ever before. Some of these dogs are sick or injured and we desperately need funds to cover medical treatment.

Pawprints began as a facebook group offering advice and guidance on responsible dog ownership within the Rugby and the surrounding areas. We actively assisted owners in searching for their lost or stolen dogs and were allowed access to local pounds to help reunite strays with their loving owners.

We quickly realised that less than half of the strays were being reunited and to our horror we found that many were being euthanased. These were healthy, social, happy dogs that had done no wrong - they had simply lost their way home or had been abandoned by their owners.

As of October 2011, we began finding rescue spaces and transporting these strays across the country to give them a chance of survival and of finding new families to care for them. Some councils would not pay for medical treatment for those that were sick or injured and so we began to fund raise to cover the cost of treatment.

In January 2012, available rescue spaces simply dried up. We began paying for emergency boarding in local kennels to wait for spaces to become available, but by February nearly all rescues simply closed their doors to new intakes. We were left in a dilemma and with no rescue in the immediate area willing to take the pounds, we had no choice but to form our own rescue, organise foster carers and start fund raising in earnest.

To date, we have rescued over 160 dogs. Under the banner of our rescue, we neuter, vaccinate and treat injured/abused dogs. We have paid thousands of pounds out for medical treatment for neglected, abandoned or lost dogs and are proud to say that we are not breed selective. And currently, there are 17 foster carers on our books who offer a home environment for these strays, work on training or provide post-operative care - we cover the costs in full.

In order to meet these costs we have held online auctions, jumble sales, dog shows and have held stalls at various venues to raise much needed funding. Please visit our Events page to see what is currently planned.

And finally, our Founder has just taken over the lease of Dunsmore Boarding Kennels & Cattery and will provide us with an office and some desperately needed kennel space to enable the rescue to expand.