Dogs Trust Shrewsbury rehomes hundreds of dogs amid cost of living woes

Staff and volunteers at Dogs Trust Shrewsbury have shared the good news, which includes finding a home for the charity's longest-stay resident – Tucker.

The black German Shepherd cross first arrived in Shropshire in April of 2015 and was cared for by volunteers for 2,542 days before finding his forever home this year.

Over the last 12 months, the branch has seen a number of cross-breeds, terriers, cockapoos and lurchers come through its doors, as well as big dog breeds.

Louise Campbell, rehoming centre manager at Dogs Trust Shrewsbury, said: "People tend to like a medium to small type breed, this could be personal choice but could also be due to costs.

"Given the current climate there's fewer dogs we have rehomed than over four years ago, but it's an increase in the last two years so it's heading in the right direction."

Another reason why smaller dogs tend to be re-homed more often is that it's easier for people living in rented accommodation to look after them, Louise said, as rented properties will sometimes allow small dogs.

Nationally, the charity has rehomed 10,151 dogs this year and has seen many dog owners having to make difficult decisions because of the rising food and energy costs.

"The challenges have been the number of people asking for help, particularly people trying to relinquish their dogs", Louise added.

This has had an emotional toll on both dog owners and volunteers alike, with people having to re-home much-loved family members because they cannot afford the costs.

Reasons for giving up a dog used to be primarily because an owner had died or there had been a change in familial circumstances, but now 25 per cent of these are due to the cost-of-living, Louise said.

The cost of medicine and food has "significantly increased", Louise said, which has put pressure on dog owners, with the average cost for a dog ranging from £54 to £75 per month.

But the centre benefits from a dedicated team of volunteers, who on Christmas Day were busy making sure the dogs were walked and fed when everyone sat down for their dinner.

The Shrewsbury branch has seen a steady stream of enquiries into volunteering and fostering, which they hope to maximise in the new year.

"We will still see an increase in people needing help and we are hopefully going to direct them to training and behaviour specialists," Louise added.

"I am confident we can meet any challenges. We have a good system in place, volunteers and the support of the general public and we are really grateful."

Across the county border in Kidderminster, Forest Dog Rescue has rehomed 255 dogs this year and said that any dog they can find a home for is its own success story.

But like Dogs Trust Shrewsbury, the centre has also been inundated with enquiries about relinquishing dogs.

A spokesperson for the centre said: "We have been seriously struggling for months now with the amount of dogs needing to find new homes.

"We are getting on average five-plus phone calls and emails from the public needing to rehome their dog, all for a variety of reasons. The strays have also increased tenfold.

"The problems we are having is the amount of difficult dogs coming through our doors. We used to have two or three issue dogs but now we have 70 per cent of our dogs that are proving difficult.

"This then has the knock-on effect that dogs are not moving quickly so kennel spaces are very limited and we can't get new ones in, so it is a vicious circle. Many rescues are all in the same situation."

Owen Sharp, chief executive of Dogs Trust, added: “This year has seen a greater demand for our services than ever before.

"But alongside the difficult decisions we’ve seen dog owners forced to make, there’s been some real moments of joy too.

“Thanks to the amazing work of staff at our 21 rehoming centres, supported by a team of hard-working volunteers and foster carers, we have helped over 10,000 dogs to find new homes.

"Some of them have gone on to be family pets, some have found retirement homes. And others have gone on to find new carers as support dogs, police dogs and even theatre stars.

The most popular dog names across Dogs Trust branches in 2022 were Bella, Poppy, Daisy, Milo and Buddy.