> I expect that is why you see few collie crosses working sheep, gundog with non gundog mix doing will at gundog work etc.

I don't agree entirely, I think it more about the type of owner than dog. An owner who wants to work sheep/shoot will go out to get the breed of dog he thinks will be most successful and easiest to train, he wouldn't choose a crossbreed rescue. That type of owner will dump the pedigree dog too if it doesn't work as expected.

People who adopt pet dogs don't usually have flocks of sheep to hand. One of my dogs is a rescue gundog breed crossed with non gundog and he would be fantastic at gundog work, however I have no interest in blood sports so he will never have the opportunity.

Another forum has a pedigree dog desperate for a home but breed rescue aren't interested due to lack of papers.

My only contact with breed rescues (coming from a general rescue) for help rehoming pedigree dogs hasn't been good. They weren't interested if the dog had no papers and were furious that one dog had been castrated.

Unfortunately there as many bad general and breed rescues out there as there are good.

why surely any decent breeder would want their pups back to know where they are and are going.

IMO there are virtually no decent breeders in the breed I love (the clue is in my user name)

actually cross breeds traits will not be as heightened, unless of course you have a cross of two breeds that are very similar in traits and drives, two terriers, two retrievers etc.  Otherwise the traits in a mix tend to be toned down.  So a one size fits all approach is more likely to be OK.

I expect that is why you see few collie crosses working sheep, gundog with non gundog mix doing will at gundog work etc.

Again Im not so sure about that, I have a longdog who couldnt hunt for a toffee let alone anything moving yet have a lurcher (grey x smooth collie) who could hunt for England but herd not in a million years, his grey traits have certainly not been toned down at all!

But this is about general rescues not being good enough for pedigree dogs and I think they certainly can be just as good as breed rescues. 

Again could lab rescue cope with all the labs coming in or will they only deal with papered dogs?

> IMO there are virtually no decent breeders in the breed I love (the clue is in my user name)
>

Those I know are really excellent and breed very rarely, but I am talking show greyhounds, I expect you mean Racing Greyhound breeders :(

Re the rescues and papers, unfortunately some overstretched breed rescues have had to say no to dogs without papers (proof of their breed) because of the huge number being bred by BYB's and no way of knowing if they are the breed in question (Sibes, Staffies and Labs come to mind).

I had a foster in last year who had been in Battersea for several months and then our rescue contacted.

Rescue picked her up, she was not a Norwegian Elkhound.  In fact she is and Elkhound cross sibe. Now as a registered charity for rescue and re-homing of Elkhounds it coudl ahve been an issue if a complaint had been made abotu the use of the charities funds not for the purpose the charity was formed for.

She would not have suited anyone wanting a typical Elkhound as her traits were completely different, much more like the sibes, and I found her a home with a Friend who has a West Siberian Laika, a hunting Spitz who looks a lot like a Sibe cross Elkhound. 

He very nearly gave up on her after struggling with her hyper nature and separation anxiety.  She is actually a dog who fits in best in a pack situation and on visits here and when staying here was perfectly content with a larger group of dogs.

This situations illustrates where knowing a breeds traits and needs is important.

Since starting this post I've been thinking a lot about this issue.

Am I so upset because rescue cases in my breed are so few and far between. As I stated I know exactly who bred this pup. ( The breeder now knows and is trying to find out what they can from the Home).

We, as a breed, are lucky that we don't have a huge rescue problem like so many others. I don't think we've got any BYB at the moment.

It must be very hard to be involved with one of the more popular breeds.

My issue is if the rescue centres are so busy at the moment, surely freeing up any space by approaching specific breed rescues would be the obvious answer. Especially if they are dealing with a less common breed.

You've hit the nail on the head why most breed rescues have bad reputations.

> Re the rescues and papers, unfortunately some overstretched breed rescues have had to say no to dogs without papers (proof of their breed) because of the huge number being bred by BYB's and no way of knowing if they are the breed in question (Sibes, Staffies and Labs come to mind).

If general rescues are incapable of rehoming breeds with papers why are they able to rehome the same breeds whos papersh ave been lost, not passed on?

> Now as a registered charity for rescue and re-homing of Elkhounds it coudl ahve been an issue if a complaint had been made abotu the use of the charities funds not for the purpose the charity was formed for.

Perhaps the charity should be clear if they are there to help a breed, papered or not or just make money from selling breeding/showing papered dogs. Do you also have a rule not to rescue/rehome neutered dogs (with papers)?

> She would not have suited anyone wanting a typical Elkhound as her traits were completely different, much more like the sibes, and I found her a home with a Friend who has a West Siberian Laika, a hunting Spitz who looks a lot like a Sibe cross Elkhound.

That does contradict the idea that crossbreeds have toned down traits and no skill is needed to assess and rehome, but well done on finding her a home  :)

> My issue is if the rescue centres are so busy at the moment, surely freeing up any space by approaching specific breed rescues would be the obvious answer. Especially if they are dealing with a less common breed.

I agree with this, but they may have terrible previous experiences with breed rescues and are put off dealing with them again (I wouldn't blame them). Has anyone got to the bottom of why they won't deal with breed rescue?

> Perhaps the charity should be clear if they are there to help a breed, papered or not or just make money from selling breeding/showing papered dogs. Do you also have a rule not to rescue/rehome neutered dogs (with papers)?
>

Our breed rescue makes no charge only asks for a donation, and often the donations are non existent or tiny.

The most worrying aspect is not only that general rescues won't deal with breed rescue when they want to help, but they won't contact the breeder who may well be a responsible one.

A young dog sired by a dog I bred ended up in Blue Cross, and the studs owner went to see him and offer help and was rebuffed.  They told her as a multiple dog owner she would be unsuitable, the actual breeder was emigrating.  They were very anti breeder.

i know a breeder who discovered one of her 9 month olds in a rescue, rang them up and to get it back, and they wouldnt let her have him.......obviously a breed like labs or staffs it would be impossible as there are so many, but certainly in my breed it would be common sense to let a specialist breed rescue rehome.

My only experience of a rescue centre, but not my only rescue, was a terrible experience.
IMO the breed clubs could be utilised  giving advise and assistance.
Although I think there could be an awful risk of the breed clubs, for want of a better expression"getting lumbered".

Brainless I think a lot if them are not only breeder unfriendly but will not recognise an experienced and knowledgable dog owner either. Infuriating and such a waste !!

The sad thing was that my freind was very expereinced with Rescue dogs, having had two ehrself, at that point had owned 5 of our breed, never bred herself and was willing to take responsibility for a pup in rescue sired by ehr dog, what more coudl the welfare agencies want.

She was unsuitable because she had four dogs.

Talk about shooting your self in the foot..... !

and how very frustrating.... your friend sounds the  perfect example of responsible owner/ breeder they should be welcoming that help!

> She was unsuitable because she had four dogs.

I don't have the experience you friend has, but I was deemed unsuitable for a male lab pup (I prefer male dogs) because I allready had one dog -a neutered male rescue who had been with us for 6 years then (he was 10yrs old).  Apparently male labs are too hard to control around other male labs, even older neutered ones that they are raised with, so I would never be able to cope!! I was turnded down over the 'phone, they wouldn't even let me visit them, and this is one of the major rescues, not a small one :( The fact that I am at home 24/7 (I work from home) and have kept dogs all my life & I have a secure garden etc... didn't even get a chance to go in my favour, I was turned down as soon as I said I allready had a dog :( :(
That is when I started looking at pure-breeds from a breeder, not a rescue (I didn't know there were breed-specific rescues then) and got side-traked by the Mastiff, so now I have Buster :-)

I do feel bad that I could have homed a pup from a rescue instead of buying from a breeder, but I did try.

I don't do same gender rehoming with my bull breeds - it rarely works out. However, I always invite potential adopters who already have existing dog(s) to come along with their dog(s) so that I can observe their behaviour towards my rescues. I do not have stringent (sp?) rules but take case by case. The only thing I wont do it rehome pups to full time workers - I just don't think it's fair to leave a pup alone all day.

> I don't do same gender rehoming with my bull breeds - it rarely works out.

That's fair enough with bull breeds or any other breed that would be better of living with the opposite sex, but I was suprised that I wasn't allowed a male lab as my dog was a lab-cross who got on great with other male dogs (which is why I had no worries about bringing my male mastiff pup home :) ).

> However, I always invite potential adopters who already have existing dog(s) to come along with their dog(s) so that I can observe their behaviour towards my rescues.

That's perfect :) It's a pity all rescues didn't do this as I'm sure many good homes are over-looked due to rigid criteria.

>> That's perfect :-) It's a pity all rescues didn't do this as I'm sure many good homes are over-looked due to rigid criteria.

Another example of rigid criteria is the rescue centres that insist that all other dogs in the home being vetted must be neutered.A customer of mine(an absolutely fantastic home) was turned town for a male Westie puppy by an all breed rescue because she already had an elderly male westie who was entire.Now I can understand that rescue centres may have had problems in the past with people adopting puppies then not having them neutered and then breeding from them-but 2 males together?? I just couldn't understand that.Maybe they think that anyone who doesn't neuter their dog is being irresponsible?
I worked for a year or so for an independent all breed rescue a few years ago,they did a wonderful job but the owner was very anti any puppies being bred-a bit like the stance taken by PETA and really thought all breeders were the spawn of the devil.Yes,there are far too many puppies being bred,a lot of them irresponsibly but he ended up alienating many people who would otherwise have supported him.

I can never understand how some rescues decide who will be a good owner and who own't. A friend of mine wanted a little westie. Her collie cross had died of old age, so she approached the local RSPCA, who turned her down and said they would not rehome a dog on any kind with her. She was very disappointed, and I was annoyed when I later found out they had decided she would not offer a suitable home for the dog in question because she was a single parent.

A few months later my friend was contacted by a small rescue who told her they had a really difficult rehoming case would she be prepared to take on a bitch rescued from a puppy farm. It was a golden retriever bitch who had been through some horrific things and was quite shy but otherwise very friendly. My friend took this dog on and worked really hard with her, she became one of the most spoilt and much loved dogs you could find. She never looked back. Last year Purdy died of old age, having given a great deal of pleasure to the little family who took her on.