John Barrowman (‘Torchwood’, ‘Doctor Who’, ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’) recently visited Dogs Trust West London Rehoming Centre and the 120 stray or abandoned dogs being cared for by Dogs Trust staff there at any one time.

John is supporting Dogs Trusts ‘A Dog is for Life, Not Just for Christmas®’ campaign; the charity is urging people not to buy puppies or dogs as gifts for people. The run-up to Christmas and the period afterwards is one of the busiest times for the charity; with the number of dogs handed in, or found as strays massively increasing.  It’s not just puppies who are the casualty of Christmas as in some cases, the number of old dogs handed in to the charity doubled over the festive season, and between 2002-2005 over 1,000 old dogs were abandoned over Christmas.
 
The charity urges people to please consider the following:
 
• Owning a dog is a lifetime commitment. The average dog lives for 13 years.
• Dogs aren’t cheap to care for. You should expect to spend around £8,000 over his lifetime.
• Puppies can be extremely hard work for an owner, particularly if there are young children in the house – do you have enough time to spend with your pup?
• Dogs don’t come fully trained. They can cause a lot of damage to your possessions through chewing and accidents. How committed are you to training your dog?
• Christmas can be a very hectic time of year. This isn’t the best time to introduce your new dog to the house.
 
In an effort to prevent even more impulse purchases during the festive season, all 17 Dogs Trust Rehoming Centres temporarily stop rehoming dogs from 17th December 2006 to 2nd January 2007.
 
If you would like to support the “A Dog is For life, Not Just for Christmas®” campaign, then please call 020 7837 0006 for your free car sticker and to find out more.
 
ENDS
  
For further information, please contact the Dogs Trust Press Office:
 
Sharon Hatt                             Dogs Trust Press Officer                   020 7833 7620
Or call the press office mobile on 07768 616 280 / visit www.dogstrust.org.uk 
 
Dogs Trust is working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction.