It has been almost three years since the country was pushed into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic - and its impact is still being felt by many. Border Collie Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, in Crymych, Wales, is still taking in four to five dogs per day, claiming the problem is just "as bad if not worse" than in 2020.
Founder Diane Hart, who has been rescuing and training border collies for the past 30 years, has been inundated with "unwanted" dogs so much so she is running out of room to house them all. Her centre cared for around 20 to 30 dogs before the pandemic hit - but now has at least 120 in their centre, with another 90 on a waiting list.
She told The Mirror: "The people who managed to keep their dogs in the pandemic are now giving them up. They've all gone back to work now - and the vet fees are going up. A lot of vet practices are being bought out by big companies and the prices are going up ridiculously.
"With the food crisis and people's situation in this country at the minute, the dogs are very often the first thing to go. It's a secondary reason for them coming in now - I have four or five pitfalls every day, which is heartbreaking."
Diane takes in the "unwanted" dogs that other centres don't have the time or resources to care for, saying they would be put to sleep if she didn't step in to help.
Many of them stay in her care for around 18 months until they're ready to be rehomed, learning basic commands, skills and desired behaviours in that time.
However, around 30 have become 'permanent residents' because rehoming them could either put the animal or owner in harm's way.
"A lot of the lockdown dogs lost their lives at 10-months-old because they had owners who didn't research the breed and don't know how to train them," she added.
When speaking about the "perfect" border collie owner, she said: "It needs to be someone who has the time, knowledge and doesn't have a lot of young children running around.
"You will always get the odd dog who is great around children - but they are few and far between. It's really quite difficult [to match an owner with a dog], but if it wasn't like that then people would be in trouble.
"We can't put the dogs back into an environment that made them poorly in the first place."
Diane's rehabilitation centre teaches struggling owners how to correctly care for their pet in an attempt to prevent them from giving up on the animal and placing it into a shelter.
But as she has taken in so many dogs since 2020, she is now working toward buying a new premises to be able to give her rescue animals more space to roam.
The rescue centre accepts general donations toward their dogs' daily care, such as their their vet bills and food. To donate, visit their website.
