IRELAND’S LARGEST ANIMAL welfare charity, Dogs Trust, experienced a 50 per cent increase in the number of surrender calls to their rehoming centre last Thursday.
In one day the centre in Finglas, Dublin, received calls from 51 people who wanted to surrender their dogs.
Catriona Birt, Dogs Trust Manager said today that on average the charity takes between 25 and 30 calls a day and there is always a spike after Christmas but “not to to this extent”.
Some of the dogs taken in by the charity over Christmas include Sugar Plumb, a 15-week-old Jack Russell Chihuahua cross found wandering on Christmas Eve and an 8-week-old Jack Russell Cross called Eve found abandoned on Stephen’s Day.
“It’s heartbreaking to see, we had to turn away the most amazing dogs because we simply don’t have the capacity for them as is the case with all animal welfare organisations,” Birt said.
“Currently having 163 dogs and puppies in our care and taking up to 220 surrender calls a week Dogs Trust would need a centre 10 times the size to take them all in.”
Dogs Trust has said its door is open to anyone who would like to get information about rehoming their dog and encouraged people to seek advice about the proper way to deal with such a situation.
The charity’s website also contains factsheets about the most commonly faced problems with suggestions on how to handle aggression and fear, separation and house training.
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