Dogs abandoned so owners could have clean homes

A Mullingar woman who has being rescuing and rehoming stray and unwanted dogs for decades has revealed that along with the usual phenomenon of post-Christmas dog-dumping, there was a new problem this year."I got three different puppies - three days before Christmas - left with me because their owners wanted a nice clean house for Christmas," reveals Mary Chundee of Mullingar Friends of Animals.By St Stephen's Day, a Christmas present pet - a tiny Jack Russell pup, still too young to be separated from its mother, was dumped in a box on her doorstep.Although Mary had sent word to the tall, blonde, middle-European woman who called to enquire about leaving the pup that she was closed for Christmas, the woman left the dog in a box on the doorstep.By the time Mary and a friend who was visiting discovered what the woman had done, the pup had escaped from the box, and realising what had happened, they had to begin a search."We eventually found the dog, under the jeep."He's only four or five weeks old. You can even tell by his eyes: they are still that puppy-colour," says Mary, who says the pup is so tiny it would fit in the palm of her hand."(My friend) has taken it to foster it. It's just so small, and so young: it's just so bad to do it - to separate a pup that young from its mother," she says."Up until four weeks they're only learning to eat. They're still too young to be away from their mothers. They should be with their mothers until a minimum of six weeks."The reason given by the woman when she enquired about leaving the dog was that her child - for whom the dog was acquired - was allergic to it.Just before Christmas, nine animal welfare organisations in Westmeath received grant-aid from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The allocation to Friends of Animals was €3,000."But our veterinary bill for last year came to €3,250," reveals Mary Chundee.Adding to the pressure that is on all animal welfare organisations was a letter circulated to them by the department alongside the notification of the amount of their grant."They say we have to spay or neuter animals before we rehome them," she says.Pointing out that it costs approximately €150 to have a bitch spayed or €90 to have a dog neutered, she says she will not be able to afford to have these procedures carried out on all the dogs that pass through her centre."Where do they think we'll get the money?" she says, adding that as things stand, she has to go out on the streets and "beg" for funding.There have been other changes as well: "If you pick up a stray dog, you have to keep that dog for a year and a day before it's legally yours."She wonders what does this mean: does it mean that rescue centres must now keep animals for a year and a day before rehoming them?