A dog is supposed to be for life, not just for Christmas,or so the common saying goes. Many people seem to forget the adage around Christmastime though, the allure of the ‘novelty’ of a new pet for the family wearingoff almost as soon as it took hold in the first place. So, the news of a dogfound tied to a railing outside a train station in Scotland is not an auspiciousstart one might suppose, until human kind-heartedness is introduced into thetale.

Kai, a shar-pei crossbreed was found left abandoned nearto Ayr railway station last Friday by his owner.

The dog was microchipped,allowing its name to be determined by the charity that took it in and cared forit after its discovery. The Scottish SPCA’s animal charity centre in Glasgow are now attemptingto trace the owner who left Kai to fend for itself, leaving a suitcase besideit containing a pillow, toy, food and a bowl.

The seemingly unwanted dog looks destined to find ownersthat do want to take it in and give it a home in the future though, as thecharity have been deluged with calls from dog lovers offering just that sinceits plight was made known. More than one hundred calls have been received asthe charity tries to find a good match for Kai after its ‘false start’.

It has been determined that the dog was sold on theGumtree website in 2013 but the charity have not yet been able to determine whopurchased him at that time and are appealing for assistance in that search.

Dogs Trust, Ireland’slargest dog welfare charity received 55 surrender calls on 5thJanuary alone from people who did not want to keep their dog any longer, a morethan 100% increase on the same time in the previous year. The explanations are varied,ranging from the relatively simple “he barks when left on his own” or “hechewed my expensive sofa”, to the cold hearted such as “my dog was too old andno longer brought me any joy”. The famous Battersea Dogs and Cats Home caredfor nearly 9,000 Animals in 2012, indicating the size of the problem ofunwanted pets.