People are threatening to put down their dogs due to the cost of living crisis, an animal rescue charity has revealed.

Large Breed Dog Rescue volunteer, Jo Wood, from Sittingbourne, says the charity has been swamped by pet owners who cannot afford rising vet bills.

The rescue, founded in 2013, is based in Greenhithe, but the team's five volunteers work around the clock rescuing pooches, such as bullmastiffs and St Bernards, from as far away as Scotland.

Jo, 57, said: "We've got two issues at the moment. One is the cost of living crisis and the other is the fact that because our dogs are that much larger, the fees to look after them are that much higher.

"We've also got hundreds of Covid dogs that people purchased during lockdown and didn't socialise.

"These owners haven't done any training with them and now they're getting older these dogs are a bit of a handful.

"Almost every dog we're getting has got a bite history because it's just not been exposed to life.

"We're getting more and more requests to take these dogs in but we just cannot take any more. All of our fosters are full and all of our kennels are full.

"It's just madness at the moment."

The charity's volunteers feel that dog owners are almost blackmailing them to take their pets on.

Jo continued: "People seem to go out and buy the biggest dog possible, without doing any research on it.

"When they begin to see that the dog has guarding mannerisms or other things like that they message us and say can we take it urgently and, if we don't, they threaten that they will put it to sleep.

"We've never seen anything like it before."

The Royal Veterinary College states that no veterinary surgeon is obliged to kill a healthy animal unless required to do so under statutory powers as part of their conditions of employment.

It is rare that a vet will euthanise a dog without reason, however, Jo fears some owners are lying to vets about a dog's bite history, meaning the dog can be put down.

She said: "Currently we're probably looking after 15 rescues – but we've got a huge waiting list.

"We get asked to take about 10 to 15 dogs a day and we just can't do it.

"The charity are having to be selective with the dogs that we take, we have to know that we can get them into good homes that have large dog experience."

The Large Breed Dog Rescue has a strict non-destruct policy and never puts a dog down unless advised by a vet due to ill heath.

The charity runs on donations only, however, this year alone £11,000 has had to be spent on just two dogs.

Jo and the team held their biggest fundraiser last Saturday and raised just £2,200, a lot less than hoped for.

To find out more about the charity click here.

She added: "We can't magically create spaces, it's just a never ending story. I don't know what the answer is.

"Maybe some of the larger dog charities need to expand and be able to take in more dogs."