What is a French Bulldog or Frenchie ? They are a very distinctive looking dog with a huge and loving personality to match.
But, so popular is the breed now that they are being bred for profit in huge numbers by many unscrupulous people without any thought of the overall health or welfare of the individual pup and that is now causing a problem for rescues like FLOOF.
KC guidelines suggest no more than 4 litters per lifetime, no more than 2 litters per year and definately no breeding under the age of 1 year and for many good and responsible breeders this is what they adhere to. But with the average litter being sometimes 5 pups or even more, and the standard price of a pup being £1500 and up, each litter can produce at least £7,000 for the owner and that can be doubled or trebled per year with continual breeding.
So, those who are just in it for the money ignore the rulings and just go for the pound note. ££££££
If you look at some of the ex-breeding bitches that FLOOF have rescued, like Valentina or Primrose, they were possibly purchased for about £1000 as a pup and they would have been expected from the age of one to produce about 10 litters over the course of the next 5 years. Now even taking out a few vets bills, as some breeders don’t worry too much about the health of the bitch, you would estimate an profit of £20,000 per year and many breeders would have more than one breeding bitch in the house and possibly also own the stud. This, in itself is a small business but with the welfare of a small defenceless dog being the victim.
And, when they are done with the dogs, what do they do? Well, they either sell on Gumtree as a much loved family pet but they have to sell on as they are moving house, have become allergic etc’ or they contact a rescue to pick up the pieces of a broken dog. Bearing in mind - these dogs probably have never known any affection, been fed a good diet or had an exercise or play time and maybe never even seen a vet as many self whelp
When we collect these dogs it is a very upsetting experience for our volunteers. Our volunteers are people like you, they love dogs, they give love, affection, time and money to their dogs and when they go to collect one that has probably never had a name, or is dirty from never being cared for it brings tears to their eyes and many times anger. But, we take the dog, say ‘thank you very much’ and drive away and then we can shout and scream and shame at how this dog has been mistreated by another human being.
The FLOOF look for a loving foster home for these dogs. People, like you, who take them into their homes, give them love and affection that they probably cower from initially, and then you watch them bloom. Bloom into dogs again. They will possibly never be the dog they should have been, but it is a million times better than before. Someone, or maybe the fosterer come along to adopt this dog and maybe, for the first time this dog belongs to someone and has a name, a collar, a warm bed and a forever home.
But now there comes the monetary cost. This is the cost that you and I don’t see. It’s the job of the Management Team who look at the finances of FLOOF. Money coming in, money going out, dogs we can take in and dogs that are ready for adoption.
FLOOFs average charge for an adoption is £350 but when you adopt a dog from FLOOF, they have been health checked, spayed, neutered and you have rescued them. We also put aside approx £400 to cover vaccinations, flea and worm treatments and a health check.
Adoptions fees do not change if a dog coming in requires expensive surgery. We are lucky to have amazing supporter that are with us every step of the way
FLOOF’s vet bills are horrendous, unfortunately, due to the high number of medical cases coming in which can be due to ex-breeding dogs but also from surrenders where the previous owners could not afford the bills and so gave their dog up. And below is a summary of the last 3 months finances.
You can see by the charts below that whilst there is money in the bank, it is allocated to future vet procedures for dogs already in FLOOF. This is not an uncommon position for charities as they rely upon donations from companies, people in the public and dog lovers like you. So taking into account future expenses we are potentially in the red by £800.
How Money Was Given
how the money is being spent
So, whilst in this position FLOOF cannot accept all the dogs it wants to. They cannot commit to the 100% care of all the french bulldogs that need rehoming without funds. And unfortunately, when FLOOF or other rescues cannot take them in, what is the option for the owner?
Ex-breeding bitches and ex-studs, dogs with medical issues - their fate is being PTS
So, what can you do to help?
Donate, raise funds, attend a meet up and see some of the dogs we have rescued and see how you can get involved.
Contact anyone in the FLOOF team, this problem, until addressed by governments and the Kennel Club and the public who buy these dogs, is not going away. And whilst it is here, everyone at FLOOF will do everything they can to make, just some of the rescue french bulldogs lives that bit happier
