A leading animal charity has branded a journalist’s behaviour as “unacceptable” after she admitted she had abandoned four dogs in four years when they stopped being puppies.

Shona Sibary, a freelance journalist, said she had bought four puppies from breeders but given them away once they became fully grown adults and their behaviour began to change.

One dog was given away to a geography teacher “with a passion for hiking up mountains” after her “escapologist tendencies” meant she climbed over fences and dug holes in neighbours gardens.

She says another was given away because he was overly aggressive with other dogs and two others were sent away for killing sheep near her rural Devon home.

She now has now a seven-month old whippet cross cocker spaniel called Clover.

Giles Webber, director of rehoming at the Dogs Trust, said: “Sadly, for every dedicated, responsible dog owner there are too many people just like Shona Sibary who are happy to give up their dog when it loses the cute factor or when it becomes too much effort."

They have invited Ms Sibary and her family to come to one of their rehoming centres to see “the impact of early abandonment on certain dogs.”

Ms Sibary’s actions have also provoked an angry response on social media: