Up to 10 dogs a day are being “put down” in Irish pounds and the problem is compounded by the growing trend of people buying pups online and then abandoning them, according to the country’s largest dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust.

Dogs Trust, Ireland’s largest dog welfare charity, gets about two ‘surrender’ calls a day — a woman is expecting a baby and she or her partner believes they should give up the family pet, is one of the most common reasons given.

There are many services for those who worry about who will look after their pet should they no longer be able, writes Helen O’Callaghan.

I READ with interest Suzanne Harrington’s recent article “It’s a dog’s life ... so treat it care” (December 15) and find it difficult to correlate Kathrina Bentley from Dogs Trust assertion that we are a nation of animal lovers with the appalling statistics of dogs being destroyed daily in Irish pounds.