At Happy Staffie Rescue we have a policy of not ending the life of a dog unless certain irreversible factors apply.
This means that we will not end the life of a dog simply because it is old, or has ailments or is naughty, or because it has been in kennels for a long time. Provided the dog is not suffering we will continue to care for it.
There are however exceptions. If just like with a dog we might ourselves own, veterinary advice suggests that the dog is suffering and its quality of life has deteriorated to such a level then we will obviously consider what is best.
Likewise, if there is a legal reason, for example a court order or other similar instruction to which the charity cannot defend or appeal against then the charity will be obliged to abide by the law.
Finally it may be that there comes into our care a dog that is dangerous, and by this we don't mean naughty, or a dog that likes to chase cats, or growls. We mean a dog that we believe would pose a serious risk or danger to people or animals that might put new owners, their friends, family, people and animals and others that they come into contact with in danger. Such a decision would not be taken lightly, and not like with some other 'rescues' by a stupidly simplistic one-chance test. We will attempt a variety of training and behavioural methods involving different welfare volunteers and kennel staff. We would also consider veterinary treatment and specialist behaviour counselling to see if this helps. If after all these steps have failed, and there appears no resolution to the dog being a danger to others the matter will be passed to the trustees to determine what should happen next.
As with anything like this there may be occasions when a dog attacks someone or something in a manner that presents an immediate serious concern and in such cases a decision would likely need to be taken more quickly.
Interestingly, when we formed the charity we wanted a non-destruction policy (much simpler than the explanation above) written into our governing document, but the Charity Commission rejected a simple non-destruction policy as uncharitable in law!
