A charity that helps rehome retired working dogs says fewer people have been adopting due to the lockdown. Natalie Smith set up the Retired Working Dogs charity in 2012 when she saw a need for farm dogs to find new homes, while working at a vet clinic. Ms Smith said it was normal for adoptions to drop off in the winter but lockdown had made things worse. "For farmers, lockdown has been business as usual, really, so it hasn’t affected the dogs coming from farms, but it’s really affected the dogs we are able to rehome — we’ve had some dogs that have been in foster care for five months. "People don’t adopt dogs during the winter, and then now we’ve had another lockdown.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 12, 2021 16:30 UTC