• Dogs Trust Darlington will move to appointment-only system from now on;

• The Sadberge based centre will be closed to walk-in members of the public during this time;

• Charity is no longer taking charity shop goods at rehoming centres or shops to limit unnecessary contact and will advise when receiving new stock again.

Dogs Trust Darlington last week announced temporary changes to its activities following Government advice to limit non-essential contact.

The UK’s largest dog welfare charity, which has 20 rehoming centres across the UK, has outlined plans to protect the health and wellbeing of its staff and visitors, whilst continuing to carry out the essential work of caring for and rehoming dogs.

Dogs Trust Darlington will move to an appointment-only system for potential adopters and all centres will be closed to walk-in members of the general public until further notice.

The charity will also run appointments for people who wish to give up their dog for any reason. People who have a current reservation or are due to collect their new family member will not be affected and can contact their local centre by phone if they have any questions.

The charity is also postponing all non-essential community events and has suspended Dog School training classes, including those based at the rehoming centre, for the time being. Those wishing to donate any pre-loved items to the charity are asked not to bring donations to the Darlington rehoming centre or their nearest Dogs Trust charity shop in person, until further notice.

The charity’s staff will be limiting all unnecessary social interaction, practising frequent hand washing with soap and sanitiser, and visitors will be asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitiser before and during their visit.

Catherine Gillie, Regional Manager at Dogs Trust, said: “The health and wellbeing of our staff and our local communities is of paramount importance to us. We will continue to monitor and follow advice from the Government and are doing what we can to limit non-essential travel and contact.

“We need to continue our essential work of caring for and rehoming as many dogs as we can in a way that aims to protect everyone involved in the process. That’s why we have closed our centres to walk-in members of the public, but continuing to offer people opportunities to adopt a dog by appointment only.

Members of the public wishing to book an appointment can call the contact centre on 0207 837 0006.