Western Morning News (Saturday)
A dog is not just for lockdown – but do all owners know that?
Lockdown has seen a huge spike in dog ownership as people look for a companion to entertain them during the Covid crisis but, asks Tim Bonner, is it good for dogs?
WHY are people really buying dogs during lockdown and whose interest do they really have at heart?
Those are among the questions explored in the run up to this summer’s Game Fair at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire which – Covid restrictions allowing – is due to be held from July 23-25.
In recent months there has been a string of press stories about dog attacks on livestock, with an estimated 70% of such attacks being carried out while the owner is not even present.
Clearly even a successful campaign to encourage dog walkers to keep their charges on leads is only going to have a marginal impact on livestock worrying.
The problem seems to be much more about society’s fundamental attitude towards dog ownership and care than simply about using a lead.
Last year there were a spate of stories about a surge in demand for puppies under lockdown and prices surged leading to an increase in theft and fraud in the short term and, in the longer term, undoubtedly more inappropriate dog breeding and puppy farming. This sudden peak of demand for puppies came as no surprise to those of us who have been following the work that the RSPCA and other organisations have done to understand the motivation of people who buy dogs. A study carried out by the RSPCA found that almost a third of owners spent less than a day researching the breed prior to purchasing a puppy, two-thirds bought a puppy from the first litter they viewed and less than half even viewed the mother. Unsurprisingly this resulted in 20 per cent of those who had bought a puppy in the previous two years having already got rid of it.
Increasingly, puppies are an impulse buy, no different to purchasing a dress, a hat or a pair of shoes. It looks sweet, makes great social media content and is the latest fashionable breed, so buy it.
It is this instant demand that drives both puppy production – often at the expense of dog welfare – and fills rescue kennels as cute puppies become demanding and often disobedient adult dogs. It seems, and often is, worse when working breeds are involved.
The cuteness of a working spaniel or HPR [hunt, point and retrieve] puppy may be overwhelming but so will the challenges of managing their hunting instincts when they are no longer a little ball of skin and fur. Of course, those puppies bought on a whim are also more likely to end up roaming the countryside and potentially attacking farm animals as the responsibility of exercising and caring for an adult dog proves more demanding than taking a selfie with an eight-week-old pup.
If the problem is clear, the answer is less so, because it is difficult to create any regulatory or legal framework which could address the problem of impulse buying and a lack of understanding of the full responsibilities of dog ownership without impacting on those who are responsible owners. Fundamentally, solving this problem will require a shift in societal attitudes towards the responsibility of dog ownership and that is not going to happen overnight.