'I had to give up my dog to find a home to rent'

A dog owner had to give away his beloved pet to avoid being homeless after he failed 60 times to get a home to rent.

James Strauch, 42, said he eventually started offering landlords £1,000 deposit to let him rent with his four-year-old Labrador mastiff cross, Bruno.

But after eight months of searching and weighing up whether to be "homeless with a dog", James, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, made the tough decision to give Bruno up.

Dogs Trust said around 15% of the animals left at its shelters were there because the owners had changed accommodation, but the National Residential Landlords Association said bad tenants with pets cause additional risk for landlords.

James, a maintenance manager and RNLI volunteer, was living with his former partner when he homed Bruno as a puppy.

But when the couple broke up he wanted to find another rental property for just Bruno and himself.

James said: "I must have applied for 50, 60 properties.

"When I started missing [Bruno] off as a clerical error I was getting replies virtually straight away. But as soon as the dog was mentioned, it was a blanket 'no'."

He added: "I went through to the point of offering double, triple a deposit, an extra £1,000 on top, just in case. I said I'd redecorate and re-carpet everything after - and there was just no interest."

(James found accommodation within a week without Bruno on the application)

James stayed in a friend's converted garage for six months while he continued searching for his own place, but had to move out when the friend and his partner had a baby.

It was then James said he faced the "most frustrating, upsetting" decision to give up Bruno.

"He's only ever known me from a puppy. As far as I'm concerned, I'm his entire world," James said.

"They're not just a pet, you know - you do treat them like one of the family."

James found someone else nearby willing to adopt Bruno, but said the moment he gave him away was "gut wrenching".

"It's only been two months, and still now I have sad moments," he said.

Ref: 'I had to give up my dog to find a home to rent' (bbc) Photo Credit-James Strauch