Fears that Angus may be on the brink of another unwanted dogs crisis have emerged after a spike in the number of Staffordshire bull terriers at a local charity.
Angus Dog Rescue now has seven Staffies in its kennels and the charity is both angry and annoyed to see the unwelcome influx after a period of relative calm for the stigmatised breed.
Some of the animals have been dumped in favour of a new pup from litters bred by irresponsible owners out to make some quick money, and the charity says the latest situation is a clear illustration of the lack of progress in tackling long-running problems surrounding Staffies.
For the past five years, Angus Dog Rescue chairman Ian Robb has led a campaign for breeding controls to be introduced to try and curb the explosion in the number of abandoned dogs that have become synonymous with the drug culture.
“These brilliant dogs have gone from having the perfect reputation as a ‘nanny’ pet to being completely stigmatised, and here we are again seeing numbers of them appearing at our charity,” Mr Robb said.
“In 2011 we had 48 Staffies through our doors and we rehomed every one of them. But no-one wants to know this breed now.
“We advertise that we have these dogs available and nobody wants to take them, but in contrast we had more than 20 phone calls last weekend for a Jack Russell and a golden retriever.
“What’s happened in recent months in Arbroath is that we’ve had a couple of people who have bred litters that should not be doing that and it’s a pattern emerging which we’re very concerned about,” Mr Robb said.
“These are beautiful young dogs which are finding their way to us because people are getting rid of them to make way for another puppy.”
The Angus-led campaign has taken activists to Holyrood on a number of occasions, but Mr Robb remains unconvinced by political moves to crack down on irresponsible breeders.
A Scottish Government consultation ran until the end of March, exploring a range of possible control measures, including microchipping, licensing and muzzling dogs in public.
“I think the Government’s been sidetracked by microchipping and muzzling when there are many more serious things going on with the indiscriminate breeding of dogs such as these,” Mr Robb said.
“People on the frontline of this crisis are telling them where the problems are and it may be that we will have to raise another petition to get this matter brought back to the fore.
“In the meantime we know that we will really struggle to find homes for these dogs and if we get back to large numbers then Staffies may end up having to be put down,” he added.