Hastings District Council is to begin a two-month amnesty for people to hand in unregistered or unwanted dogs.
Councillors requested the amnesty to allow people with unwanted dogs to relinquish their animal at no cost, after adopting a hard line on stray or unregistered dogs in 2010.
Unregistered dogs in the district are impounded immediately, and since mid-2010 the council has picked up more than 4000 dogs and euthanased about 1500.
Council chief executive Ross McLeod says people who want to keep their dog will still have to pay registration fees.
Mr McLeod says the council will take every opportunity to find new homes for dogs handed in to the pound.
The amnesty is from 1 July to 31 August.
