K9 Crusaders Dog Welfare Charitable Trust (no:1138278) based in Cornwall, England.
We deal with all kinds of issues relating to dogs, from rescue and rehoming via our Welfare Centre in Bissoe, to behavioural support and advice on many aspects of dog husbandry. We are independent and have no other income stream, and rely solely on donations to keep going and on volunteers to try to keep up with the ever increasing demand for help.
t all began with one determined dog lover and a newsletter and has, over the following years, ballooned into a rescue centre with up to 60 dogs looking for new homes.
Our founder Sue first began by publishing a newsletter to educate people in matters of dog husbandry and welfare, but soon found out that members of the public were contacting her for help with getting their dogs rehomed. Sue acted as a clearing house trying to put people in touch with welfare organisations that could accommodate the dogs, but soon discovered that they were all full and many dogs had nowhere to go.
At that point K9 Crusaders became more than a provider of useful information and became the bare bones of the welfare organisation it is today. We started with a network of foster homes, often losing them as ‘failed fosters’ when the dogs just never left, and for dogs that needed to be taken from the home immediately we began paying for places in boarding kennels, with some kennels offering discounted or even free spaces where they could if we were lucky. We also left dogs in their relinquishing homes wherever possible and assessed them and then moved them straight to a new home. We produced leaflets and posters, and ran events such as dog shows and fayres to make money, permanently trying hard to raise enough to pay for kennel spaces to meet the demand. Even at that stage it was costing at least £1000 a month to keep these dogs safe.
It all changed thanks to a legacy from a great supporter Val Brown, who unfortunately passed away from cancer, but bequeathed us enough money to buy the above ground facilities on our current site. We still have to pay rent to the landowner but at least now we have so much more room to help lots more dogs in need. This could not have come at a better time as the number of dogs needing rehoming has gone through the roof in the last few years.
