Thousands of unwanted dogs are euthanased every year in pounds across Western Australia, but one man in the Wheatbelt has made it his mission to give abandoned dogs a second chance.

The former council ranger has started his own pet rescue service, re-homing hundreds of dogs that were destined to be destroyed.

Matthew Sharpe used to shoot dogs for a living, but now he spends his days saving their lives.

He worked for the Shire of York and saw hundreds of dogs in the country shot because their owners had not claimed them and new homes could not be found.

"It became apparent to me very early on that these dogs don't necessarily deserve to have their fate end at the pound," Mr Sharpe said.

He started taking the dogs to the rescue group Safe, but when the organisation shut down last year he began his own rescue group.

Now he provides ranger services for 26 Wheatbelt shires and spends the rest of his time caring for the dogs and finding them new homes.

"My other half Leonie says I'm getting old and soft," he said.

"That's one of the main reasons we've decided to do it, because I can't personally shoot that number of dogs."

'It was really quite gut-wrenching'

Since August last year, Wheatbelt Dog Rescue has found new owners for 300 dogs on death row, about 25 each week.

Seventy to 80 per cent of dogs picked up by rangers are never claimed by their owners and the other 30 per cent are surrendered.

"A lot of the dogs that come to us quite often haven't had the best of lives and then you see them leave here with their new families and it makes the hard part of local government law enforcement enjoyable because you see a good result," Mr Sharpe said.

One of those dogs surrendered was Storm.

When Mr Sharpe rescued her from under a house, she was tied to a stump and in a terrible state.

A home was found for Storm with Lawrence Rea.

Storm was found malnourished, tied to a stump under a house. ( SUPPLIED: Wheatbelt Dog Rescue )

"She'd obviously been abused and it was sad to see it was really quite gut-wrenching," Mr Rea said.

"But the nice thing was that I was sure we could give her a better home and a better life, so there was no choice really so she just came home with us.

"Since we've had her we've put her on as high a protein diet as we could. It's been a couple of months and she's come along wonderfully."

Out of the dog house

Under current state legislation, councils are only required to hold dogs for 72 hours, or a week if they know the owner of the dog, before they have the option to euthanase.

That was an option Mr Sharpe chose not to take.

"It's something that I never wanted to get in to doing, the rescue, because it takes a lot of time up, but at the end of the day if we can get them out of there and get into someone's home, yeah I guess we all work together to give the dogs a second chance. That's what it's all about really," he said.

Wheatbelt Dog Rescue now advertises the rescued dogs on a website and Mr Sharpe said many people from Perth and further afield were travelling to visit and purchase them.

On top of that, he has recently been given the use of a new, bigger pound facility in Northam, north of Perth.

"Obviously maintaining and looking after the dogs whilst they are in our care will cost me money in the form of wages," Mr Sharpe said.

"And obviously the cleaning chemicals, the worming, the treats, the dog food, the dog beds, it all adds up, but look at the end of the day if we can give the kids a second chance, that's the most important thing, that's what the goal is."