Rag-Dog

Healthy Dogs, Breeds & Training

Menu
  • Home
  • DOGS BREEDS
  • DOGS INSURANCE
  • DOGS HEALTH
  • DOGS TRAINING
  • DOGS NEWS
  • Cookie Policy
  • About Us
  • DCMA
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions 
  • Privacy Policy
Menu

Concerns over pet welfare crisis due to high demand for ‘pandemic puppies’ | dogs

Posted on February 19, 2022 by admin

The unprecedented demand for puppies during the pandemic has had serious consequences for animal health and welfare, a study has revealed.

Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) looked into the impact of the last 16 months on puppy purchasing amid concerns that a huge puppy welfare crisis was unfolding in the UK. They found that while many people who bought dogs during Covid did so with the best intentions, the extreme rise in demand has heightened the risk of puppies being sourced from poor welfare environments, bred or raised on puppy farms, or illegally imported.

Animal behaviourists and charities have expressed fears that the demand for “pandemic puppies” had fueled skyrocketing prices and led to a boom in unethical hidden-economy breeding and soaring dog thefts. They have also warned that pandemic puppies are more vulnerable to poor health, as well as behavioral challenges such as aggression and separation anxiety. Puppies bought impulsively are also at risk of being given up post-Covid.

The national study, which surveyed 5,517 owners, focused on puppies bought between 23 March and 31 December 2020. The results were then compared with responses from owners who bought puppies during the same period in 2019.

It found that some pandemic puppy owners were less likely to have sought out credible breeders, such as Kennel Club assured breeders, less likely to have viewed their puppy in-person prior to purchase and collection, and more likely to have paid in excess of £ 2,000 for their new pet.

Pandemic puppy owners were also more likely to have bought a younger puppy, to have seen it without their litter mates and to have collected it from outside a breeder’s property or have it delivered.

The study also found that pandemic puppy owners were more likely to have no previous experience of owning a dog. They were also more likely to have children in their household and to have been motivated to buy a puppy to improve their own or their family’s mental wellbeing.

More than 10% had not considered buying a dog pre-Covid. And where 86% felt their decision had to purchase a puppy had been influenced by the pandemic, this was most commonly due to having more time to take care of a dog.

Dr Rowena Packer, a lecturer in companion animal behavior and welfare science at the RVC and lead author of the study, said the demand coupled with social distancing restrictions had created “the perfect environment for unscrupulous breeders and puppy dealers”.

“This also includes desperate buyers willing to pay above the odds for puppies, and an easy excuse to conceal poor conditions puppies were raised in,” she added. “From our results, we are concerned that many well-meaning owners … may have fallen into this trap, and inadvertently encouraged this deplorable industry.”

Dogs Trust advises buyers to extensively research a seller and never purchase a puppy they haven’t seen in person, in its home and interacting with its real mother and litter mates. The recommended guidance is a pup should be over 8 weeks old. People should also be wary of online ads, where smuggled puppies are often sold, ask the seller lots of questions about the animal and be prepared to answer lots in return, and walk away if something does not look or feel right.

The RVC urged owners concerned about their puppy’s health, behavior or wellbeing should contact their vet or a qualified behavioral professional to help address problems that have arisen in their early life.

This article was amended on 27 August 2021 to use the term hidden economy, in line with Guardian style guidance.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • How To Teach Your Dog Recall: 6 Do’s And Don’ts
  • Belgian Shepherd Socio joins Stephen Tindall to take on the world at the IGP FMBB World Championships
  • Pet Insurance Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
  • Sophie Wessex melts hearts as she bonds with dogs during key engagement ‘True dog lover’ | Royal | News
  • Old English Sheepdogs: Facts, Personality, Temperament

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Tag Cloud

animal animals Business condoms consumer news coronavirus covid-19 dailymail dcc dcclm dementia dog dogs Entertainment femail food insecurity genetics health Insurance local London medicine News New South Wales opioids owner Pet Pet Care and Services pet insurance pets pets & animals Pets Insurance politics poverty Research Research and Markets sexy Sport standard sydney training veterinarian Viagra wire zoology

Archives

  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022

Categories

  • DOGS BREEDS
  • DOGS HEALTH
  • DOGS INSURANCE
  • DOGS NEWS
  • DOGS TRAINING
©2022 Rag-Dog | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme
Manage Cookie Consent
we use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}