It was when we first came across ASH Animal Rescue’s website that we began to get a sense of the scale of the problems associated with dog welfare in Ireland. We had, quite frankly never given it much thought. Yes, we knew dog pounds existed, we knew rescue centres existed. We knew that unwanted dogs were routinely euthanised. We had seen news snippets in the press or on TV about dog cruelty cases and puppy farms. Yet it all seemed so removed from our lives and experience as dog owners. Campaigns to raise awareness, the ubiquitous “A Puppy isn’t just for Christmas” ad campaigns have run so long as to have become cliches, even celebrity hosted TV specials or complete series’ seem to have done little to stem the tide of unwanted dogs across the country. Visiting ASH and finding KiKi there served to make it all more immediate somehow. Even a cursory look at the statistics for dog pounds in Ireland can’t fail to make an impression. In the year before we adopted KiKi, almost 3,000 dogs were euthanised in the 26 counties. You might be forgiven if you have to read that twice. What is more shocking, is that this represented a significant drop from the 2013 figures. Closer examination of the statistics shows, however, that the number of dogs transferred from pounds to rescues and sanctuaries accounts for another 3,000 or so animals that might otherwise have been euthanised, while another 3,000 or so were rehomed from pounds. In other words, were it not for ASH and other like-minded organisations, the figures could have seen around 6,000 dogs being destroyed.