The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund

Welcome to our new website!

About Us

The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund is a charity that rescues, cares for and rehomes vulnerable German Shepherds. Established since 1975, it was the first German Shepherd Dog breed only rescue to be formed in the UK. Many of the dogs that come into our care have behavioural issues and we do our best to rehabilitate them so they can find a loving home. Some come to us with ongoing illnesses. We do not discriminate against these dogs, in fact, we pledge to pay for their medication for the rest of their life.

Since the inception, The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund have provided caring and suitable homes for almost 10,000 German Shepherd Dogs to the present day. The charity is made up of a small dedicated team of volunteers.

The German Shepherd Welfare Fund receive no government funding and rely solely on the generosity of individuals.

As a rescue, we take pride that we do not “tick a box” to say we have homed a dog. We do our upmost best to match the right dog to the right home. Therefore we ask prospective adopters to visit the dog they are interested in several times so the dog can get to know them and we can too. We do not believe in handing the dog over to a stranger and letting them take them away. This is not fair on the dog. All the dogs in our care are very happy and are well loved and cared for. Although we love a success story when one of our dogs finds its forever home, our dogs are in no hurry to be moved on.

As it currently stands, The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund does not have kennels of our own. We use commercial kennels across the country that are sympathetic to our cause. The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund use kennels in Essex, South Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Cleveland, and Suffolk.

Before the current peak of 100 dogs in our care, we stipulated there should be no more than ten of our dogs at one time, except in the direst emergency. The current and unprecedented demand for our support has brought us within crisis levels for the number of dogs we can support.

No dog in our care is euthanised unless on the advice of a veterinary surgeon. If their temperament deems them unfit for re-homing, then they remain in our care as long as they are happy in kennels. Each kennel is checked by a member of The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund before any German Shepherd is placed in them. To ensure that each dog lives in a safe and loving environment until they are re-homed. We are very particular with the kennels we use. Our dogs are not just there for a 2 week holiday. They could be there for months or even spend the rest of their life there.

Therefore, we need our kennels to interact with our dogs. We do not want them put in an exercise run for 15 minutes and expect that to suffice. Most of all, our dogs need to know they are loved.

Veterinary bills continue to increase on an annual basis and many of the dogs we take in arrive with medical conditions. As a charity that takes our dogs welfare very seriously it is our policy that we will continue to pay for any existing treatment.

None of The German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund’s dogs are allowed to be bred from and The German Shepherd Dog Welfare pay half of the costs of spaying bitches and neutering dogs that have been relinquished to them.