Unwanted Christmas puppies - facts and figures from the dog charities

After the Dogs Trust charity spent the Christmas period caring for a record amount of canine casualties, they are urging the people of Britain to think hard about the commitment of owning a dog. The charity urges families to think of the responsibilities that come with owning a dog before deciding to purchase in 2017.

The Dogs Trust has been inundated with a huge 54% increase in the amount of dogs being handed in to their 20 re-homing centres across the UK. During the 2 week period between the 20th of December and the 2nd of January, there were 127 unwanted dogs handed in.

Unfortunately this fact is only supported by figures given by the RSPCA, who have stated that three pets an hour are abandoned during the Christmas period. The charity had to investigate 329 complaints about animal abandonment, which was only over a 5 day period and have had to deal with 1,676 complaints since the start of December. This is in addition to the average 1,600 calls that they received every day during the festive season reporting animals being hurt, neglected and abused.

A charity in Kent has also warned that the ‘A Dog is for Life, not just for Christmas’ slogan just isn’t getting through to people as well as it should be and hundreds of dogs are still being given as gifts and then being abandoned every year.

The major problem with this is the fact that the lucky ones who find themselves at a Dogs Trust Care Centre will get care and attention for their entire life if necessary, however not all dogs can be so lucky and will find themselves in other holding centres that regrettably may be forced to put healthy dogs to sleep simply due to lack of space and resources.

Dogs are not a disposable item and treating them like one must come to an end.