Staffie who was dumped at the side of the road before Christmas suffering severe separation anxiety

A dog who went viral after footage of it being cruelly abandoned just before Christmas was watched around the world still has ‘severe separation anxiety’, the RSPCA has said.

The animal charity’s inspectors are continuing to investigate the dumping of Snoop the Staffordshire bull terrier in Stoke-on-Trent on December 17.

CCTV of a man getting out of a car with the dog on a lead before leaving the pet at the roadside has been watched millions of time since it was released by RSPCA investigators.

The video showed the male dog then jumping up at the car’s window and running after the vehicle as it drove off, at about 5pm.

Since being dumped along with its bedding, hundreds of potential owners – including rapper Snoop Dogg – have come forward offering to re-home the dog.

However, the animal is still recovering from its ordeal at one of the charity’s specialist animal rescue centres in Shropshire, and it will be some time before it can be considered for adoption, according to the RSPCA.

Giving an update on the dog’s progress, charity spokeswoman Rachel Butler said: ‘It is still early days for Snoop as what happened to him has caused him a lot of distress.

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‘Staff who are caring for him have found that he has severe separation anxiety, which is no surprise after what happened to him, so they are working with him to try and alleviate this.

‘At the moment he still isn’t available for re-homing while we work with him and continue to assess him.

‘We know that so many people would love to offer him a home and we are grateful to everyone who has showed an interest in him.

‘We are still assessing him to see what sort of home he would be suited to.’

She added: ‘We’re still getting to know Snoop just as he is getting to know us.

‘He loves to play so we are teaching him to play nicely as he gets very overexcited.

‘We know how much Snoop touched people’s hearts over Christmas so we wanted to let everyone know how he is doing.

‘It is a long road ahead for Snoop and we know that people won’t be forgetting him in a hurry.’

Snoop has been described as a ‘lovable character’ who enjoys being with people and ‘having cuddles’.

The charity said it had other Staffies available for re-homing on its website.

Meanwhile, the inquiry into who left Snoop at the roadside is ‘ongoing’, the charity added.