A Scots charity is appealing for foster carers to help rehabilitate homeless Staffordshire Bull Terriers who are currently being housed in kennels.
Shirley Perrie, a volunteer and committee member at Staffie Smiles Rescue in Fife, is urging locals to contact the charity if they are able to look after a dog.
The organisation takes on unwanted animals which have been abandoned, abused or taken to local authority pounds where they have gone unclaimed.
Ms Perrie, who works at Langdyke Boarding Kennels in Kennoway, said the vital volunteers help them rehabilitate the dogs who need to be accessed in a natural home environment.
She said: “We mainly deal with staffies who are on death row in pounds in England.
“We’ll bring them up from anywhere if we feel that they are on their last chance and we could help them.
“We work with kennels across Scotland who look after the dogs while we try and find them foster carers or permanent homes.
“We need to get them into foster homes to access them to see what they’re like in a home environment because we just can’t do that when they’re in the kennel because it’s not natural.
“Kennel environments are not a good environment for them and it can aggravate some of their behaviours but sometimes you have to and it’s better than them being put to sleep.”
One current resident at Langdyke Kennels is 13-month-old Lily who was abused and made to be aggressive.
The dog will be working with animal behaviourist Ricardo Ministro to try and get her rehabilitated and ready for a permanent home.
Shirley added: “It’s purely down to human beings that she’s in the state she’s in. We know she was abused and made to be aggressive.
“It’s a case of getting her rehabilitated and working on her issues. It’ll be a long process, it won’t be overnight. It could take years but she’s only 13 months old and it’s just a sin.
“We look for lots of different things with foster carers. We prefer if they have bull breed experience because staffies do have different issues from other breeds.
“With some dogs, we prefer there are no children or other animals in the home. But every case is different and we’d be open to discussions with anyone interested.
“We generally only rehome to families in Scotland because we are based up here and we have volunteers spread out all over.
“We want to be able to support the families and we can’t do that if they live hundreds of miles away.”
The appeal comes as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was crowned the UK’s favourite on ITV’s Britain’s Favourite Dogs show.
For more information about foster caring with the charity, please visit: www.staffiesmilesrescues.com
