It has been another busy month at Hope Rescue; we had 47 dogs through our doors, 28 of which were strays, but only 10 were claimed by their owners. Stray numbers are really beginning to climb again and sadly, we believe some of them weren't true strays but instead abandoned deliberately. As rescue centre waiting lists fill up post-Covid, it was inevitable that some people would try to jump the waiting lists ahead of those responsible owners patiently waiting to do the right thing. We currently have a staggering 113 dogs in our care across the rescue centre and in our foster homes.

Many of the dogs that came into our care during July had health issues. They included Pongo the Pug who had Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS), Montana the French Bulldog with bad ears, the 10 Yorkshire Terriers with various ailments and Indy the Beagle with a huge tumour. We are so grateful for all the kind donations we received towards their vet care. The good news though is we had a record-breaking month for adoptions and 39 dogs found new homes!

Our biggest news of the month was the successful conviction of illegal breeder Christopher Mae by the Shared Regulatory Service. It marked the end of a worrying seven months whilst we cared for the seized puppies; we were delighted that we could finally rehome them. The court case generated a lot of publicity which gave us the perfect opportunity to promote the #FlopNotCrop campaign. We also had a busy media month promoting our long-term dogs, including blind Rosie who made the national press. This month's press coverage included regional and national outlets - BBC Wales news, ITV Wales news, BBC Radio Wales, Wales Online, The Mail+ and The Mirror.

We've also been busy at the rescue centre with building work, including completing the fencing to our Sensory Garden and a new paddock. We're also finishing off some tree works resulting from our annual tree survey, and also some improvements to our kennel roof. Plans have been finalised to refurbish the training room, convert an existing building to a new reception and improve the car park. We are also looking to reconfigure the kennels to provide a number of double sized kennels for our long-term residents. Our plans also include a new staff and volunteer welfare building, so once this is completed, we'll hopefully be able to start recruiting for new volunteers at the centre again.

The charity shop had a very successful trading month too, especially our eBay shop which took just over £3,000. We are very grateful to all the donations we receive that enable us to keep out online shops and charity shop in Pontypridd well-stocked. There's also been a recruitment drive that has seen more volunteers join our existing hard-working retail team. Please go to our shop page to see our latest online stock.

This month we have some vacancies, including a Welfare and Adoption Officer based at our rescue centre in Llanharan and a Manager for our charity shop in Pontypridd. Further details can be found on our vacancies page.

All of the work we do is made possible through our generous supporters, and we are so fortunate to have you by our side.

If you are interested in making a monthly gift to help us to plan ahead and to make sure the answer is always 'yes' when a dog needs our help, please click here.

You can also set up a monthly donation via text. It's so easy to set up and the donation will be added to your mobile bill. You can text 3HOPERESCUE to 70085 to donate £3 a month.