Almost home Dog Rescue is holding a Christmas fair this December.

The dog friendly Christmas fair is being held to raise funds for the rescue, who have seen a surge in dogs needing homes since the pandemic.

The rescue has seven kennels in total but one is taken by permanent resident, Arthur the border collie. The kennels can be turned into whelping units for pregnant dogs and the rescue currently has between eight to 12 fosterers who take the dogs less suited to the kennels.

The rescue works with all breeds of dogs but has a focus on greyhounds due to their opposition of the racing industry the breed is associated with. It currently has four greyhounds in the kennel from Ireland.

Alex Nilan, the Chair of Almost Home Dog Rescue said: "We move the dogs quite quickly, so over the past five years we've moved about three dogs a week so it's quite quick. We do adopt out very quickly mainly because we've got quite a huge following on Facebook so we can get the dogs details out to a lot of people quickly.

"Greyhounds are an exception to that. Very difficult to home a greyhound because there's that many and people have a very wrong conception of greys in terms of, they think that they need a lot of walks, they think that they are that big that they need a big house. The opposite is true they don't need a lot of walking and they just curl up in a ball on the couch like a little cat, so we do work hard to try and dispel that myth."

The shelter has been open for about five to six years and before the pandemic they visited schools and clubs to educate people of proper care and safety around dogs, however the pandemic has prevented this recently.

She mentioned the increase in people giving dogs up after the pandemic after a surge of people purchasing dogs in lockdown. It has caused a strain on shelters and rescues who are running at full capacity.

She said: "We've never known anything like it in the last five years, it's just horrific. Last week Lauren my colleague took seven calls from various people but in all seven calls the dogs were in danger of being put to sleep and we could help none of them because we were full. Normally we'd pull the stops out for something like that."

Therefore events like the Christmas fair are important to Almost Home, which also acts as awareness to those who want information on dogs and how to care for them.

She added: "We've always done a Christmas fair. It's a fundraiser, we definitely do it as a fundraiser but we like to be in the community. A lot of the people who have got dogs from us will attend our fair."

They also have a charity shop in Buckley which they will be selling items from.

The fair will take place at Llanferres Village Hall, Mold, on December 5 from 11am to 4pm.

For more information on the dogs, visit https://almosthome.dog/dogs/