Buddy a dog who is too ugly to love?

A deaf dog with odd-coloured eyes has been left in a pound for years … because prospective owners think he’s too ugly to love.

Buddy the lurcher is now a permanent resident of his dog home, left idling in his kennel while other, cuter pooches are snapped up by families.

During the two years he’s been there, bosses reckon at least 1000 dogs have been re-homed.

Every time a prospective owner visits the pound he leaps with joy in the hope they will stop at his door, says Susan Tonner, manager of the Dogs Trust, in West Calder, West Lothian. She says they occasionally pause for a moment or two but quickly move on and set their hearts on one of his neighbours.

Some may be put off by his odd eyes one is blue and the other brown. while others feel the prospect of learning doggy sign language is a commitment too far.

“If someone got to know him like the staff here do they would have an absolutely lovely, loyal dog,” she said. “He is good in cars, he travels really well. We’ve had him in a house so we know he’s house-trained. He is very, very friendly, it just needs somebody to build up some time and trust with him.”

Buddy, who visits prisoners behind bars to help with their life skills, has heterochromia, which means he has less pigment than normal in his blue eye but it does not affect his vision.

Actor Kiefer Sutherland, 48, and actresses Mila Kunis, 31, and Jane Seymour, 63, are all affected by the condition, though theirs are significantly less striking than

Buddy’s.

The playful pooch was brought into the shelter as a stray, and staff quickly noticed he did not respond to commands like most other dogs. They established he was partially deaf and started teaching him basic sign language.

Susan added: “We would be looking for a home that would understand deaf dogs or be patient with him.

“If there is something coming towards him that he’s not expecting he can be jumpy, so we are looking for someone who understands that and will be calm and reassuring.”

Figures released by the Dogs Trust last week revealed 174 dogs were brought into its shelters over Christmas and New Year twice the normal rate.

After hearing of Buddy’s plight, comedian and dog lover Paul O’Grady, 59, who recently presented a TV series from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, urged the perfect owner to come forward. He said: “He will make somebody a lovely pet, he really will. I wish him all the best.”

Pauline Waller, who runs K9 Harmony behavioural dog training in Fife, which works with deaf dogs, has vowed to give free advice to anyone who takes Buddy on.

She said: “With any dog there is work…training a deaf dog is not harder.

“You’ll use different techniques to train him but the love you will get from him is quite incredible.”