About Us

St Francis Dogs Home is a dog rescue and rehoming centre for dogs and puppies who are in need of their forever home. In the absence of their own loving family, the team at St Francis nurture and love each animal and strive to find each one a new and loving family. Rehoming dogs is the ultimate aim and our success rate is high – take a look at some of the success stories.

The Centre temporarily closed for a period in January 2020 as the Trustees explain

St Francis launched its fostering model in 2022

The fostering route allows us to support each dog’s individual needs as we will be able to assess their true behaviour when placed in a domestic environment and in turn be able to find them the correct and best forever home. Each fosterer will benefit from extensive and bespoke training for each dog and ongoing support including funding for all veterinary costs, quality dog food and on-site facilities. To find out more, and apply to become a fosterer, please visit our fostering page.

Our news is on our Facebook page and we will regularly be making announcements and sharing updates, if you look below you’ll see how we’re still helping dogs. We’re here for dogs and we’re here for you and will be long into the future.

History

St Francis Dogs Home was founded by Nancy Bates and a group of animal enthusiasts in 1955. At that time there were very few rescue and rehoming facilities, and the original founders wanted to stop unwanted pet dogs and strays being put to sleep when they could be happily rehomed.

With this in mind St Francis was founded on its existing site, and became a Charitable Trust in 1961. In 1999 the staff and trustees decided the efforts of St Francis were best directed towards dogs, and since then the centre has been rehoming up to 200 dogs every year.

We are ever grateful to our founder Nancy Bates who left us a considerable amount of her personal estate in 2003. This has helped generate a monthly income for St Francis to support our charitable work. 

Our dogs have come from all over Cornwall, including strays taken from local dog wardens to pets which can no longer be cared for. The original buildings consisted of basic kennel blocks and wooden field shelters.

Amongst the ongoing development of our centre we have a large training hall, which will be kept as part of the new redevelopment plans. 

St Francis has always been a dog rehoming Charity focused on the needs of the individual dog, helping to set them up for successful rehoming and striving to ensure that they receive the very best of care while they wait for their new home to come along.