There are so many stories of people being refused for pathetic reasons - one lady I know was refused because she lives in a flat, but it's a flat with its own enclosed garden with a 6 foot fence and she walked her previous dog for miles every day. My parents were not exactly refused, the centre just told them that none of the dogs was suitable and they got the message. Quite what was wrong with them, apart from the fact that they were in their early 60s, I don't know. They're now in their mid 70s and my father still walks the neighbour's dog for miles every day.

If centres want to keep all the animals themselves, I suppose that's up to them, but to then ask the public for money when in fact they are putting up impossible barriers to people rehoming animals, and thus causing more animals to be put down because there are no vacancies, then it becomes another matter. Personally I have no time for the RSPCA and I wish they would stick to what they are good at - prosecuting genuine cases of cruelty and neglect - rather than terrorising breeders just because they don't think any animals should be bred, and destroying most of the unwanted animals they take in.