A teenager has raised more than £10,000 for rescue dogs in Romania by sleeping outside in a tent for 542 nights.

Ashley, 13, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, was inspired to take on the brave venture by fellow youngster Max Woosey, who raised £700,000 sleeping out in a tent for two years.

The teenager has his sights set on raising £30,000, which he hopes can go towards rescue dogs in need of help.

Ashley has now become acclimatised to the great outdoors and told the BBC he now ‘couldn’t imagine’ sleeping back in his bed.

It all started when he slept outside for one night, and decided it was ‘really fun’ so decided to continue.

After a month of sleeping outdoors he decided to raise money for the charity.

The brave soul slept out in conditions of -7°C during his first night, but snuggled up to his pet dog Bertie for warmth.

He said: ‘I’m enjoying it so much but there are some nights when I get splashed in the head by rain and I have Bertie the dog wriggling, but I’m going to try to raise my goal of £30,000 to build a shelter for dogs.’

The inspiration behind picking the charity Paws2Rescue was inspired by his family’s frequent fostering of dogs.

They have even rescued one pup from Cyprus.

Ashley also told the BBC: ‘For the past seven years we’ve been fostering dogs and I’ve grown a massive compassion for them – I love dogs so much.

‘We have an 18-year-old Jack Russell, a Springer Spaniel called Bertie, and Lucia, a Segugio Italiano that we rescued from Cyprus while on holiday.’

Ashley’s efforts have now inspired his friends to try something similar, with one deciding to sleep outside for a month after attending his birthday party.

To support Ashley go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/helen-mcgarry-cyprus-dogs-rescue

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