A WEE COUNTY woman who was moved by the suffering of dogs in Romania says she wants everyone to "hear their cry".

Sheila McLeod came across their plight when she was looking to take in a new canine friend.

After learning about the "barbaric treatment of the homeless and starving dogs" overseas, she went on to rehome two here in Scotland.

She adopted Annie and Millie from the Romanian Rescue Appeal, a UK based charity, who have settled in well over the last eight months.

Not only that, she has also organised a fundraiser that is running throughout October to collect money to give to the cause.

She said: "It started when I was looking for a rescue dog from a UK rescue [place] and found the Romanian Rescue Appeal online and was so horrified by what I saw there.

"It made me cry to see the barbaric treatment of the homeless and starving dogs in their hundreds in Romania.

"People need to know, if they can bear to look at the shocking images of suffering, just what is happening to these poor dogs – it's heartbreakingly cruel."

Sheila and her sister closed up a vintage shop at the end of last year.

With a lot of stock in storage, they decided to donate it all to charity and she opened a pop-shop in Dollar.

Located at 58 Bridge Street – with the venue given by Mo's Plaice – it will be there until the end of the month.

Staffed by a band of local volunteers, all proceeds will be going to the charity and Beatsons Building Supplies will donate £1 for every £2 raised.

Sheila, from Dollar herself, said funds are desperately needed to build a covered shelter before winter.

She welcomed people to drop in and pick up a vintage item, or to simply put a pound in the collection tin.

In addition, she outlined that adopters and fosterers for the dogs are also needed in the UK.

She said: "Even better still [they could] open their heart and their home and adopt one of the eight hundred or more lovely dogs waiting patiently, some of them for years, in the Romanian Rescue UK Appeal shelters.

"My adopted dogs, Annie and Millie, are adorable and have settled well here and are such loving little souls.

"Annie, a street dog, is roughly six and Millie, who was picked up as a puppy lying beside a railway line with her mother and a dead puppy, is three.

"She had spent two and a half years waiting in her wooden box with straw.

"That is the best luxury the rescuers can give them out there.

"They are fed and they get vets to spay and neuter them and treat their illnesses and injuries, they are kept safe from the ruthless dog catchers.

"But they desperately need to get loving homes outside of Romania if there is any hope of bringing this suffering... to an end once and for all.

"It's suffering beyond belief and I just want everyone to hear their cry."

The Romanian Rescue Appeal runs three safe shelters in Romania and has saved more than 1400 dogs so far.

To learn more, visit romanianrescueappeal.uk