Dog rehoming centre to close under new plan

Last year the Dogs Trust centre in Newbury cared for more than 300 dogs.

The UK's biggest dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust, is planning a major restructuring which would put an estimated 300 jobs at risk.

The rehoming centre in Newbury will close as part of the plans.

In a statement Dogs Trust said the changes are "in response to the perfect storm that is devastating dog welfare" caused by the cost-of-living crisis impacting on the charity as well as dogs owners.

Dogs Trust employs 1,765 staff nationally and cares for more than 11,000 dogs every year.

The charity said the Newbury centre had "experienced low service demand" and its catchment area overlaps with centres at Salisbury in Wiltshire and Harefield in London.

Dogs Trust will also reduce kennel capacity in other centres and stop some of its prevention services.

Owen Sharp, CEO at Dogs Trust, said, "We have been living through unprecedented times. The pandemic changed the dog population, and the cost-of-living crisis has brought continuing pressures and uncertainty for dog owners."

"We are working to minimise the impact of these changes on our staff, although some staff will potentially be affected, as we reshape the organisation to make a bigger difference for dogs."

Dogs Trust said the Newbury centre had 'experienced low service demand'

The charity said that in response to more dogs being given-up because of "behaviour issues", it will focus on helping dog owners by providing "accessible support" for those problems.

"We can't sit by and do nothing" it said in a statement, "so we need to refocus our work, and review our rehoming network".

It described the plan to close the Newbury centre as 'regrettable' but said it "would enable us to reinvest across our rehoming network and put us in the best position to do more for the dogs who need us most."