Past Events

• Causeway Coast Dog Rescue Event , ‘What does Collaboration look like in Animal Welfare?’ 2^ndOctober, Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast.

On Wednesday 2nd October 2024 it was very useful for the project to be invited to  attend the second Causeway Coast Dog Rescue Annual conference ‘What does Collaboration look like to improve companion animal welfare?’, held in the very impressive Long Gallery at Stormont. Once again, this conference hosted an impressive list of delegates, bringing together a range of key stakeholders including local and national rescue coordinators, MLA’s as well as academics from a range of disciplines. For the purposes of informing the toolkit, the presentation by Dogs Trust’s Conor O’Kane, which focused on jurisdiction-specific issues facing rescues was particularly insightful, as was Demi Mullen’s update on key issues in RoI and the need for cross-border collaboration. For further details, including a list of delegates and photographs please follow this link

• Battersea site visit, 12th September 2024.

On Thursday the 12th of September 2024 we were delighted to be invited to Battersea Dog and Cat Home’s fantastic Battersea centre. Our visit began with an insightful meeting with Mike Webb (Head of Policy & Public Affairs), Lisa Nugent (Academy Operations & Business Development Manager) and Mitali Sen (Senior Grants Manager with responsibility for UK). After a very quick look at some of the fantastic facilities at the Battersea site, we were then fortunate to sit in on a Battersea Academy training session on ‘Emergencies & Resilience’. Thanks again to all the staff at Battersea who kindly took time out of their day to facilitate our visit, and to all of the workshop participants.

• Kennel Club Breed Rescue Conference, 26^th June 2024, Stratford-Upon-Avon.

We are delighted to present an update on our project, one year on from our initial focus groups with Kennel Club breed specific rescues on their attitudes toward regulation of

We are delighted to attend the UK’s largest animal welfare event, hosting around 500 delegates from across the UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. This event brings together multiple stakeholder groups to share best practice in animal care, welfare, veterinary advances, new technologies, latest techniques, science and research findings, the latest in behaviour and training, as well as regulatory and legislative issues facing the rescue sector.

• ‘The State of UK Rescue’, Tuesday 20th February 2024, Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, UK.

On 20^th of February 2024, we will be attending the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG). These annual meetings provide a forum to discuss current issues exacerbating the ongoing crisis facing UK rescues, not least the cost-of-living crisis coupled with the recent XL bully ban.  Bringing together a diverse range of voices from across the rescue sector, this provides a valuable opportunity for rescues to voice concerns, share experience, and work together to propose solutions.

• ‘Regulating Dog Rescues: Developing A ‘Legal Toolkit’, 25^th October 2023, Stormont Parliament, Belfast.  

We were delighted to be invited to present at the ‘Animal Welfare: How do we improve the health and wellbeing of dogs?’ Conference, held at Stormont on the 25^th of October 2023.  Hosted by our collaborator, Causeway Coast Dog Rescue, this event brought together key stakeholders including representatives from local and central government, MLAs, representatives from other regulatory bodies (including the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes and the Kennel Club) as well as other academics.

Our paper entitled ‘‘Regulating Dog Rescues: Developing A Legal ‘Toolkit’ for Northern Ireland’’ outlined our preliminary findings as well as encouraging feedback on the intended aims and objectives of our online dog law toolkit (slides available here).

Other speakers at this event included Giles Webber (Association of Dogs and Cats Homes/Birmingham Dogs Home), Lisa Nugent, Caz Stanford & Scott Fryer (Battersea Dog and Cats Home), Tara Cunningham, Dr Carol McClenahan & Margaret Dimsdale-Bobby (Causeway Coast Dog Rescue), Tim Doyle (Welsh Greyhound Rescue) and Dr Grace Carroll (Queens University Belfast).

To view the visual material, CLICK HERE

To inform preliminary arguments regarding the need for regulatory reform of dog rescues and how this was heightened by the pandemic we invited key stakeholders in the sector. Generous funding from the Social and Legal Studies Workshop Fund and Liverpool’s School of Law & Social Justice Research Development Fundallowed us to host a one-day workshop at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London. This brought together 22 participants, including representatives from DEFRA, regulatory bodies such as the Kennel Club, large national rescues (Battersea, RSPCA, Dogs Trust etc) as well as a handful of smaller ones and specialist lawyers, vets and academics to share experiences.  This addressed the impact of Covid-19 on rescues sought their views about regulation across the devolved jurisdictions. Participants also recounted experiences of previous reform initiatives.

For more information on this event plus preliminary findings please see our blog HERE

• Governance of Dog Rescues: Addressing Post-Pandemic Challenges in a Period of Austerity, 27^th of June 2023, The Kennel Club Head Office, London.

In conjunction with our collaborator the Kennel Club we invited 26 Kennel Club breed specific rescues to the Kennel Club’s head office in Mayfair, to participate in a workshop and focus groups examining their attitudes towards regulation of rescue organisations. As trustees of North West Springer Spaniel Rescue we are very aware that bigger national rescues have, to date, tended to dominate discussions around regulation. To address this we sought to hear the views of breed specific rescues about the prospect of regulation of the rescue sector as well as exploring the challenges unique to different models of breed specific rescue. The focus group data from this event contributes towards an evidence base to explore the case for legal change.

To view the visual material, CLICK HERE