EVERY dog has his day but staff at Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary are hoping their Staffordshire Bull Terriers have a special month.

The Stadhampton-based sanctuary is looking after 17 Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and this month has been running Happy Staffy Month in a bid to find them new homes.

So far, three families have shown an interest in taking on some of the dogs as pets but managers hope more people will come forward so they can all get a permanent home.

Manager Iain Atkin said: “Out of our 62 dogs, 17 of them are Staffordshire Bull Terriers so that’s quite a high proportion.

“People take them on and then abandon them for various reasons.

“If couples split up sometimes neither person wants to keep the dog and if people are forced to move, landlords can say they can’t keep a pet.”

Mr Atkin said the breed had an undeserved bad image.

 

He added: “There is a stigma attached to Staffordshire Bull Terriers that they can be dangerous dogs but I think that’s a misrepresentation. Some people know them as the nanny dog because they can be so good with children, and they can make wonderful pets.”

Mr Atkin said some of the terriers had been at the sanctuary since 2009.

Among them is 10-year-old Diesel, who arrived at the centre in 2011.

“He is a lovely good natured dog and we would love to find a home for him,” added Mr Atkin.

“Sometimes the dogs can be found a new home within a week or unfortunately it can take years.

“We have about 500 volunteers and a great way for people to get to know dogs is to come in and take them out for a walk on a regular basis.”

With pets always a popular choice as festive presents, Mr Atkin and his team make sure the old adage ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ is applied.

He said: “We carry out home checks, and try to make sure there is a genuine rapport between people and the dogs before they take them home.

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“We check quite carefully at this time of year because we don’t want people getting the dogs as Christmas presents and then finding out they can’t cope.”

For more information, visit oxfordshireanimalsanctuary.org.uk

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