Paws and effect

Dog sales leapt during lockdown, for good and ill, and figures show that large breeds saw a particular boom: many Britons moved to the countryside to escape the city, and judged that they finally had the space to entertain one. The old English sheepdog, famous for advertising paint, saw a 66 per cent increase in sales; the biggest growth in popularity was the Pyrenean mountain dog, which can weigh as much as 165lb.

Surveys among cats, however, see no rise in the popularity of dog ownership – if anything, a pronounced decline, with many opining in focus groups that human beings “have made a terrible mistake” and “must be mad”.

The popularity of humans among dogs, however, remains as high as it has always been. Just after breakfast, dinner and walkies.