A volunteer-led dog sanctuary are putting on a dog parade in St Anne's Park this weekend.
Dogs Aid Animal Sanctuary, based in Meakstown, will be putting on a dog parade in the Clontarf park this Sunday, May 7, from 3pm to 6pm. The meeting point is the red stables in the park, and at 3pm the group will begin a loop around the park followed by a raffle and prizes for 'waggiest tail', as well as other fun competitions.
Long time volunteer at the animal sanctuary Vivienne Sheridan said: "It's a fun day that owners can bring their dogs too or just yourself, you don't need a dog to attend and all the money raised goes directly to the care of the animals in the sanctuary.
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"It is €10 per dog to come to the parade but we are very laidback. If someone has three dogs they want to bring for example, we'll charge €20 not €30. The amount of money people want to donate is completely up to themselves, if they want to come and buy ticket raffles to support that is much appreciated as well."
The sanctuary has been up and running in Dublin since 1987, and is completely reliant on volunteers to keep it running. Vivienne said: "We have about 20 core volunteers that are here most of the time. I volunteer two days a week and usually we have students who are interested and want to help out, or people from other countries that want to improve their English.
"Anyone can volunteer if they want and the time that they give up is completely up to themselves, you can do one day a week or one hour a week. Everything helps." The sanctuary has around 70 dogs in its care, around 10-15 are permanent residents and the rest are up for adoption. They also have a cattery and North Dublin Cat Rescue take care of people adopting the cats.
Speaking about the surrendering of dogs and reasons behind why people do it, Vivienne said: "Our phone is ringing all day, every day with people who want to surrender their dogs or people who have found abandoned ones and want to give them to us.
"The most common reasons people can't keep their dogs anymore is because they are renting and they are moving to a new place where their landlord won't allow a dog, they got them as puppies didn't train them properly and now they are overwhelmed or, one of the more sad reasons is when an elderly person dies and their dog needs somewhere to go."
"We are always looking for people to adopt the dogs we have in our care. Another volunteer, Maggie, will decide if the person is a fit for the dog and that they know what they are getting themselves into before allowing someone to adopt. We will also call out the person and do a home check.
"The majority of the time the dog has a great life with the person and they keep in touch and it's great seeing the dog happy with a new owner."
Another service that the sanctuary run is a veterinary clinic on a Tuesday evening where people can bring their dogs and pay a subsided fee as veterinary bills can be very expensive. Vivienne encourages people to attend the dog parade on Sunday as any amount of money people have to spare is greatly appreciated.
For more information on how to adopt a dog or about the sanctuary in general you can visit their website here.
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