Council keeping list of people willing to rehome dogs

Claims that dog-owners returning full-time to their workplaces have been surrendering their pets for rehoming aren’t being borne out in Westmeath.

“The dog pound is actually very quiet,” said John Jackson, environmental awareness officer at Westmeath County Council.

“I think there is a perception out there that the pound is full of dogs, but thankfully it is not.

During the lockdowns, many people bought dogs, and while demand for all dogs was high, the price of registered pedigree pups reached eye-watering levels.

Since the lockdown restrictions began to ease, there have been anecdotal reports of dog owners opting to try and have their pet rehomed rather than having them left lonely and fretting at home alone during the working day.

“I think a lot of people thought that was going to happen, but so far we haven’t seen it,” says John.

“If anything we are constantly getting calls to the environment section from people who are looking for dogs, so we have lists of people waiting to rehome a dog if they get the chance to do it.

“We re-opened to the public on October 3 and we have had just two dogs surrendered to us since then, and both of them have been rehomed. Neither of them was anything to do with anyone returning to work after Covid: they both came from the one particular owner and he just wasn’t able to manage the dogs any more,” says John.

“We put them up on our social media platform [a fortnight] ago and they were rehomed within two days of putting them up.

“If anything, we have more people looking for dogs than we have dogs available. All we have at the moment is two dogs and they are strays that we picked up and we are currently looking for their owners.” While the pound reopened to the public October 3, it was carrying on with its normal work all during the lockdowns, says John: “So you could make an appointment to see a dog if you wanted, working with the dog warden, but we are now back to normal hours, Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10am-noon, so if anyone wants to see a dog or talk with the dog warden, they can go in at those times without an appointment.”

Dogs for which homes are being sought have their details uploaded on the Facebook page, ‘Environment Westmeath County Council’.

“The dogs are usually rehomed very quickly,” John says.