THE Christmas period, and ongoing recession has proved particularly hard for one dogs' home which urgently needs new owners to come forward.

The RSPCA rescue centre, off Galley Hill, Waltham Abbey, is already running over-capacity having just taken on ten new dogs.

And with a waiting list of 20 dogs still to come, the centre needs new homes for its residents soon.

Head kennel maid Dawn Field said: “Over Christmas every other phone call we received was someone wanting to give up their animals. We get inundated with people wanted their dog removed.

“Some have been here as pairs. We have difficulty homing them because people aren't used to taking two.

“We've got about 35 dogs here. We're only supposed to hold 25 at a time, but you have got to break the rules sometimes. You don't want people putting their dogs out on the street.”

The centre is particular keen to ease its backlog before Easter when it expects a new surge of unwanted ex-Christmas present puppies.

Dawn said: “It's generally around Easter when they're no longer cute and they've become destructive.”

The centre recently re-homed its longest resident, boxer dog Jason, after eight months, but is now keen to find a few more new year homes.

“These are dogs who have lived in a home and they need to go back to a home,” said Dawn “It's better than buying a puppy or a dog from a pet shop, which just encourages people to continue breeding them.

“We neuter them, they're ID chipped and they have their first course of vaccinations.”

The centre can be contacted on 01992 892881.