About Us

Doris Banham Dog Rescue was set up in memory of Doris Banham, the mother of our founder Trudie James, its ethos will always be rooted in her lifelong convictions that all life is precious and should be treated with respect, love and compassion and never be used, abused or treated as a commodity. The cornerstone of our Charity will always be to rescue those dogs in greatest need and this policy has called us to the aid of the forgotten pound dogs on death row in council pounds and we are dedicated to alleviating their suffering and saving their lives.

Council pounds holding lost and abandoned dogs picked up by dog wardens are entitled to euthanise these dogs after only 7 days if their owner has not reclaimed them. Therefore a much loved pet lost in the park could be put to sleep after just one week if their owner did not manage to locate the pound they had been taken to and reclaim them in time. Of the 10’s of 1000’s of dogs that are stolen each year in the UK some of these end up in the pounds. For those that are not microchipped and typically hundreds of miles from their owners they face certain death if a rescue does not take them.

All pound dogs are needy in that they are disoriented, scared, living in difficult conditions and at risk of being euthanised. We make exhaustive efforts to find rescue placements for all that seek our help and provide and fund transport to those rescues. However for various reasons some dogs are unlikely to be offered rescue placements by other rescues and it is the lives of these dogs ‘that nobody wants’ that our Charity is particularly dedicated to saving. These include the old; those needing veterinary treatment or suffering chronic conditions; the over bred and misunderstood breeds; and those traumatised and damaged by their experiences. Very often we wait until the day before their put down dates to pick the dogs up to make sure that there is no other rescue alternative for them thus every dog taken into our care would definitely have been put to sleep if we had not agreed to take them on. Once they are in our care we do not rest until we have found them the loving home they deserve, however long that takes. Our first priority is to return a loved pet to its original owner. Some of the dogs may require mental and physical rehabilitation depending on their needs. This demands dedication, patience, resources and a wonderful team of committed volunteers.

We are funded solely by donations and grants and 100% of the funds received are spent on saving the dogs. Hence we are all unpaid volunteers and have no administration costs as the volunteers all pay their own expenses. The Charity has, to date, saved the lives of over 15,000 dogs. We could save so many more if funding allowed. We are constantly seeking additional funding opportunities so that more lives can be saved.

The rescue started out finding places for strays in other rescue centres but the stray problem is so huge in the UK and all rescues are full to bursting. So we were forced to place dogs into emergency boarding kennels. The Charity now houses approximately 80 dogs for rehabilitation and rehoming in kennels in Nottinghamshire and uses emergency boarding kennels when the kennels are full to save the lives of dogs who would die without their help.