Since Christmas, there have been 394 surrender requests.

The animal welfare charity Dogs Trust has seen a huge increase in the number of people surrendering their dogs. In a post on their website, the organisation stated that between Christmas Day and the end of January, they saw 394 requests from members of the public to surrender their dogs into the care of the charity. The most common reasons given in the surrender requests are dogs exhibiting unwanted behaviours, owners not having enough time to spend with their pets and issues with pet-friendly accommodation. As a result of the 33% increase in requests compared to last year, Dogs Trust are appealing for donations from the public. In a statement, the group's Head of Communications Ciara Byrne said: "As a charity that relies solely on the generosity of our supporters, we are appealing for donations as the current dog crisis is putting a huge strain on our resources. We are taking in more and more dogs with behavioural issues who then spend more time with us as our dedicated team works with them, to get them to a stage where they can be adopted." Ciara pointed to the charity's Dog School, which equips new dog owners. Eimear Cassidy, who is Dogs Trust's Regional Rehoming Manager, mentioned two Collie-cross sisters Serena and Venus who were both pregnant when they were surrendered in December. The charity was able to find homes for their puppies, however it has been difficult to re-home the adult dogs. Eimear said: "Sadly, we are struggling to rehome medium to large sized dogs, especially those who are nervous or worried, as they need quite specific homes. "We are appealing to people who work from home or are at home a lot of the day, live in quieter areas, don’t have children under 16 and who are willing to give a dog a few months to settle in, to please contact us. We understand that people have preferences for certain breeds, but it breaks our hearts to see so many of our beautiful, bigger dogs being overlooked while the smaller dogs are generally quickly adopted.”

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