Poodle Network UK Registered Charity 1163333

08/10/2026

Please share and help find her, very frightened and timid, newly rehomed. Sightings are needed, if you spot her please don’t try to catch her.

06/10/2026

Lost miniature poodle, please share

04/10/2026

September Update

September has continued to be busy after an exceptionally busy summer. When we wrote our summer update, you may remember us saying we had over 40 dogs in foster care. We still have over 40 dogs in foster care, but have managed to move dogs in and out of foster care. Some of our foster carers are also having a well-earned break after our busy summer, but we have welcomed new foster carers. We had such a great response to our call for foster carers, especially those that can foster standards. It’s also great to see more people getting in touch about fostering over the last few weeks.

During September, we have rehomed over 14 poodles to their forever homes. This is a huge amount in one month and shows the dedication our foster carers have in getting our poodles ready for their new homes. Some of the dogs going to new homes this month have spent a considerable amount of time in foster care to ensure they were ready for their new life.

We have brought six poodles off our waiting list and into foster care, and this includes an emergency. This dog was collected within 24 hours. We will always prioritise urgent cases, and this includes when a poodle is at risk. What we won’t do, though, is put a dog that has been aggressive towards other dogs in a home where we already have dogs. The safety of our foster carers, their dogs and our foster dogs is paramount.

During September, we have been asked to rehome over 17 dogs, and our volunteers on the phone lines have taken most of these calls. We have had some upsetting calls this month and appreciate the time our volunteers give to PNUK. Unfortunately, two of our volunteers have had to deal with people being rude and aggressive when phoning in. We do not tolerate this, and our volunteers have our full support in ending calls like this. It’s important to remember that, like a lot of rehoming charities, we are run by volunteers who also work.

There have been so many of our rehomers sharing photos and stories, and asking for advice in our rehomed Facebook group. It’s so lovely for us to see this community of PNUK rehomers growing and reaching out and supporting each other. We even had a group of rehomers meet up with their PNUK dogs during September. They had a lovely walk in the countryside before having a coffee and spending time sharing all things poodle and PNUK!

Our vet bills continue to grow, especially with so many dogs coming in needing vet care. This is everything from spays, neuters and dentals to scans and urgent out-of-hours treatment.

Another cost which is causing an increase in expenses is transport. We rely heavily at times on volunteer transporters, but we need to cover their fuel costs. As you can imagine, in the current climate these costs are increasing. We must, though, say a HUGE thank you to many of our September rehomers who have helped with transport. This has saved the charity a huge amount of money.

Here are a few PNUK September photos:

21/08/2026

Summer update.

Firstly, apologies for the lack of update in June and July. It has been such a busy few months at Poodle Network – probably the busiest we have ever been. All of our volunteers have gone above and beyond to support us with the increased number of poodles we have in foster care. Our rehoming team have also been working non stop to find our poodles their forever homes.

The 34 dog rescue we did in May continues to keep us busy and has needed a significant amount of volunteer hours behind the scenes from our trustees – which continues. Our foster carers have given all these poodles a loving, calm and caring environment to allow them to decompress. The progress we are seeing with these poodles is heartwarming but some are still a long way from being ready to rehome. Vet fees for these poodles are rising daily and even the younger poodles are needing vet care including dental work. All of these poodles have now been able to have their first vaccinations and spays and neuters have started. We needed to ensure the poodles were well enough and not pregnant before starting vaccinations. Over the coming weeks we will do some posts on how some of these poodles are progressing.

We have new telephone volunteers that have been trained and have started to help us with taking and making calls. This came just at the right time as the phones have become very busy recently. We will hopefully be training more volunteers in the future.

The last few weeks have seen a lot of telephone calls and emails asking us to help rehome poodles. Our foster homes are full and we currently have 40 dogs in foster homes. This means our waiting list is much longer than we’d like but we are working hard to try and get dogs ready for rehoming to free up space. If you are on our waiting list for your dog to come into us, rest assured your dog is on our radar and we are doing all we can to help as soon as we can with the resources we have.

Thank you to everyone that got in touch about fostering for us. We are working through the large number of emails we received so thank you for your patience.

If you have applied to rehome from us and would take a bonded pair please get in touch with us.

Here are a few photos of some of our poodles recently that are in foster and been rehomed.

14/08/2026

Appeal for homes

We’re looking for committed and caring foster and forever homes for Poodles with additional support needs.

What you need to know:
👉 The dogs may have medical or behavioural issues, sometimes both.
👉 They will need care, understanding, and patience.
👉 You’ll need to be willing to work with our team and our qualified behaviourists, and follow training plans.
👉 Some time may be required to travel to specialist vets when needed.
👉 You may need to adapt to best suit the needs of the Poodle while they are being worked with.
👉 You’ll need the time and ability to work with these dogs daily at their pace.
👉 You’ll need to welcome the poodle into your home and life. It can be difficult but is incredibly rewarding. To you, they may be a part of your life, but to them, you are their life.

More information:
Since Covid, the rescuing landscape has changed. Many rescues are full, with a waiting list.
During Covid, many people were looking for comfort and pets to welcome into their loving homes.
The flip side of this was dogs that weren’t able to be properly socialised, or trained. They grew used to having their families there 24/7, before being unexpectedly separated when they returned to work and school.
This brought out new behaviours of separation anxiety which presents in different ways; sometimes destructive behaviours, sometimes aggressive, sometimes hyperactivity when the families return home. This is just one example.
Not only are we seeing Covid dogs but their puppies and grand puppies now with the same behavioural traits.

Another is that due to massive overbreeding to keep up with demand, animals are being bred for the sake of meeting needs.
This isn’t to say there aren’t legitimate and great breeders out there (always research heavily).
But in the last year we had a number of younger dogs handed in that had health issues (Pixie and Asta as two examples), alongside ones with behavioural issues due to breeding from parents with behavioural issues.

A combination of many factors has meant that many rescues are overrun with dogs needing extra time, care, work, and love.

And we are no different. We are contacted daily by people who are looking for support and to rehome a dog with issues. we are constantly updating our processes and methods of assessment to best adapt and support these changes.

Depending on the level of experience people have with dogs, and specifically Poodles, it can impact their interpretation of behaviours but it is important to recognise and respond to what is seen in each dog without giving labels .

We are looking for people willing to be open minded, and to help support these wonderful animals.

Many of these cases can be managed successfully with the correct home. In some cases, what you see is what you get, and they may be experiencing fear that is too much to ever overcome but with management you can both have a loving relationship.

The Poodles we help, all deserve a chance and love. Sometimes this connection can be instant, and sometimes they take days, weeks, or months to build that connection. But they all deserve the chance.

So if you feel you can help a Poodle, either on a fostering or forever home basis, then please get in touch. If you would like some more information before making the decision, then please email us at [email protected], or give us a call on 0300 999 7685.

30/06/2026

Meet Hollie. 🐩

When Hollie came to us, it was via a dog warden due to her being abandoned in a park by her previous owners.

Every attempt was made to find her current owner, but sadly they didn't come forward, and her chip was still registered to her first owner.

When she came to us, we had some knowledge of her background, with her first owner rehoming her due to snapping at the other dogs in the home. From there she had a few homes within 12 months, until she finally came to us.

At first, she was incredibly scared of both humans and dogs, but was also incredibly sweet and affectionate. She was also in desperate need of a groom.

She showed some snapping tendencies, especially when other dogs were around. She has needed a lot of time and one-to-one work to bring her out of her shell.

Some days we would make progress; she would be confident, loving, affectionate, and then others she would regress and begin showing fear reactions again.

Originally, we suspected some of her behaviours were reactionary, stemming from fear and nerves. But over time, it became clear there was something more happening.

Hollie was overweight and would begin frantically scratching with one of her back legs. As she slimmed down, we noticed she would walk hunched at times, and if she made certain movements, it would exacerbate her scratching.

With close inspection, we identified one particular spot on her lower spine, which seemed to be causing her pain, which would cause the scratching behaviours.

By chance, one day while being groomed, her head was moved and triggered this same behaviour. By this point, she was already booked in for an X-ray, so this was updated to be a full spinal X-ray.

During the initial X-ray, they found compression between her lower vertebrae, which seemed to be the cause of her lower back pain. They also suspected there was a congenital malformation in her spine towards the end of her rib cage.

For further investigation, she was referred to Liverpool Small Animal Hospital, where she underwent full MRI and CT scans.

The specialists were surprised to find what they did, as were we.

Hollie's CT showed she has a congenital vertebral malformation of her whole spine, where her vertebrae are abnormally shaped. She has had this since birth.

Her MRI showed a widening of the normal fluid space above her spinal cord, just behind her abnormally shaped vertebrae, which is causing a mild flattening of the spinal cord.

Most surprising, the MRI showed she has dilated ventricles, which are fluid-filled spaces inside of her brain, alongside some small lesions in the neck muscles.

She was diagnosed with Dorsal Subarachnoid Space Dilation, secondary to congenital vertebral malformations. This is suspected to be the cause of her discomfort, as it can cause abnormal sensations, which can lead to scratching and 'neuropathic pain'.

The abnormal vertebrae, on its own, is not causing her problems, and there is no treatment available to correct them.

The dilation of the fluid above her spinal cord is similar to a cyst above the spinal cord, and can slowly fill with more fluid over time. This can potentially be managed with medication, but currently, she is only mildly affected with the 'neurological' scratching behaviour.

Should her symptoms progress, she will need re-assessment and potentially surgery.

Currently, she is on a mixture of painkillers to try and relieve the discomfort she is feeling, which she will need for life. She also needs a dental which will be an additional cost to us.

With this diagnosis, we now understand Hollie's behaviour. While she was wary to begin with, it is clear that she has also been in pain, likely her whole life, due to her congenital condition.

But to get to this understanding hasn't been an easy road. These scans have cost £2500, and were worth it to better understand what we are dealing with and how to best support her.

Currently Hollie is still in foster while we continue to monitor her behaviour and if the medications are helping at all.

In herself, she is now a very sweet, loving little girl, who loves attention. She gets very excited for her one-to-one training, and is now happier being around the other dogs in the house.

But she has a long road ahead of her. She is still with her fosterers, but will be looking for her forever home soon.

Hollie is an example of why, when we are contacted about dogs that have shown signs of aggression, we always recommend you first have a full vet check and behaviourist assessment, as sometimes it is due to underlying pain.

In this case, it appears as much of her behaviour was due to her congenital spinal condition, combined with the circumstances she has experienced through multiple rehomings in a short period of time.

We know times are tough and everyone has been incredibly supportive and generous for the recent rescue of the 34 Poodles. We will be updating further on them all soon, but we also have other dogs who need care and treatment too.

If you can spare anything, even the time to share the post and raise awareness, it all helps.

To donate, you can via PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com/GB/fundraiser/charity/109256

If you would like our details for bank transfer, please message us.

We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator. Any fund raised that exceed or do not meet the costs of Hollie's care will go into the general running of the Charity, which includes but is not limited to the transport, food, vet care, and treatment of Poodle Network UK.

Thank you all. And if you would like to be considered as a forever home for Hollie, please get in touch and fill out our adoption form on our website. 🐾

04/06/2026

May 2026 Update.

What a month May has been for PNUK - a month of highs and lows!

We will start with the rescue of 34 poodles which has been our biggest rescue to date. This rescue was very distressing for our volunteers especially those collecting and transporting these dogs. In the background were our rehoming team desperately arranging foster homes for all the 34 poodles. Our volunteers came to the rescue and we were able to place all poodles in foster homes.

Whilst all this was going on we were also having to arrange grooming - the state these dogs came in was heartbreaking. All needed vet checks, some urgent operations and one needing overnight vet care. More vet visits and operations will be needed over the coming weeks and months.

We can’t thank our army of volunteers enough who have helped with fostering, grooming, transporting, buying much needed essentials (all dogs came with nothing) for the poodles and also our rehoming team for coordinating everything.

In total during May we have brought 45 dogs into foster homes so 11 above the 34 we collected urgently. We also had another 18 requests from people wanting to rehome their poodle to us during May.

The first part of May was very busy and we have had so many dogs going to their forever homes - 13 in total which is amazing. It’s such a joy to get our dogs into their forever homes and hear from their new owners just how well they are doing.

Thank you for all you generous donations so far for our 34 dog rescue. We still have a very long way to go to get anywhere near the amount that will be needed so any fundraising anyone can donor ideas would be appreciated.

04/06/2026

We were contacted by the BBC earlier this week for comments on what had happened with the rescue of the 34 Poodles, and how they were doing.

For anyone looking for more information on the situation, you can find it in this article. We would like to remind you, it’s still an ongoing investigation. No more can be said at this time. So please do not speculate 🐾

Thank you all for your continued support 🐩

A charity is appealing for help after it began caring for 34 poodles which were seized from a property in Epsom Downs.

More here: https://bbc.in/4atlDmh

02/06/2026

Meet Peggy and Polly. This post will contain images and information that some may find distressing. ⚠️

A reminder, this case is still under current investigation, we cannot release more details until we have permission. Please do not speculate.

While all of the dogs we rescued recently need treatment of some kind, it was quickly apparent that these two needed emergency dentals.

Polly, was taken very quickly for a check up, as we were concerned that her teeth had decayed and become necrotic, risking her loosing part of her jaw.

At her checkup, the vet agreed and was concerned that her jaw was affected, but until surgery, we couldn’t be sure. She was given antibiotics to try and help fight the obvious infection, and pain killers as she was struggling to eat due to the pain in her mouth.

She was stuck in a viscous cycle of being extremely underweight, weighing less than half of what she should, but struggling to eat due to the pain, so not gaining weight.

Her foster carer has been trying a variety of soft foods, and hand feeding her to try and help her gain some weight and thankfully she had put on just under 100g during the week.

During her dental, she had 27 teeth removed. She had previously lost a number of other teeth, with one falling out during her consultation. She has been left with 3 teeth, which we are thankful for and were not expecting due to the level of infection.

Due to the fast action of our volunteers, and quick administration of the antibiotics, her jaw was saved. But had she waited longer, she would have lost part of it.

She is now recovering, it is still a struggle to get her to eat, and will be until she learns she is no longer in pain.

At the same time, one of our other fosterers was working with similar circumstances for Peggy.

Peggy needed emergency grooming to remove the matted hair, which will have been uncomfortable.

Her teeth were also in a dreadful state, and unfortunately none could be saved. She had them all removed during her dental.

She also had a large infected cyst on her neck, which needed emergency removal.

Again, she is on medication to manage the pain, but once she heals she will be in significantly less pain.

Unfortunately she will require further surgery for a couple of other health problems, including a hernia. But for now, she is doing very well.

These are just two of the pups. All dogs have required thorough health checks, with many requiring additional surgery and treatment.

We are working incredibly hard to get these dogs back to health and helping them receive the care, attention, and love they deserve.

This is just the start of the vets bills for treating these dogs. We are so grateful to everyone who has donated so far. The change it makes to the dogs, to be able to rehabilitate them and get them back to health is not an easy feat.

Any donations, or sharing to help raise awareness of this case is a huge help to us.

If you would like to donate, you can via PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/GB/fundraiser/charity/109256

Or bank transfer to:
Poodle Network UK
Sort code: 01-03-21
Account Number: 27437612

We have a further 32 dogs from this rescue to update you on, amongst all of the other dogs we are currently caring for, not related to this.

So follow us to keep updated on them all.

The 34 dogs are not looking for homes until they have been signed off by a vet.

We are registered with the fundraising regulator. Any donations received that do not meet the amount required, or exceed the amount needed, will go into the general funds for Poodle Network UK for the daily running of the charity, including but not limited to transportation, food, and veterinary care of our poodles.

Thank you, Poodle Network UK 🐾

28/05/2026

Warning, this post will contain content and images some find distressing.

Last week, we undertook a mammoth task and rescued 34 dogs. We currently can’t say much on the situation as it is under investigation, but we will release more details when we have permission. We didn’t know how many there would be, the estimate was max 20, so we were not expecting so many.

The majority of the dogs were in a terrible state, extremely matted, covered in faeces and clearly hadn’t been groomed for a number of months.

They required urgent grooming and baths, each taking multiple rounds of washing to get them clean.

All of the dogs require full checkups, many will require dentals, with one at risk of loosing part of her jaw, due to the decay on her teeth now being necrotic.

Some of the dogs are extremely underweight, with one of the toys weighing only 1.5kg, when she should be around 3.5kg.

Puppies and pregnant females were also rescued, with one due any day.

Currently all the dogs are being assessed to identify the extent of their issues and possible treatments.

As you can imagine, this is and will be the most expensive rescue we have done to date. Many will need dentals, ear and eye treatments, and vaccinations with current estimates per poodle being at least £1000, and some will need specialist treatment and puppies, increasing those bills. We estimate this will cost easily over £40,000. Any donations, or even sharing to raise awareness would be incredibly helpful.

To donate you can do so via PayPal here:
https://www.paypal.com/GB/fundraiser/charity/109256

Or bank transfer to:
Poodle Network UK
Sort code: 01-03-21
Account Number: 27437612

We also want to thank all our volunteers who have been working extremely hard over the bank holiday, to find foster homes, organise transport, groom, transport, foster, and document everything that has happened to date, and continue to do so.

We kindly ask, as this is an ongoing investigation that people do not speculate. We will release more details when we have permission.

The 34 dogs are not looking for homes until they have been signed off by a vet.

We are registered with the fundraising regulator. Any donations received that do not meet the amount required, or exceed the amount needed, will go into the general funds for Poodle Network UK for the daily running of the charity, including but not limited to transportation, food, and veterinary care of our poodles.

Thank you, Poodle Network UK 🐾