However when she discovered that she’d have to pay $350 for the dog, she realised she’d have to look elsewhere.

“We didn’t want a freebie, we were happy to pay something and we really wanted to save a dog,” Ms White said.

“We’ve had a lot of costs recently and we just couldn’t afford to pay that much money.”

In the end Ms White found a seven-week old puppy on Facebook.

“We found someone on Facebook who had the same sort of dog we wanted, a cross cattle dog, and they even dropped it off to us.”

Ms White said the high costs associated with getting a dog from the RSPCA would deter people from “doing the right thing”.

RSPCA shelter manager Jenny Chapman said the $350 the organisation charged for puppies was a fair price.

“At the end of the day the money we charge people doesn’t even cover our veterinarian costs,” she said.

“People aren’t paying for the animal, they’re paying for the procedures, people will often pay twice that amount for cross breeds from local breeders.”

Mrs Chapman said dogs that are six years old and older are sold for $180 in an effort to encourage people to adopt them, although the RSPCA has often paid many times more than that for the dog’s healthcare.

All dogs bought at the RSPCA have undergone a series of health procedures including being vet checked, vaccinated, flea checked, de-sexed and undergoing a behaviour assessment.

As a result of all of the time and money that goes into caring for the animals at the shelter Mrs Chapman said it’s just not possible to give animals away for free.

“We need to make sure we’re still operational in 10 years’ time.”

tracey.prisk@ruralpress.com