‘Fluffy’ puppies favoured over larger breeds

Cher Lewis, 32, of St Andrew’s Road, Worthing, has been looking after five-and-a-half-year-old Max for the last six months while animal charity WADARS try and find a permanent home for it. So far not one person has shown an interest.

“It seems to be quite a problem that people are buying fluffy cuddly puppies and then they realise it’s more responsibility than they thought,” said Cher.

“It’s very sad because breeders are the ones profiting from this and there are so many rescue dogs out there. People should be looking at rescuing dogs instead of buying puppies.”

Billy Elliott, the senior animal rescue officer at WADARS, said the charity is asked to take on ‘at least’ four or five dogs each week.

He said: “We are struggling with the larger breeds at the moment. Eight out of ten people calling us all want small or medium sized dogs.

“We have not had anyone interested in offering Max a home and he’s a nice dog. When he’s off the lead he’s happy to mingle with other dogs.”

Cher previously had to give up a dog when she had housing issues, which she did through a breeders society.

“As a family we wanted to give another dog an opportunity of having a stable life,” she said.

“Max was in kennels for six weeks and he wasn’t coping well at all. We love dogs and wanted to give him that stable home but we weren’t expecting to have him this long.”

Cher has two children aged five and eight. She said Max is ‘brilliant’ around them and is a ‘good family member’.

She added that Max needed to go to an experienced German Shepherd handler.

Anyone interested in giving Max a new home should contact WADARS on 01903 262828.