Alison Standbridge is a leading voice for animal welfare in Romania, and she focuses on the issues the dog rescue movement sometimes seems to neglect. Her charity, Paws2Rescue, recently ran the first stage of a nationwide brucellosis research project, testing 100 dogs for this zoonotic disease, and will be running the second stage later in the year. As brucellosis cases have been rising in the UK too, we must know where the disease is and whether there are local hotspots both in the UK and in Romania, where tens of thousands of our rescue dogs come from every year. Listen to find out about health screening in general and what Alison has learnt about testing quality.

Paw2Rescue also runs a vet scholarship programme, and the charity runs spay-and-neuter campaigns throughout the year. And to ensure the local community is not ignored, Paws2Rescue volunteers run their 'shoebox campaign' every Christmas, donating presents to low-income families throughout Romania.

Alison is outspoken about the work of other organisations and critical of what she calls pop-up adoption charities that seem to be hardly more than a money-making scheme. Adoption, she makes clear, isn't solving the problem of Romanian street dogs. "But trying to make [adoption] their solution is like using a teaspoon to empty the ocean. These pop-up people always say 'we [charities] need to educate'. Show me, because they might do one year to campaign a year and shout really loudly about it. They'll do the one-off token one just to tick the box, but they're not focusing on helping the stray dog population in the country of source."

I know you will enjoy this episode with Alison, which also touches on the Kept Animals Bill and Alison's work with Defra.

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This episode of The Dog Manifesto comes to you from the RSPCA headquarters in Horsham, with guest RSPCA Director of Policy, Prevention and Campaigning Emma Slawinski.

A lifelong animal lover who has dedicated her career to charitable causes for humans and animals, we talk about the RSPCA's 200th anniversary and the state of animal welfare, before getting into The Dog Manifesto.

Emma explains what the generic term 'lobbying government' really involves, and she also expands on why tougher regulation is needed to curb inbreeding of dogs, while dismantling breed-specific regulation.

As a strong supporter of The Dog Manifesto, Emma has encouraging advice for those planning to campaign for animal rights. She also came up with a great alternative slogan for The Dog Manifesto: "It's about the dog.

dogmanifesto.org #VOTEDOG

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This is part two about the leading animal welfare programme Calgary Model. Ryan Pleckaitis is the chief bylaw officer at the City of Calgary, and he oversaw the Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw being comprehensively updated.

We talk about being proactive with education and public awareness campaigns to prevent incidents. Regarding the education-based dog licence outlined in the Dog Manifesto, Ryan suggests starting small. In terms of breed-specific legislation, Ryan says the citizens of Calgary have not wavered and are committed to their breed-neutral approach. Last but not least, Ryan explains new initiatives, including a ‘dog bite detective’ and an AI-assisted push notification system to find lost dogs.

dogmanifesto.org #VOTEDOG

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The Calgary Model is a world-leading approach to keeping people safe from animals and animals safe from people. This inter-agency model relies on close cooperation between the bylaw services within Calgary police and Calgary Humane Society.

Brad Nichols says: “The Calgary Model centres around owner responsibility.” We chat about how the collaboration came up and how the two agencies are achieving court victories to ensure animal protection laws are upheld. Brad also explains why breed-specific legislation doesn’t work and the risks to dogs and people that these badly thought-out laws pose.

We also talk about the increased pet abandonment situation since the end of the pandemic, and Brad talks candidly about the reactions he sees from owners.

Listen to this episode and the following with Brad’s counterpart, chief bylaw officer Ryan Plekaitis, for part two on the Calgary Model.

dogmanifesto.org #VOTEDOG

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Dominic Dyer is a passionate campaigner and spokesperson for animals and nature in his roles as policy advisor for the Born Free Foundation, board member for the Wildlife and Countryside Link, chief executive of the Badger Trust and chairman of Nature 2030. He also served for 10 years on the board of the Vet Nurses Council.

Dominic is going to stand for parliament in the next General Election, as the Liberal Democrat candidate for his constituency of Buckingham & Bletchley.

As such, Dominic is the perfect first guest for the Dog Manifesto podcast. Find out about his career path and decision to throw his hat into the political arena.

Dominic is a strong supporter of the Dog Manifesto and is in particular interested in turning the dog licence into a reality. Learn about his thoughts on the annual licence fee and what a Dog Licensing Agency could achieve.

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