DOG lovers in Merseyside are being urged to consider fostering a dog so they can enjoy home comforts while they find their forever family.

Home from Home, a fostering scheme from Dogs Trust Merseyside, places rescue dogs with volunteer foster carers was set up in 2016 and now has 14 families on board.

Since it began 142 rescue dogs have been able to continue enjoying home life while waiting for their future owner to come along.

The charity is now looking for more foster families to sign up.

Home from Home co-ordinator, Kim Rowlands, told the Globe: “Some dogs don’t settle into kennel life and whenever that is the case, we love to be able to place them in foster as quickly as possible, but of course that relies on us having enough foster homes, so we would love more foster parents.

"Also, the more dogs we are able to place in foster, the more quickly we can help other dogs in need.

“Dogs that particularly benefit from being fostered are poorly or pregnant dogs, strays, older dogs who are used to a quieter life or puppies, who need to get used to the sounds and smells of life in a home.

“We always have incredible support from people throughout the area and we’re hoping that if there are more dog lovers out there who want a dog in their life but can’t commit to having their own four-legged friend at the moment, they choose to come on board as doggie foster parents.”

Dogs Trust has been able to create the co-ordinator role with the help from the People's Postcode Lottery.

Since the partnership began in 2013 players have managed to raise more than £12m for the animal charity.

Georgina Lowery, Dogs Trust Merseyside manager, said: “It is fantastic to be able to find foster homes for dogs so we are incredibly grateful to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery whose support helps fund several different rehoming centre staff, including the Home from Home Coordinator role.

“At the moment we have seven dogs in foster homes, one of which is our gorgeous Border Collie, Spike, but if there are more local dog lovers who want to help out and would like to welcome a canine companion into their home, we would love them to get in touch so we can help even more dogs like Spike.

"Fostering is completely free for foster carers as all costs and essentials such as food and bedding are provided by us and we also provide 24 hour support.

"Foster carers are part of our team and without them we couldn’t care for as many dogs as we do.”

To find out more about fostering, call Dogs Trust Merseyside on 0151 318 1339 or visit

www.dogstrust.org.uk

.