Dogs are at risk of being put down if more foster homes can’t be found.

Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue is urging people to consider inviting a new furry friend into their lives.

The non-profit organisation says it has been “inundated” with requests to take in lurchers, with many now faced with being put down.

“The dog world is on its knees, we are all completely overwhelmed, we cannot help any more dogs unless we can get more foster homes,” said Melissa Newman, who runs EGLR’s fundraising page.

“This breaks my heart, we are being inundated with requests to take lurchers in and all are at risk of being put to sleep.”

READ MORE: Dog rescue’s desperate plea for donation after being hit with rising costs

EGLR has certain criteria that potential foster carers must meet.

There are many reasons they have put these rules in place.

Melissa explained: “We put the requirements in place to not only protect our foster homes, but to protect the dogs coming into our care.

“We wouldn’t put them in place if we didn’t feel it was totally necessary.

“Most of the dogs we get in have not been assessed, this means we know little or no information about them.

“It’s very difficult for us to place a completely unknown dog into a foster home which doesn’t fit our requirements.

One such requirement is the need to have a fully secure garden with six-foot fences.

“With no history, we have no awareness of how they will react in a foster home, will they try to escape? Will they try to jump a low fence? We just don’t know,” added Melissa.

“We also have a lot of dogs coming in which have not been vaccinated or microchipped which means they can only go into an outdoor garden.”

Additionally, foster carers must be able to stay at home the majority of the time as many of the dogs have been traumatised and may have separation anxiety.

Melissa said: “Our main aim is to rehabilitate and rehome the dogs in our care so that we can continue to help other dogs come into the rescue.

“Without foster homes, this wouldn’t be possible.”

To find out more about becoming a foster home, call 01212584510 or 01386853971.