Dog Pages www.dogpages.org.uk

Used to be a valuable resource but the site owner and his herd of 'Yes' men (actually mostly women) have ensured it's decline.

It's widely suspected the owner lines his pockets with 'donations' as no accounts have ever been made available.

Cliquey, intimidating and sometimes downright libellous. Avoid at all costs, there are much better resources out there.

I was a member of dog pages for many years, ok there were many things about it I disliked, but it was useful to me when I became a dog owner and I did learn a lot, so I persevered and tried to let the petty squabbles and cliques go over my head. Eventually the inevitible happened and I disagreed with one of the "in crowd", believe me that is just not done!

I was an outcast after that, and when I also began posting on another dog forum, I had my posting rights taken away. No explanation, I just simply couldn't post without a moderator first approving my posts. As my posts were never approved, that was the end of my posting there. Not even when I posted asking for help with a missing dog, was my post allowed ! And not when my dog died and I wanted to post in my grief to fellow dog lovers and those who knew my dog . I was ignored.

I wrote to admin, Ray and mods to ask why I was being treated like this, again I was ignored. I wrote to admin again asking if I would be getting a refund for the money I spent to be a sponsor member, I was ignored. I then wrote asking for my name to be removed from the membership, there's no point in being a member if I can't post....I got a reply then, saying they don't remove memberships! Obviously that keeps the membership numbers high, when in reality a very large amount of members are not actually participating in the forum at all!

Ray BArnes, the owner, is a very bitter, envious man who does NOT have the best interest of the dogs at heart. How can a dog lover BAN reputable rescues, JUST because they posted on another forum! What about the poor dogs, Ray ??

Like the previous poster said, I hope the INland REvenue are aware of the huge amounts of money Ray is getting via the sponsor memberships. It's no small amount!

And now it seems even the longest standing moderators have been kicked out, 6 mods in one go, including Bevd, who practically ran the forum since its birth. Ray has no loyalty, no love of dogs and no respect for members. Ray is all about money, power, dictatorship and bullying, and is doing a one-man demolishing job of his own forum, don't forget Ray that a forum is only as good as its members.....of which dog pages is slowly killing.

I used to love Dogpages. It was one of the best resources for positive training and somewhere rescues could post dogs and people could enquire freely.

Then it went down hill. Rescues stopped posting their dogs and went over to dogsblog, were told they could not post, you weren't allowed to post links to oldies club or lost dogs. I asked a moderator why, was told the owner wouldn't allow it and the moderators had asked why in the past and been told it was his rules. Some blame the moderating team for this. I don't think this is quite the case - the rules have always been dictated by the owner - and their in lies the problem... The forum is owned by an individual, not a group of people.

There appears to have now been another fall out and this owner has banned the moderators and removed their access. For 6 to leave at one time says it all really... The owner runs it like a dictatorship!

And then we get to the money side of things... The fund raised to keep it going, accepted donations. There have never been any accounts published and I guess that the tax man has never been informed that an individual has an additional income from it...

And of course it has just got a hell of a lot worse as there are no moderators (apart from one who is very rude) left!

i applied to adopt a shih tzu.i was refused because my 2 little girls were not spayed.i could not understand this how would this afect the one i wanted to adopt.the implecation was i was a breeder.not true.my dogs are my babies and are spoilt rotten.however i did rescue another little yorkie from a bad situation,a boy.so i did have to get them spade and neutered because we didnt want litters.the male dog was not house trained and was terified he is still a little timid but has turned out to be a little star we have had him 12 monthes and he is very much loved.so my message is every thing is not black and white.if someone had come to see us instead of just reading a form we may have had a different answer.and perhaps there would not be so many dogs available for adoption.bye the way my husband and i are foster carers.we look after the most vunerable children in our society,but not deemed fit to adopt a dog.has the world gone crazy.

Dogpages.org.uk is run like a dictatorship.

Messages are censored and edited by the forum owner

The forum owner Reads the members Personal or Private Messages

Members are banned for no apparant reason, often just for having an opinion that is different to the forum owner

Those that question the actions of the forum owner become the target of abusive messages

I was Banned from Dogpages, To this day I have No Idea Why

When I attempted to ask the forum owner why I was banned I was sent a very rude and abusive message.

This used to be an extremely busy board, but it's all a bit same old, same old now. Most of the chat going on in the section of forum you pay have to pay for. Many of the good rescues have left or are no longer allowed to post there, as have members who express opinions that huff or offend the sensibilities of the Mods or their friends. Okay I guess, if you want to pay to chat in private area of an online forum? But why bother when better and less cliquey, more free thinking dog forums are free? A forum that has reached it's peak and is now floundering :(

A 'moderator' on dogpages recently posted the following:

\"Just a reminder that those people who decide that this board is not the right place for them, for whatever reason, and who publicly announce that they are leaving the board are always respected by the Moderating team. The account is not deleted, because we don't delete accounts due to this requiring the database to be purged of associated posts, but we put the account on preview which prevents posts being displayed.

Of course if you intend to leave the board then it would seem strange to continue posting.

If you have changed your mind it might be polite to request a review , explaining your decision, to a Moderator.

Thank you for understanding.\"

Firstly I think people have a right to ANNOUNCE they want to leave a forum if they are not happy. They just want to explain and leave no harm in that.

Secondly, the moderator used the term 'purged' which means To get rid of people from an organization because you do not agree with them. That says it all.

Its such a shame there are a few people on there who do brow beat if you don't agree. They always do it with a \"thank you for understanding\" or a \"you can always leave if you're not happy\" and then a smiley face at the end as to appear polite, but who knows whats being said behind the scenes.

I would ask people to still use dogpages for the sake of the animals that need new homes. Also use the chatter & training section as new dog owners can get some great advice when they are struggling, but take some of the crafty comments from mods and senior members with a pinch of salt and don't let them put you off.

Mods who only allow their opinions - bullies, nutters and fluffy tree huggers - I have never met so many deranged dog owners on one forum. There are members like Samara who are mean, nasty and cause so much trouble. I hated the way the behaved - like a bunch of predators. Sad, sad people whose key interests are not helping dog - it's furthering their own ability to spout complete nonsense.

Dont waste your time/energy!

The Dog Pages site is full of egos. A site that if you don't agree with them they remove you. A site ran by a guy who will remove posts when people are defending themselves, so all you ever see is negitive reviews about rescues,trainers even dog magazines. A forum should help people not continuly attack and should allow both sides of the story. I would warn anyone coming across this site not to believe anything that is written on it

I was banned from this site for basically not supporting the cliquey and elite views. If you voice an opinion and post what they are saying may actually be wrong or misleading, the same old posters come back at you with vengeance. In fact I have had my account cancelled twice. I registered a while ago and I posted on the forum to ask where the money goes for those who have a sponsored membership. My post was removed and then so was I ? The site seems to be run by dog trainers and if your view doesn’t fit theirs then you’re bullied and not welcome on there. Don’t waste your time. There are much more sensible and fairer forums out there.