Stray dog kennelling services in West Berkshire are in crisis.
Stray dog kennelling services in West Berkshire are in crisis.
Since April 2025 the dog warden service has dealt with 100 stray dogs across the West Berkshire and Bracknell Forest areas. Of those, 35 required kennelling.
The service says kennelling costs are rising and is planning to launch a dog fostering service to help ease the burden.
“We recognise that rehoming takes time, and success can be dependent on the age and breed of the dog as well as the rescue centres capacity to take in dogs at that time,” it said.
“This approach isn’t without its own considerations that need to be managed.
“For example, dog movement, incentivisation, officer time, dog temperament checks, repeated straying, damages or risk of injury to either dog or human.
“However, the service feels it can mitigate those risks with the steps it has put in place, such as officer learning and development, temperament checks, home checks and free food vouchers to potential fosterers and support from its contractor.”
The scheme is being finalised and will create a directory of foster homes the wardens can call on during peak times.
The service says this has been one of the busier summers, made worse by not having a dedicated animal warden in post. Some costs have been balanced by that vacancy, but the service warns this is not sustainable and an advert is progressing to replace the role.
External capacity issues with rescue spaces are also causing problems when arranging rehomes for unclaimed dogs.
Moving dogs on after seven days — the legal requirement — has been the biggest pressure on the ability to collect and hold strays. The average time to rehome a stray dog this year has been about 14.5 days, 7.5 days over the statutory period.
Councils can humanely destroy a dog that hasn’t been claimed after seven days. Historically the service would only seek this if no rehoming was possible; this year it arranged one humane destruction because the dog’s temperament meant rehoming was not an option.
It currently has three permanent kennelling spaces across two locations, with an overflow option if available. Each space is secured monthly at around £1,000 per month/space. Neither facility allows members of the public to attend to reclaim, and there is no guarantee a freed space will become available again.
Kennelling costs are predicted to be around £36,000 to £48,000 for this year.
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
