There has been a “huge spike” in the number of people looking to give up their dog as Covid restrictions are eased and people return to their “normal” lives.
Leading animal charity Dogs Trust Ireland says that they are seeing around eight “surrender requests” a day.
Ciara Byrne, Head of Communications at Dogs Trust Ireland, said many pets are struggling to adjust to life after lockdown.
Many of their owners are now leaving their homes for longer periods and not playing as much with their pets.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, she said: “Unfortunately, we are seeing a huge spike at the moment – especially since we’ve been emerging from lockdown.
“We’ve had the same number of requests so far this year as we had for the entire of 2020 last year. So, those are quite astonishing numbers, to say the least.
“The most common reason that we’re seeing at the moment is that people are struggling with behaviour issues with their dog. We’re assuming that this could be a large part to do with coming out of lockdown, things are going back to normal and dogs are struggling to cope with that.”
Ciara explained that “dogs are really noticing” that their owners are starting to leave the house more frequently and for longer periods of time.
“Dogs are receptive to anything, so they do notice when things change, even when small things change. They’re quite habitual as well. Some of them really do struggle.
“We want to keep dogs in their homes – that’s our main goal.”