WITH a new year comes resolutions for change and hope for a happy 12-months ahead, but for the animals in rehoming centres across there is only one wish for 2019 – a home to call their own.

Each year, hundreds of dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, reptiles, and hamsters, as well as a few other more unusual creatures, pass through doors at the Scottish Society for the Protection of Animals’ Glasgow centre in Cardonald.

Each one comes with its own heartbreaking back story – some lost, some dumped or some whose owners have died and left no one to care for their pet in their absence – but all desperately seeking a family and a forever home.

“It’s always difficult for staff watching the animals come in and not knowing how long they’re going to be here,” says senior animal care assistant Alan Grant. “The hardest part of the job, for me, is dealing with the old boys, like our wee eight to 10-year-old Staffy-cross we call Gorgeous George.

“He’s lived with somebody for eight to 10 years, where are his owners? Have they passed away? And, even if they have, why don’t we have that information?

“Homing these old boys is so hard because people always want puppies but he’s had a home for a decade, he’s not going to have any behavioural problems. If he was wrecking the house, no one would keep him for 10 years then rehome him.

“We will get their health as good as can be but we’ll be limited because of the kind of homes we can give and it really pulls at the heart strings.”

 

Gorgeous George is just one of dozens of animals hoping Santa will deliver a belated Christmas gift in the form of a new home for the new year.

He and his pals will spend next week’s Hogmanay celebrations with Alan, who joined the SSPCA team in 1992 after volunteering with the charity for three years, and his staff.

While adoptions are closed over the festive period to avoid an increase in “impulse shoppers”, who break the cardinal rule of animal care workers which insists a pet is for life, not “just for Christmas”, it will be business as usual for the staff and their residents.

Alan added: “For us, the big thing over the holidays is donations. They’re massive at this time of year, on the weekends we’ve had a member of staff basically tasked with handling donations.

“More and more come in as we get closer to Christmas but it’s what we’ll run on for the rest of the year. Everything from proper dog toys to food, it all comes in handy. A lot of people hand in soft toys which are fine for supervised play but we can’t leave the dog with them because usually they can pop off the eyes and eat the stuffing.

“It’s really nice to be able to give the animals a new toy or special treat over the holidays, and, hopefully, this time next year they’ll be spending the festive period in their own homes.”

 

While the holidays might prove a relaxing time at the centre, staff know it won’t be too long until a new flurry of residents arrive.

“One big issue with Christmas is people buying puppies, particularly for children, which results in an increase for us around June/July time,” Alan explained.

“At this point, the pups are a few months old, they’re teething, they’ve not been properly trained because people don’t put the work in and the kids are off school so people want to go on holiday but there’s an additional boarding cost of a couple hundred pounds which they’ve forgot to factor in.

“The problem we have is, you can easily sell a puppy at 12 or 14 weeks old but adults are much harder to sell and that’s where we end up with an issue and they end up here. “

While another common festive problem is those who buy animals as gifts for relatives, especially elderly family members, without consulting them.

“They’re thinking it’s a gift but it’s not really, you’ve given them thousands of pounds worth of costs and a lot of responsibility,” Alan said.

“You can be putting them in a place of financial hardship and people don’t really like to come out and say ‘I can’t afford this’.”

 

For those looking to bring a new furry friend into their homes in the new year, the city shelter workers have one plea: do plenty of research.

Alan said: “People do more research when looking for a phone than getting a dog.

“A lot of people who come to us can’t even answer what kind of dog they want, they’ll say ‘just a dog’ – the difference between breeds is massive and people don’t appreciate that.

“You need to know what you’re looking for if you come in and say ‘OK, this is my situation’ and we can say ‘we have a dog for you’. “

He added: “People will go buy a pedigree dog for a £2000 or £3000 but won’t spend the money on professionally training them.

“They’re doing things for a look but they’re left in a bad position if they don’t put the work in. It works out much cheaper, to find an animal here and pay for the appropriate training.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than putting the work into a pet and seeing it thrive, knowing you’re the reason behind it.”