Mayhew Animal Home, London

One of the areas where the dogs are let out four times a day to exercise.

A living area for the home's residents. Each dog has its own 'room'.

A dog delivered by the local council in the holding area where it will be kept for seven days pending being claimed.

We had the opportunity to visit the Mayhew Animal Home in London and are now wondering if the shelters in Malaysia will ever ever arrive at the standards maintained there.
Being a no-kill shelter, Mayhew has a high adoption rate and has a platoon of fosterers that help by giving rescued dogs temporary homes.
We also found out that there are no pack of stray dogs in London but individual strays here and there. The home, which works with a local council, receives any stray dogs that are caught and keeps the animals for seven days for it to be claimed.
If no one claims the dog within that period of time, it automatically belongs to the Mayhew Animal Home.
The dog is then neutered, vaccinated and then fostered or rehomed. The holding and living areas are not kennels or cages but instead rooms which come with a comfortable basket, blankets and toys to keep the animal occupied as well as to prevent stress.
There are also areas in the home where the dogs are let out to run and walk about - each dogs are brought into these areas four times a day.
Potential adopters also view the animals through a CCTV of sorts so that the dogs will not be stressed with people walking in and out to view them. We were also told that distemper is almost a non-occurrence in the country and dogs and puppies that come in with parvovirus are treated with most of them surviving the ordeal.
Unfortunately in Malaysia, it is common for even vets to recommend that infected dogs are put down.
We left the place feeling dejected knowing that this standards would probably never be initiated here given that Malaysia is a very syringe-happy nation when it comes to dogs.