The post-Covid dog owners haven’t a clue

COVID has such a lot to answer for. Irritations include those government and local authority departments that towed a light harrow and the lasting legacy of sketchy services. Then education never seems to have really returned to the chalkface in the same way. Of course, securing a doctor’s appointment is akin to going into battle with those awful, automated telephone systems. As an aside, are there any general practitioners still working full-time since the pandemic?

But, here in the country at least, the most visible difference is dog ownership. Covid spawned an invasion of new broom dog owners. Arriving in their shiny cars and leaving the calling card of plastic poo bags hung on trees.

As an aside, proper country folk flick it under a hedge bottom, townies smugly bag it but don’t take it home. The sad reality is many of these pampered pooches are in reality living a dog’s life.

Just as children need boundaries – to be taught how to behave in public for example – so do dogs.

Any dog trainer worth their salt would agree that there should be a pecking order and dogs need to know they are at the bottom of it. Simple things, like getting their bowl of food after the family has finished theirs have kept generations of dogs knowing their place.

These pandemic pooches are right up at the top of the tree; proudly paraded into cafes, pubs and shops. There is no nervously holding them on a tight lead, just in case they cause a nuisance or spoil anybody else’s enjoyment of a meal out or other occasion.

Oh no, they are allowed to sniff at the faces of babies sat minding their own business in prams and jump up at older customers who might not be so steady on their feet. Or quite simply, might not like the scent of smelly old dog rubbing onto their best coat.

This is all irritating, but symbolises a far more worrying trend of the humanisation of pets. Wrapping them up to within an inch of their lives in coats, when they were provided with hair to keep them warm. Oh no, that’s all trimmed off at puppy parlours.

Just as indulging children creates badly behaved monsters, so too does making mutts think they are the centre of the universe. That they aren’t dogs, that they are right up there at the top of the family tree.

Nowadays it’s a rarity to see a dog on a lead. Do people think they infringe a pet’s rights?

Sorry, they are not called that anymore. It seems the title pet isn’t politically correct; they are ‘companion animals’.

Gosh, what a grump. But it was so upsetting to read about a sheep who had survived two previous dog attacks having to be put down after a third.

A team of eight volunteers had been patrolling the Barnack Hills and Holes National Nature Reserve, near Peterborough, since a postlockdown increase in dog attacks. But, of course, they couldn’t keep an eye on the area – where dogs were banned – all the time and poor old Wonky, who earned the name after a previous attack left him lopsided, was mauled again.

This will be no surprise to farmers, with key findings from a 2024 National Sheep Association police survey showing 76 per cent of forces who took part reported at least monthly sheep worrying incidents. No force reported never having a sheep worrying by dog incident, with 33 per cent dealing with dog attacks on sheep on a weekly basis.

At this time of year, the internet is full of newborn lambs torn limb from limb by dogs allowed to run loose and owners who refuse to say sorry. As if it’s somehow the sheep farming community’s fault for spoiling their walk in the country with animals too tempting for their poor pets – sorry, companion animals – to resist.

The majority of police forces pinpointed the incidents they deal with as being down to dogs being exercised off a lead, coupled with a “lack of responsibility and awareness” of the consequences.

Latest figures from the insurance arm of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) reveal that farm animals worth an estimated £2.4m were severely injured or killed by dogs in 2023, up nearly 30 per cent from the previous year. Less than half those dog owners spoken to by the NFU had confidence their four-legged friend would come back when called.

Just like spending a lot of money on children, indulging animals doesn’t make them any better behaved. In fact, far more likely to make them spoilt and unpleasant to be around. In a world where cats are now dragged around on leads for Instagram pictures, there is little hope.