AN APPEAL has gone out for dog-lovers in Hyndburn to foster stray dogs so they do not have to be put down.

Hyndburn Stray Dogs, set up two years ago by dog warden Steven Wood, handles around five stray dogs every week.

Most are rehomed but if no home can be found and there is nowhere else for the dogs to go, some have to be put down.

"We are desperately short of dog foster carers," said Steven.

"They come and go with wonderful regularity. The start off with the best of intentions, then we give them a dog to foster and they fall in love with it and find it very hard to hand the dog over to someone else.

"We have a hard core of about six, but if we had another 20 we could virtually eliminate putting dogs to sleep.

"At the end of the day if there's nowhere for the dog to go, if we have no foster homes and we have no kennel space we can't just say we are full up we can't take any more dogs.

"We have to empty the kennels to provide room for the new strays so it's a vicious circle."

When Steve took over as dog warden four years ago, on average 30 per cent of the dogs coming in had to be put down.

"That's why we started HSD. We have got that number down to an acceptable level. It's not even in double figures, maybe six per cent. That's because we will not rehome little aggressive dogs that we can't send for police training.

The organisation has recently gained charity status, giving it access to valuable tax concessions and grants."

One dog currently looking for a new home is Trusty, an 11-month-old German shepherd cross Collie, who is being cared for by HSD's publicity officer Linda Washington.

"Some dogs come in ill-treated so it's getting them used to being with humans again and living within a home environment," she said.

"Some dogs you only have for two weeks before they are rehomed but others are there longer. It depends on the breed.

"Trusty has been with us a week, and he is my seventh dog, but I have only had two that were with me longer than two weeks."

The group's welfare officer does home checks before placing dogs with a new carer.

They ensure that there is enough room for the dog, make sure it will get enough exercise, and check whether it is going to be with another dog.

"Some dogs need to be on their own," said Linda.

Anyone who would like to become a dog foster carer or offer Trusty a home should contact Georgina on 07787 135053.