TIMELY REMINDER: PLEASE DON'T GET A DOG ESPECIALLY FOR CHRISTMAS - it will become part of your family and may be unaccustomed to party life.

The small charity was set up over 30 years ago to help those who could no longer care for their dogs – whether through ill-health or domestic upheaval. The dogs are our number-one priority and while we have no kenneling facilities of our own, we have been using a rather fabulous commercial boarding kennel in south Shropshire. Sadly, this facility is closing down in 2020, so we need to GREATLY increase the number our foster homes for our dogs to stay in while waiting to be re-homed.

We help ALL DOGS of ALL AGES, breeds and character – and some of them are REAL characters! They all have a story to tell - some pleasant and benign, some woeful and some downright disgraceful. We take care of them all and, with a very careful selection process, we match prospective owners to the right dog. Take a look at our Happy Endings page to see the results ! If you'd like to be considered for one of our dogs, try and visit the kennels or we can arrange a foster-home visit. Please remember, though that we know the animal's character and match the candidate owners to the dogs.

As you are already here, reading about us, you’ve obviously thought about ADOPTING a dog from us – but if you cannot directly adopt – you could SPONSOR a dog already in care; we also have several elderly dogs in foster-care seeing out their days in kind and loving homes. Have you thought about FOSTERING ? Talk to us and we'll go from there ...

Once the dog is in our charge – we ensure that it is vet-checked and prepared for the new owner; older dogs are micro-chipped, vaccinated, worm and flea-treated whereas puppies are treated separately for their onward family. Any of our dogs in foster homes have their food supplies and vet care paid for by Dog Samaritans. Further than that, we can also financially assist owners with the cost of spaying and neutering. All prospective owners have to be home-checked before we release the dog to your care. We do our very best for the dog.

As you can imagine – it is a costly affair with sundry fees, veterinary charges, food bills and occasional advertising. The financing of the charity is partly offset by our two small charity shops: one in Church Stretton and one in Bishop’s Castle; donations of clothes, bric-a-brac and books are always welcome and money donations are significantly welcome especially if they are Gift-Aided.

Our shop in BISHOP'S CASTLE has permanently CLOSED - but our Church Stretton shop is now OPEN - but NOT for donations. Please DO NOT leave your donated goods at the premises or by the doorways - we can't process material donations at the moment. We'll be up and running again just as soon as we can safely work - please bear with us at the restart of business - lots to catch-up on but we need to do it safely for both you and us.

We have kept our suggested minimum donation astonishingly low for a number of years but our sundry costs have all increased to the point where we have to suggest a more realistic £150 if you decide to take on a dog from us; it will go some way to offset the overheads and investment we’ve made in your dog. Puppies are listed with their suggested donation - this reflects their (sometimes difficult) recovery and foster care.

Here’s something to think about too: 95% of the money we raise goes to the help of the dogs – not many charities can match that.

Thanks for visiting us – please look at the various pages to get the full picture of what we do and how we do it.