August is their toughest month of the year, with costs exceeding $10,000 as big veterinarian, rates and insurance bills pile in.

Now, they have another 1000 bucks to keep them going, thanks to staff at Forsyths who sacrificed their pay with each contribution being met dollar for dollar by the company.

Shelter vice president Amber Johnston said it was the perfect time for the donation.

“This is our most expensive month of the whole year, we really struggle,” she said.

“It’s all of our one off big expenses that hit in the same month every year.”

The shelter saves dogs often on the day they are due to be put down at the pound.

There are times when Ms Johnston will receive last minute phone calls before the dogs are due to go.

“We usually go in the morning they’re due to be put down,” she said.

“We have our name on several dogs at the pound so if they don’t get rehomed they come to us.”

Winter is especially difficult, with dogs needing more blankets to stay warm and staff struggling to keep up with the washing.

”Both us and the pound always go through a lot of blankets because it’s cold - the dogs like to make them explode and you have to replace them all the time, there’s always so much washing to do and in this weather you can’t get through it as quickly as you can in summer,” Ms Johnston said.

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“Having all those spares makes all the difference.”

At Forsyths, staff donate money from their salary to the Forsyths Foundation.

Tamworth manager James Handebo said staff wanted to give back to the community.

“A few of the staff accept dogs from here, so we thought it was a good cause to make sure dogs aren’t being put down through the pound,” he said.

“People were pretty keen to donate, everyone wanted to give back to the community so we got it done.”