Over the course of a single year more than 47,000 dogs were abandoned in council pounds. 5,000+ of these were put down by regretful local authorities. To put this into perspective, the figures equate to 14 dogs being terminated per day. The statistics were reported by The Stray Dogs Survey, commissioned by The Dogs Trust, a long running charity which does not put healthy dogs down.
As the holidays draw nearer The Dogs Trust has re-launched its famous festive appeal. Pet-lovers are urged to remember that ‘A Dog is For Life, Not Just For Christmas’. To drive the message home, the charity’s staff have recorded some of the shocking excuses given by people who abandoned their dogs over the last 12 months.
- He’s too perfect
- The fence was hit by lightning so we took it as a sign that we shouldn’t have a dog
- He kept sitting in front of the TV when the football was on
- He got into the fridge and he ate the banoffee pie
- He chewed my model helicopter
- He kept chewing the grandchildren’s nappies
- All he does is sleep
- He doesn’t bark
- He only poos in our garden
- He kept distracting the children from revising for their GCSEs
- He kept pulling the noses off the children’s toys
- He’s scared of tin foil
- He doesn’t pay any attention to the baby
- He kept eating our apples and pooped on the very expensive rug
- The fence was hit by lightning so we took it as a sign that we shouldn’t have a dog
Celebrities including Sky News’s Eamonn Holmes and singer-songwriter Ella Eyre have added their names to the campaign by drawing attention to the bizarre and worrying statements.
Dogs Trust’s chief executive, Adrian Burder said:“Sadly, there are many understandable reasons why people have to give up their dogs and we appreciate that circumstances can change beyond their control, however we cannot fathom that dogs should lose their security, comfort and home for such reasons they ‘ate the banoffee pie’ or ‘sat in front of the TV when the football was on.”
