For the sixth day of Civil Society Media’s 12 Days of Christmas, we feature Dogs Trust's, ‘a dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ campaign. Rate the campaign to win a hamper and a free place at one of our events.
Dogs Trust’s celeb-packed campaign features the likes of Sky News’s Eamonn Holmes, Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington, Bake Off’s Mel Giedroyc and comedian Jon Richardson.
Sadly the cute-factor of the celebs’ best-loved pooches, can’t mask the poignancy of the message – a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.
And why wouldn’t a dog be for life? Many reasons, according to Dogs Trust. Some of the real-life reasons given by pet owners for giving up their pooches include, “he’s too perfect”, “he kept sitting in front of the TV when the football was on”, “he got into the fridge and he ate the banoffee pie”, “he doesn’t bark”, “all he does is sleep”.
Dogs Trust chief executive, Adrian Burder said: “Sadly, there are many understandable reasons why people have to give up their dogs and we appreciate that circumstances can change beyond their control, however we cannot fathom that dogs should lose their security, comfort and home for such reasons they ‘ate the banoffee pie’ or ‘sat in front of the TV when the football was on.”
Burder said the charity was “immensely grateful” to the star-studded cast of the video campaign who “enthusiastically volunteered their time to help Dogs Trust share such a valuable message”.
“After nearly 40 years of highlighting our iconic slogan, ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’, we hope that with their help, we can help even more even people understand that dogs should be treated as valued family members, not fashion accessories, trends or commodities that can be cast off when their appeal wears thin,” he said.
Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and has a network of 20 rehoming centres across the UK, caring for nearly 17,000 dogs every year.
The charity is working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction.
