About Just for Dogs

Just for Dogs was founded in August of 1997 by a handful of like-minded people who had one simple passion. Rescuing and re-homing abandoned dogs.

What started as a dream is now a reality and as a charitable organisation, we couldn’t be prouder of our work so far. But there is still a long way to go…

Our objectives are:

To rescue dogs who through no fault of their own had found themselves lost and alone on the streets.
To take in dogs whose owners can no longer keep them due to marriage breakdown, unemployment, eviction, illness or death.
To worm, fully vaccinate, microchip, spay/neuter and get veterinary attention when needed for all dogs coming into Just For Dogs.
Re-home in a responsible manner and without long lists of restricting guidelines. We insist on our dogs being offered a kind, loving and responsible home. We are quite prepared to re-home dogs to families with young children, senior citizens, and people in full time employment as long as these people understand that it has to be the right dog to fit in with the right environment.
To operate a very strict non-destruct policy where only terminally ill dogs that are suffering are put to sleep or dogs that, in our opinion, are exceptionally aggressive and so would pose a great risk to the public and other dogs alike.
To offer help and advice to anyone in need, with regards to behavioural issues or any dog related problem.
To promote responsible dog ownership with regard to the importance of vaccinating, neutering, worming micro-chipping and advise on the legal requirement of all dogs to wear collar identification discs, bearing owners name, address and telephone number.

No Boring Politics

Our Founders agreed that good things rarely come from politics. That’s why it was decided that there would be no long list of uninvested committee members drawing up endless (overly wordy) policies. Meaning, we can always make the best decisions for all of our dogs, without wasting precious time, that could be life saving.

Our Work

Just For Dogs is based in Brailsford near Ashbourne in Derbyshire. JFD is a charity dedicated to the care of and re-homing of abandoned, neglected or unwanted dogs.

We have always been sympathetic with stray and abandoned dogs and help many families who are having to part with their family pet due to various reasons i.e. marriage breakdown, unemployment, eviction, illness or death.

In September 2013, we began to offer our help to Retired Racing Greyhounds many of which are destroyed each year, and a small section of our kennels is dedicated to this beautiful and gentle breed.

Although we pride ourselves on helping those precious pups in need, sometimes things don’t always go as expected. Unfortunately, 2 dogs in our care have had to be put to sleep since we started over 25 years ago. Both dogs had spent weeks/months in kennels being assessed and would not allow carers anywhere near them making them difficult to provide our care and we did not feel comfortable rehoming these troubled furry friends (it must be stressed that decisions like these are never taken lightly).

However these lost pups live in our memory and motivate us to keep on going with our work and we are extremely proud that this number remains so low despite out 25+ years of operation and 6000+ dogs saved.

How we help

Over the past few years, with the help of social media, we have been able to find homes for many dogs without the need for them coming into rescue, Facebook has become invaluable to us in this way as it means we can help dogs not just in the Derbyshire area but much further afield. We also strive to reunite lost dogs with their owners without the need for them to be taken to council pounds and will hold a lost dog for 24hrs whilst we endeavour to find its owner through its microchip, local dog wardens, social media or the ‘Dogs Lost’ Website.

Registered Charity No.1064905

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