People are either too hard-up or too busy working to take in rescue dogs, according to the groups that try to help the hapless pets.

The Twineham-based Brighton Retired Greyhound Trust has found that the number of people taking in the ex-racers as pets has dropped significantly since signs of a recession began to emerge.

As a result, the kennels are full and people wanting to take their dogs to the centre are having to join a waiting list.

Kennel manager Liz Andrews: "We have 28 here at the moment and things are just static. I have got people wanting to bring dogs in but we are not getting the same number of people visiting to look at dogs for re-homing as we usually have.
"Everything is a bit stale."

The centre has been in Twineham Lane for three years after moving from Albourne in 2005.

Organisers cannot recall offers of help for re-homing being so slow in recent years.

For the full story see this week's Mid Sussex Times. Click on the green 'play' button to view our video report from the Greyhound Trust.