The Dogs Trust's (formerly the National Canine Defence League) new re-homing centre at Snetterton was built at a cost of £800,000 and it is unique because its state-of-the-art interior has been built entirely with dogs in mind.

The state-of-the-art centre at Snetterton.

The Dogs Trust is the largest dog charity in the UK and has quite a pedigree, having been founded in 1891. It all began when Lady Gertrude Stock, brought together ‘a small party of gentlemen’ in a room off the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington, during the first Crufts dog show.

They vowed to campaign for the protection of strays, the provision of proper veterinary care and to campaign against muzzling, prolonged chaining, and experimentation on dogs.

In 1902 membership totalled 1000 for the first time and today it has around 30,000 members and supporters. There are 16 of its re-homing centres across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and Snetterton is one of the largest, able to house up to 70 dogs in 43 kennels.

The charity’s motto is simple: a dog is for life. The Dogs Trust will never destroy healthy dogs just because they are unwanted. Because of this, many of its facilities get over-run, especially at peak times of year.

Despite this pressure, the Dogs Trust is determined that its dogs should only go to the right homes and takes pains to match the right dog with the right owner. Most are lucky to have been given a second chance and the Dogs Trust wants their next home to be their last.

At Snetterton, instead of living inside large cages, the dogs are kept in kennels with glass fronts, each of which is slanted so that the dogs can see each other, but are not eye-to-eye - which is confrontational and stresses them. The décor is light and airy and there is plenty of space so the dogs do not feel crowded and can see what’s going on around them.

“I’ve never been to a kennel where the dogs are so quiet and the reason is they’re calm,” explained Dogs Trust spokeswoman Deana Selby. “That is our aim. If they’re calm and relaxed potential owners see them as they really are and there’s more chance that they will be offered a home. “

Dogs can get very excited and stressed and there’s nothing worse than that when you get them together with a potential new owner. “As well as the glass fronted kennels, we have a meet and greet room and there people who pick out a dog they like the look of can introduce themselves to him or her. It gives them a chance to get to know each other and see how they get on.”

Centre manager Diane McLelland-Taylor.

Finding the right home is the priority and the centre is taking pains to get the process just right. A key part of this is its new Real Life room, which is a small room furnished like an ordinary living room, complete with telephone, television, tables and chairs. On one wall there is a mirror, which allows the centre’s staff to observe the dogs while they are in there, without being seen.

The aim is to spot any problems before a dog is put into a home - many are so unused to living in a house they get disorientated and frustrated by things such as doorbells and telephones when they are adopted.

“One of the commonest reasons why dogs come to us is that their owners are fed up of them shredding the curtains or wrecking the furniture. This room lets us observe them before we re-home them,” said Ms Selby.

“Lots of them have been kept outside or chained in a backyard and may have never been in a house before so they don’t know how to behave. We can deal with that.”

There is also a dog behaviourist on-hand to offer advice, training and help to dogs and their owners. Other facilities include a medical room where vets can treat the dogs, and, last but not least, the nursery, where the centre’s cutest new arrivals are kept.

It is here that the EDP24 web camera gets an inside view of the puppies as they grow and develop. There are several large enclosed kennels where the litters can be kept together with plenty of space to play and staff close by to keep an eye on them.

Snetterton is lucky that it also has a dog ambulance and its mobile micro-chipping centre. Micro-chipping dogs is painless and takes seconds, and the Dogs Trust, like most animal charities wants every pet to be micro-chipped. The chips contain information on the animal and offer a chance of reuniting him or her with their owner should they go missing.

The Dogs Trust hopes that the Snetterton kennel, with its hi-tech facilities, could be the design blueprint for other kennels across the country, and take the charity’s canine care into the 21st Century.

The kennels are at North Farm Kennels, North End Road, Snetterton and are open from 12pm to 4pm but closed on Mondays.
Potential adopters should contact the answering service on 0845 764 6000 for more information. Non adoption callers should contact 01953 498377.