Grooming trend makes dogs want to curl up and dye
Animal welfare charities speak out against owners who colour and dress their pets to look ridiculous
IT’S a dog’s life to be the butt of their owner’s jokes. But, the modern day obsession with social media means millions of our four-legged friends are having pictures posted online of them with ridiculous hairstyles, brightly dyed fur or wearing absurd costumes.
Now animal charities are calling on pet owners to stop mocking the animals on social media because they claim dogs know when they are being laughed at and can feel silly.
Caroline Kisko, secretary of the Ken- nel Club, said: “We are not greatly in favour of doing anything to dogs which makes them feel ‘silly’. Dogs know when they are being laughed at. Some will have a reasonably high level of tolerance for that sort of thing. You can get a dog that will love being the centre of attention. But some will feel silly.
“Outfits come under the same banner. If someone wants to put a bumblebee costume on their dog for Christmas, that’s fine, but take it off again. The dog doesn’t want to be a bumblebee.
“With colour dyeing and so on, if you are intending that your dog will wander around looking like a pink rabbit for the rest of its days, I would say that is pretty questionable. But if it is pink dye that will come out again when you wash it, maybe that’s OK.”
Figures released earlier this week showed that one in five (17 per cent) dogs and cats now have their own so- cial media account and more than a third (35 per cent) feature heavily on their owner’s social media channels.
Research by Sainsbury’s Bank Pet Insurance found that one in four adults take more photos of their pets than their own children, while 42 per cent said they take more pictures of their pets than their partners. Some pets have millions of followers online. One Pomeranian, named Boo, has more than 17million Facebook Likes.
The warning were issued amid a rise in “extreme grooming”, where fur is dyed bright colours and trimmed into elaborate shapes. The practice, which has been notable in America and parts of Asia for many years, is now gaining popularity in the UK with competitions where owners can exhibit their dogs. That has prompted concern from charities and animal rights
groups. Ms Kisko said dog owners needed to strike a balance between what is done for the dog and what is mere “human vanity”.
“It is not a toy and we need to maintain thattha a dog is a dog,” she said.
“Since“Sinc we can’t ask them we should err on thet side of caution. Why is it suddenly OKO to dress a dog up in silly clothingclothi or dye it? We are very much not in favour of accessories – the dog needs to be treated as a dog.
“If you put a dog in a handbag, you are treatingtr it as if it is an adornment rather than a dog.”
PaulaPaul Boyden, veterinary director at Dogs Trust,T said: “We’re concerned by any dogdo grooming or colour-dyeing which could cause unnecessary discomfortcomfor or irritation. It’s important that dogdo owners, and groomers, remembermembe that dogs are not fashion accessoriescessori to have the latest trend tried out on them. Grooming is for the dog’s needs rather than for the owner’s entertainment.”
Elisa Allen, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: “Dogs aren’t bonsai trees to be sculpted into shapes that please us. Many are nervous about being groomed, and dyeing them bright colours puts them at risk of allergic reactions and even toxic poisoning.”
Su Eld-Weaver, a champion dog groomer from Northamptonshire, said extreme dog grooming was nothing new, although should only be used on dogs that enjoyed it. “It has been going on in the UK since the 1800s, it is just that with social media more people see it,” she said. “They have been carving coats and colouring them further back in history, and doing that for a very long time. The earliest video footage is from the Twenties and Thirties.”
One in five dogs and cats now has a social media account, although we stress that they didn’t sign up for them personally. Owners love their pets, they want to show them off – and that’s always been the case. But, warn animal charities, there is a risk of overexposure. Dogs apparently can feel embarrassment and are aware that we are laughing at them. The fad for colouring the fur of canines so that they resemble a bunch of flowers or a Picasso painting looks great to the beholder, but how does it feel to the subject?
Here’s the paradox: we project on to our pets one set of human emotions (“He just loves to dress up”) but don’t notice when they send a very human reply (“No, I don’t”). And if only the dog could post a formal complaint, it would probably say that the man/canine relationship is too much of a one-way street. How about acknowledging their views when they want to go for a walk in the pouring rain, or when they kindly offer to help finish your dinner? Then, we are curiously unable to read their minds. All we can ask is, “Who’s a good boy?” – one question to which there is universal agreement on the answer. “I am,” says the dog. “I am!”