The owners of Stoke-on-Trent’s largest dog kennels have recently spoken about an increasing crisis in the area as the City Dogs Home is full to bursting with dogs. Manager of the dogs home Vicky Phillips says that financial pressures in the area mean more local people are struggling to keep pets and that staff have frequently found dogs tethered up outside the facility in recent weeks.  Vicky said, ‘A lot of people are losing their homes and they can’t afford to keep their dogs.’

This situation is mirrored just across the border in the area at the Alsager Animals in Need, also reporting their busiest time ever. This news comes as the Stoke-on-Trent City dog warden team tracked down 866 dogs over the last 12 months, the team responds to around 1,900 calls a year from local residents reporting stray and abandoned dogs.

Local residents have also complained about being kept awake at night with barking and dogs on the loose at night. Vicky sympathises with these reports saying, ‘I don’t blame the public for speaking out, a lot of people are nervous of these dogs because you don’t know their temperament and when it is happening week in and week out you are going to get fed up.’ Pat Lawton a trustee of the Animal Lifetime charity in Cellarhead said, Things are seriously bad at the moment, we have so many dogs that we are using boarding kennels and even our own homes as overspill.’

This growing crisis is one that is a concern for local residents and the dog rescue centres, however it is not only an issue in Stoke-on-Trent but is one that is mirrored in other areas of the country too.