A dog is not just for Christmas, make sure your new pet stays part of the family
We are told not to but plenty of people have been lucky enough to get new puppies for Christmas.
The important thing now is to make sure they stay a part of their new family.
The DSPCA's Gillian Bird says you have to put the work in over the next few months.
"The kids are still interested over Christmas, New Years comes, they are still interested.
"They go back to school, tell all their friends about it, the friends come around and see the puppy and there is still a lot of interest.
"Come Easter time, all of a sudden 'the dog keeps jumping up on us, the dog keeps digging holes, the dog has been making a mess.
"So that's usually when people realise 'what have we done, we shouldn't have gotten a dog.'"
