DOGS Trust, which has its London rehoming centre at Harefield, is urging people to sign up to its free Canine Care Card Service.

It will ensure dogs can be cared for should owners become too ill to keep them or even die.

The charity is also encouraging owners to appoint a ‘dog guardian’.

This could be a family member, friend or even a neighbour or vet who agrees to take care of the dog and sign it over to Dogs Trust if required to.

Six-year-old Abba and 11-year-old Millie, both female schnauzers, went to Harefield in March 2020 as part of the card service. They were adopted three months later.

New owners John and Amanda Freeman said: “We’ve had Abba and Millie just over a year now and they’ve been very good.

“They didn’t like kennels very much, so they were in a foster home with a member of staff before we adopted them.

“We were really missing having a dog after we lost our previous rescue dog Lottie, also adopted from the West London centre, in an accident a year before.”

For information or to sign up for a Canine Care Card, visit www.dogstrust.org.uk/ccc