Two Christmas Pups Found Abandoned In Snow

While others will be tucking into their turkey dinner on Christmas Day staff at Dogs Trust Newbury will be working around the clock caring for this Christmas’s first canine casualties – two little twelve-week-old puppies abandoned three days before Christmas in Reading.
Staff at the rehoming centre have given the pups suitably festive names – Brandy and Pudding. Brandy, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was cruelly abandoned on a street in Reading, while Pudding, a Boxer cross, was dumped in snowy woodland during the night on Tuesday (21st December). Both pups had been left to fend for themselves in the snow as temperatures dropped below freezing.
The puppies, discovered by a local dog warden, were understandably frightened and extremely cold but are making good progress at the rehoming centre. Pudding is underweight but has a distended abdomen, suggesting she had been poorly for some time. The two are now receiving round-the-clock care from Dogs Trust staff and although not litter-mates have already become firm canine chums and share a kennel together.
The pups will remain in the care of Dogs Trust until they have fully recovered and are ready to find a loving new home in the New Year.
Dogs Trust Newbury Rehoming Centre Manager, Maureen Iggleden, comments: “We suspect Brandy and Pudding may have been bought as Christmas presents and dumped when their owners realised the work involved in looking after a puppy. Our centre looks after hundreds of abandoned and unwanted dogs every year but it still shocks us to think that someone could so callously abandon a puppy, especially in these weather conditions.”
Clarissa Baldwin, Dogs Trust CEO who coined the famous slogan “A dog is for life not just for Christmas®”, adds:
“Sadly there are still people out there who think pets are as disposable as Christmas wrapping paper. Our research this year revealed that 1 in 5 parents would still consider buying their child a dog for Christmas, even though most presents are discarded by their bored recipients after just four weeks.
We’re urging people to ’think life’ before taking on a dog.”
To help discourage people from thoughtlessly buying dogs as Christmas presents, the charity’s 17 Rehoming Centres has put a hold on rehoming dogs from 19th December to 2nd January 2011. People are still able to visit the centres and reserve a dog, but will not be able to take it home until the New Year.
Anyone interested in rehoming Brandy or Pudding should contact Dogs Trust Newbury directly on 01488 658391 or visit the centre at Plumb’s Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury, Berks RG20 0HR.
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