The newly registered charity, officially known as ‘Cardiff Dogs Home, The Rescue Hotel' came into being after a group of volunteer dog walkers at Cardiff Dogs Home got together to organise some small fundraising events - the success of these events sparked the idea of forming a charity to help the city's dogs.

Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Michael Michael, said: "The team at Cardiff Dogs Home do a fantastic job of looking after the dogs in their care, but the establishment of The Rescue Hotel, and the dedication and enthusiasm of the trustees, is really good news for Cardiff's dogs and will help us continue to go far beyond what is legally required of the service.

"Sadly, many of the dogs we look after come to us in very poor health and have serious medical conditions that require what can be very expensive treatment. We do our best to make sure as many animals as possible receive the medical care they need, but the additional fundraising power that the Rescue Hotel bring will mean even more dogs, getting even better care."

The charity already has a number of successes under its belt - the initial fundraising events paid for a dog called Bruno to have an expensive operation on his ears and he has now been adopted into a fantastic forever home.

Toria Acreman, one of the charity trustees, said: "It can be very difficult for the home to find new owners that will take on a dog knowing they need an expensive operation.We are all really passionate about the work carried out at the Dogs Home and this is our way of helping out."

The charity has also recently helped the city's homeless community deal with the impact of COVID-19. With most of the dogs normally housed at Cardiff Dogs Home being looked after by temporary foster carers during the outbreak, the home had a surplus of donated pet food. The Rescue Hotel team delivered more than £200 of dog food to the city's Huggard Centre to help feed dogs whose owners are homeless.

Helping to find new owners for the dogs at the home is something the charity are already proving to be incredibly successful at. Alex Milakovic, who has volunteered at the Dogs Home for the last five years runs the charity's social media accounts, which share pictures of all the dogs available for rehoming.

Alex said, "We have nearly 10,000 followers and are continuing to grow. The amount of positive support we have had from the public is amazing. So from someone not really keen social media, I think we have done pretty well! I wanted to do something positive with my posts, and show people that social media can be used in a good way. This is where the concept of writing, as if the dog was talking came into place. This way you can really get across to the readers the character behind the dog, it shows them in a different light and people can really get to know the true character of the dog."

Mathew Acreman, one of the charity trustees, said:"After months of hard work and planning by the whole team, we're delighted to finally get charity status and are super excited to see what the future holds for The Rescue Hotel. With the support of the community, we'll continue to work closely with the brilliant staff and amazing dogs at Cardiff Dogs Home."

To make a donation to Cardiff Dogs Home, The Rescue Hotel, visit: https://therescuehotel.com/makeadonation/

Follow them on social media @therescuehotelcdh (Instagram and Facebook) or @therescuehotel (Twitter)

Registered charity number: 1189079