Central Dogs Trust

Rescue dogs Poppy the Jack Russell and Mr Darcy the Collie Cross and the staff at Dogs Trust Loughborough welcomed guests of honour to the rehoming centre as the “Mission Rabies” team visited to mark the beginning of their big project to fight the problem of rabies in India.

Staff from Dogs Trust Loughborough will have the chance to join the mission team which includes crucial Indian vets who work with vets from across the globe who will launch the three-year project with the objective to vaccinate 50,000 dogs in just 30 days of September.

This will lead the world's first all terrain mobile veterinary hospital to rabies hotspots areas across India.

It's the time of year again we're being discouraged from giving pets as Christmas presents. The Dogs Trust have started their campaign by revealing some of the strangest reasons they've had for people giving up their dogs.

One owner returned theirs because it "smelled of dog" and another in Shrewsbury was given back because he was too thin. The number of abandoned dogs is on the rise, down partly they say to the recession, and people buying puppies online. Chris Halpin reports.

The Dogs Trust have applied a ban on people taking dogs home during the Christmas period.

They've set up the self imposed controls to ensure people do not give rescue dogs to people as Christmas presents.

The Dogs Trust Centre in Shrewsbury is already at capacity, and despite the warnings they expect to be inundated with unwanted puppies and dogs after Christmas and in the New Year.

Kate Sheppard recently adopted rescue dog Noah after he was given back to the Dogs Trust in Shrewsbury after just 24 hours for being too skinny.

She's taken in the Whippet who she described as a handful at first - but with time he's now settled into her home along with her other three dogs.

Clarissa Baldwin says that there are sad reasons people are forced to give up their dogs, but some excuses people give are ridiculous.