The Chief Executive of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home On The Road With...

Claire Horton is the Chief Executive of Battersea Dogs and

Cats Home. The charity is over 150 years old. Last year it took in

nearly 7,000 dogs and over 2,700 cats. This is a place like no other.

It's full of smiles, tears, happy endings, and it's full of decisions

that do the right thing for the animals that come through our doors.

The charity reunites lost cats and dogs with owners, and assessing

whether animals are suitable for rehoming. I went to the South

London site next to Battersea power station and spent the day with

Good morning, Claire. Good morning. It's a long day ahead. It will be a

little bit of a long day. Probably about 12 hours. That's fine,

there's lots to do. A lot of different people coming in. Where

does your day normally start? of the site. I come in, get my

coffee and say hello to as many people as I can walking to the

office. It's back up here for a tour of the homes, see what is in,

what happened overnight, what dogs and cats we have, what potential

problems, and the clinic, just to see what's on the operating list

for the day. As well as the Battersea site the home have two

other centres, one at Old Windsor and one at Brands Hatch in Kent. Is

it five days a week there? For me? Or six or seven? The site is open

24 hours, seven days a week, so that means that we work whatever

hours we need to. Generally I do a five day Monday to Friday. That's

when most of my meetings take place. Good morning, Arthur. Good morning.

Hello. How old is he? How long have we had him now? Three to five.

We've had him two to three months. He's one of your favourite boys.

He's an early morning walker. You're an early morning walker, of

course. Yes. Arthur is one of our top volunteers. Arthur is more than

full-time hours. Every single day. The first walk is 13 minutes past

eight. Yes, thereabouts. generally see Arthur as I come in.

I'll take you into our new cattery, opened in November, state of the

Now, we've got in this cattery about 90 pens. I'll just make sure

there's nothing else at the moment. Right. OK. Is this where all your

cats are? Yes, pretty much. The cattery is over three floors, this

is the rehoming floor, where the public come. Why would cats come

here to Battersea? About 50% of the cats coming into Battersea are

stray. They have gone off, lost, wandered the streets. The other 50%

are brought in by owners, circumstances have changed, can't

keep the cats or cats have kittens, all kinds of different reasons. We

take them all, we don't turn anything away. They come through

the doors. What is your rehoming rate with cats? Do you rehome all

the cats that come in here? Pretty much all of the cats come in and go

out. The average stay for a cat is about 30 days. We lose few cats. If

we do lose any, it's 3% of the 3,000 cats that we have every year,

because of old age or advanced disease or illness. Everything

pretty much goes out to new homes quickly. Do you ever put any cats

down? Very, very few cats. That would be purely on the basis that

they were very ill, very, very old, generally advanced. So kidney

failure and that kind of thing. That would be the 3% you talk about.

Pretty much. Cats - not every cat will want to be left alone. There's

a lot of people that want a cat like that. Generally we don't have

too much problems homing the animals, we are pleased with the

rehoming rates. We'll talk about the dogs later. The challenges with

dogs, or some dogs at Battersea, they are different to the

challenges with cats. Hugely different. Hugely different. We

have a huge range of different behavioural issues with dogs. And

the fact that dogs are bigger and have a much more interactive

lifestyle with their owners, presenting all kinds of challenges

for us. I'll show you some of those challenges as we look at the dogs

later on. This cat is waiting, what does that mean? It means that the

cat will have come in recently. We need to understand what sort of

behaviour it has, is it sociable, friendly, does it like people, will

it let you pick it up, can you put it on your knee, will it play with

you, is it alright with other cats. Obviously people that come into

Battersea will have different requirements. We have children,

some have other animals. You need to understand what it's like with a

dog. We cat-test the dogs, and dog- test the cats, it's understanding

what sort of home would suit that particular animal best, and we go

through thorough assessments for all of them. We have a few kittens

in at the moment. One in the bed at the back. She looks like she hasn't

got up this morning. And a little young cat in the litter tray. I'll

take you through to the socialising room, where members of the public

meet and interact with the cats. On the way I'll show you this. This is

where the Downing Street cat lived before he went off to become a

famous boy. We are proud to have been chosen to home the cat to

Downing Street. What it did for us was send rehoming rates through the

roof and we ran out of the cats almost the following weekend.

Because everyone knew to come to Battersea. Battersea is all about

dogs to many people, but it's Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and

we have done cats for 125 years. you have a personal favourite

between cats and dogs? Are you more of a cat or dog person?

supposed to say I love them all the same, but it's dogs for me, I'm a

dog person. I had a 23-year-old cat that I lost 8 months ago. Probably

the oldest cat in the world. Loyal. I love cats. Dogs are my thing, I

have to say. Do you have a dog? I have four. From Battersea? I have

two from Battersea. I only had two. But I have four, I picked up a few

Battersea ones. I'll take you into the clinic now and see what they

have got on for the rest of the day in there. The head vet is Shaun

We have standard operations. has mammary tumours that need to be

removed. This is an older cat. We are giving it a good dental. It's

common for a cat to come in and need dental works - scale and

polish, extraction. These are the recovery pens, five for dogs and

eight around the corner for cats. It's nice to keep them apart.

is Max, he's feeling a little sorry for himself, he has kennel cough.

Outside of the home, kennel cough is a mild illness. In here, when

the dogs are right, some are so anxious, they can get quite poorly.

He'll be fine. This is Levi. He is 11. He came into the home a few

weeks ago. He had a few growths removed and sent for testing.

Hopefully we think they'll come back fine to go. Hopefully Levi

will be off to a home. He's an older boy, 11 years old. He has a

little time in the hospital wing before he goes off into the

rehoming block. He'll be fine, he's a good boy. Next Claire is off to

meet staff in the London Organising Committee, donating tennis balls to

be used at this year's Wimbledon That's it, the winning ball is now

with Dolly. Presumably Charlotte, is Dolly one of the recovering

kennel Cough dogs? She has had kennel cough. She's getting healthy.

Semifinal ball, which one? This one or this one? This one. Good girl.

Good girl. Perfect. And again. Good girl. Well done. She's good, she

likes this. I don't want to run her too much. She chews the ball up.

This one. Give me that one first. This is a really nice garden as

well. This is Mary's garden, which was donated to us and provided by

one of our supporters, a trust that looks after us and gives us money.

And they created a really nice century garden, with different

things to do for the dogs and the poorly dogs that spent time in

kennels when they haven't been well or been able to get out much. It's

a nice environment for them to come, they can relax. There's plenty for

them to explore and do. We try to do that with the kennels that we

have, in our paddocks, finding interesting things to help them

pass away the day. Some of these guys are here for a long time.

You've been here since January, sweetheart? Why would some dogs

stay longer? Boisterous, wrong colour, wrong breed. It makes a

difference, different behavioural issues, some dogs need more

attention than others, some can be boisterous, play roughly, and a lot

of people don't like that. It can be all manner of reasons why a dog

would stay. Health as well. You may be trying to make a dog better.

Dogs will go through the medical procedures, some will be sick when

they come. The dogs you see in the clinic are dogs that will stay with

Dogs are forming a guard of honour. Claire is meeting the Mayor of

Wandsworth, Councillor Jane Cooper. Hello. Good morning your worship,

Claire is introducing the Mayor to Keith Payne, service dogs manager

for Battersea. He's assessing a Rottweiler to see if it's suitable

Not all dogs are suitable to become a pet. What we do for the

Rottweiler's German shepherds, they can be potential to work with

security services or police. We look for a dog into tough games and

search games to assume something like this. We can contact relevant

police service or armed forces and Laura Jenkins is head of animal

services at the moment, and is liaising with the dog services

location to see if they'll take on a dog with a bite history. I don't

feel he'll bite me. He's doing natural German Shepherd traits. If

you could take... Strength needs to be developed. They need to become -

show all the character they need to be. I'm so comfortable putting my

hands in his mouth. Claire is showing the Mayor around some of

American Bulldogs, there's all MUSIC PLAYS. These animals

shouldn't be in a kennel, they should be in a home. You'd see

different behaviour exhibited. What you are seeing is false behaviour.

This is a chill-out room. Dogs can be distressed during the course of

the day in kennels, we take them out, we put them in the office with

the staff. We walk them out across the park, take them into the

paddock. You are a receptionist. Who is this? This is Dotti, I got

her from here three years ago. is your dog. She is mine, I

fostered her, she was too cute. I had to keep her. You bring her to

work. She sleeps on the desk and barks at people and chases her tail.

We are with Laura and Sabha, Laura is looking at Sabha and how to find

her a new home. Sabha came in Saturday. What we'll do is when the

dog arrives is give them a medical check and assessment. Sasha is up

for rehoming. We find with non- board breeds we can rehome them

quickly. Some of them stay with us 60 days, which is the difficult

side of it. There's time to see more of the home's kennels with

Claire. These are overflow kennels for kennel cough dogs for dogs

suitable for rehoming, they have kennel cough at the moment, so they

have to be made better before they're out in the public domain.

We struggle with the sorts of kennels they are in because they

are under a railway arch, you have the noise, when they bark it echos.

There's old kennels that we have used for decades, desperately

needing a change. It's back to reception. James from the

fundraising department. What do you have here? Knitted mice with Catnip

inside, herby treats that the cats love to play with and drive them

crazy. We have loads and loads. Bags, in fact, of these. They are

everywhere. We are so grateful. we have knitted blankets. It saves

the charity a huge amount of money in buying blankets. Where do they

come from? We ran an appeal in The Guardian, and we were inundated

with response. One person knitted 427 mice. The average is six mice

per person. And they come from anything from knitting groups to

care homes. It's any way our supporters can make the cats' lives

better while they are here. At the afternoon meeting there's a chance

to ask more questions. How many dogs did Battersea take in last

year? Under 7,000. How many were put down? A third were put to sleep.

Why would Battersea put a dog to sleep? There are a number of

reasons we take the decision with the dogs in our care. Many of the

dogs coming to Battersea are dangerous. Many of them have been

bred illegally. Many of them are section 1 under the dangerous dog

act, pit bull terriers. The particular type we get in here,

we'll get Pitt bulls and crosses in here. Those dogs we have to put to

sleep unless they are exempted. The majority of those animals will be

put to sleep. We have a lot of dogs trained to bite, used as protection,

trained to attack. They'll be put to sleep. We cannot responsibly

rehome them. We have dogs who are ill, dogs who are badly injured,

and we can't save them. They'll be put to sleep. We have people,

members of the public ask us to put their own dogs to sleep for

whatever reason, in which case we have detailed and lengthy

conversations with people, we are not about putting rehomable dogs to

sleep here. Do you think you could do any more to prevent some dogs

from being put down? You know, Battersea isn't the problem here.

Battersea is about providing the solution. We are picking up the

pieces of problems going out on the streets. We are picking up the

pieces of factory breeding, dogs sold on the internet. All the

difficult issues that affects society with dogs becoming a bit of

a throw away commodity, with picking up. We educate, we go into

communities, we go to schools, talking about responsible ownership

and how to look after the animals. We talk about animal welfare and

the communities that have these particular types of dogs that we

deal with. We talk about how to make sure your dog is well trained,

well socialised. Other charities do the same. It won't be a problem we

solve overnight. It's a generational issue, a problem we

have picked up for years and years and will for years to come. Claire

has travelled to west London for a meeting with the Chief Executive of

Metro Bank. She's been working with the bank on promotional events on

finding homes for the dogs. could make 10%ish. It makes it

meaningful. It does. Let's lock it in to High Street. Back at the home

Claire catches up with her PA. How much of your job is admin? Most of

my admin it processed by Rianan, who filters my e-mails, where we

get 60 a day, she'll action anything that needs actioning, she

flags anything I need or print up anything I need to work on

overnight. A lot is reports coming in, questions and queries, I pick

up on that. I sit at the end of the day doing e-mails myself, because a

lot of my e-mails need personal attention and responses. I have

party conference that you are going to. For the fringe? Yes. Thank you.

She has had 24 years of experience, she's been at Battersea for 18

months. What skills do you need as Chief Executive of the charity?

need good business sense. You need to manage a complex operation. You

need to understand people. You need to be able to motivate and guide

and lead and inspire people. You need to be a great communicator

with not just your team but external stakeholders. You need to

fundraise. A big part of my role is endearing the charity to lots of

new supporters. And you really need to have passion. What type of dog

do you take most of at Battersea? Most of one particular type is our

bull breeds, and they can be ranging from Staffordshire bull

terriers, to bull mastiffs, English bull terriers, and the crosses in

between. They make up about 50% of the dogs we take. The difficulty

with those animals is because they are - there are so many of them

they can stay in the home a long time. This is an emotional job for

you. It's emotional for me. Every day. Every night. It's - you are

thinking about all of the animals that are relying on you to give

them a second chance and for the teams working on the front line

it's 10 times a difficult for them because those are the people who

forge the close relationship with all the animals that come in. Those

are the people who look after them day in and day out and see them

going through their journey through the home, and they are the people

that make the tough decisions sometimes on a particular outcome

for a dog, and that might be a decision to put that dog to sleep

because it's the best thing for that dog. Those decisions break

everyone's hearts every day. Do you take in a lot of dogs that have

been abused? We do, actually. We see a lot of dogs used particularly

for illegal dog fighting, or dogs used as bait dogs in illegal dog

fighting, where they had defences lowered. Many may have had teeth

filed down so they can't fight back. Those animals come in scarred

mentally and physically. We get a lot of dogs that have behavioural

problems because they come from owners that have not known how to

look after them, and they can obviously be cruel treatment that

we'll see and detect in the way animals behave. They shy away, come

forward, snap. There's different behavioural traits that we have to

understand when dogs with no background or history come into the

home. Many of the dogs that come in are very badly damaged in one way

or the other. How good is your process of rehoming a dog? It's a

bit of a mission to get a dog or cat from Battersea. We want to be

sure that the animal going into the home is the perfect match. And so

we ask people to bear with us. Actually also to show a commitment

and go through the process. We need their details, they need to come in

and look at what animals match their circumstances. If we match

them up and they have other animals, we need to meet them. Particularly

the dogs, they have to bring the dogs in. We like to meet other

members of the family to make sure they are on board and understanding

what it is and who it is they are taking into the family. Do you

enjoy your job? Best job in the world. This is - this is a place

like no other. It's full of smiles, tears, it's full of happy endings

and full of decisions that do the right thing for all the animals

coming through the doors, and full of people with a passion and a real