There are far too many dogs in the UK

[habibihabibi]

I am a huge dog lover but dog ownership is out of hand.
Growing up, dogs were the exception rather than the norm.

In the past dogs were..
Working dogs and nippy little raters,
on farms or in the countryside where they could be active throughout the day.
Or
In town or city houses, the odd mid sized low energy doggies with at least one adult at home e.g parent or retired person and a garden.
Or
If in small cottages or flats, small dogs.

People who didn't have time for dogs didn't have one.

They thought long and hard about whether they could afford, exercise and had the lifestyle for a dog and not pick one up off Gumtree..

They did not leave dogs alone for hours getting bored, lonely and aggrevated.

They did not have to sub out dog walking to someone who has so many dogs to exercise that one or more maul her to death.

They did not get a dog if they couldn't afford it because they are costly and time consuming.

They trained their dog using a book or going to kennel clubs.

Shelters housed lost dogs ( whose owners came and got them) and poor dogs whose owners had died or went into care not dogs that people couldn't be bothered looking after anymore.

I do agree there are a lot more dogs about, I kind of wish more cafes etc would say no dogs or at least limit to one. I was in quite a small cafe yesterday which became quite crowded quite quickly, including a massive bulldog type dog with a lead letting everyone know they were nervous, a tiny yappy thing and a mid sized dog. Before long they were all barking at each other and it became a pretty unpleasant place to have a cup of tea. The attitude that dogs are entitled to go anywhere does annoy me.

I'm sure dog ownership has boosted a lot of businesses though, and they're fed a lot better than ever before. Whatever happened to white dog poo?!

so i presume you mean other people shouldnt have dogs.
sort of Im all right JAck
but its him down the road

obviously responsible ownership should be encouraged.

I think you have rose tinted specs

There have always been unwanted dogs and dogs that were left to fend for themselves during the day

Many years ago you didn’t need to walk a dog, you just let it out and it would wander around by itself until they got hungry then they would come back for food.

Where I grew up there were very very few cars. We would use our horse and cart most days.

When I was a kid plenty of people let their dogs roam about, my nanna's neighbour's dog took himself to the park on his own - they certainly weren't pandered as much.

Yes you should only take on a dog if you have time and space but the main issue is the rise of the status dog, to look hard.

You're half right OP, dog ownership has risen and therefore the number of people that can't look after them has also risen, however there have always been dog owners that bought a dog because they hoped they'd have a dog that would need walking twice a day and then sleep for the rest.
Said dog owner could just go about their normal life the rest of the time. You only have to look at the dog house board for that.

I think it's probably the rise of the internet and how much more accessible they are. Also more people working from home. But working from home doesn't mean you have time or the lifestyle for a dog.

Yes
www.statista.com/statistics/515379/dogs-population-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

7.6 million dogs in 2012
13 million dogs in 2022

Biggest jump was 3.5 million dogs added during the pandemic.

There does certainly feel like an awful lot more dogs these days. The environmental impact is hugely concerning. And don’t start me about the shit that is everywhere. Why do dogs owners never attempt to move their dog a little when they see them start to squat. I had to sluice down the middle of the pavement outside my house as a large squelchy patch half cleared up was left directly outside my gate.

I agree, I really dislike dogs in shopping centres, busy pubs, cafes and shops and National Trust places. I really dislike large / menacing dogs in peoples homes and on the street when are clearly there as protection/ drug dealer dogs and I really dislike going around to peoples houses and being jumped on (which hurts) or knocked over when I was pregnant.

amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/07/dog-pee-and-poo-harming-nature-reserves-study

Lots of dogs are bad for ecosystems.

they’re also just generally bad for the environment. Big dogs are worse than cars in terms of pollution.

30 years ago when I was a child I went to school with a girl (country town, not huge but still plentu of roads) who let her labrador out to go to the loo, on their own, as in, out the front door. Another girl had a dog chained permanently in their concrete square yard. They called him Pogo becasue he jumped up and down. Poor bloody dog.

There certainly werent dog thefts or people buying status dogs.

Yabu

There used to be pet shops where you could cost a puppy for your kid's birthday. Or you'd get a dog from a guy in a pub. Kennels were a thing because dogs would be kept outside a lot of the time. The dangerous dogs act was brought in in the early 90s because of concern about dodgy dog breeds.

Social media has maybe encouraged people to get dogs without thinking beyond 'they look cute' but there have always been morons with dogs.

How old are you, OP?

When I grew up dogs breaking into playgrounds was commonplace, we as kids loved it. You could always tell when there was a dog on the playground no matter how far away from it from the shrieking and laughter. They walked themselves, often being let out in the morning and expected to return home at teatime on their own.

Our doberman was never allowed to leave the house alone but she did used to come with me when I finished college early and picked my little sister up from primary school. She came into the yard with me and waited.

Neighborhood kids used to call for her and ask if she was allowed out to play and that was okay. People let their dogs play in the street.

And, perhaps most importantly, people expected dogs to be dogs and accepted that they were sentient beings, not accessories that need to be trained within an inch of lives and can never, ever even sniff a passing child lest they be deemed dangerous.

Dog attacks were rarer back then too.

YANBU.
There are too many dogs and cats these days.

Are you from Victorian times,OP??

when I was a kid 40 years ago everyone had a dog.

When I grew up in the 70s, loads of people had dogs. There were also lots of stray dogs/dogs allowed to roam in the day.

Apparently, my grandparents had a dog when my DM was a child who lived outside in a kennel year round. He didn't have dog food but was fed scraps from whatever the family ate.

Imo, there are as many dogs but they're better cared for with doggy day care, training classes, groomers, etc. Surely that's a better scenario?

🙄🙄🙄

Blame the indiscriminate/ back street breeders , in fact anyone who breeds just for money rather than to enhance the breed.

That is gross but it's not ALL dog owners, it's some. I also suspect that multi child households are far worse the environment than dogs (tongue in cheek and no evidence base)

I’m a dog owner but still think dogs should not be allowed off lead in public. It’s out of control.

i have a friend who is a dog owner and doesn’t own a lead. Apparently her dog doesn’t like it. She’s walked twice a day around busy city centre streets off lead.

I agree, and it's changed a lot since the pandemic.

I got my dog 5 years ago and most people i know didn't have a dog then. Now almost everyone I know has one.

I've developed health issues so he doesn't get walked much when I'm having a flare up. I feel massively guilty about that but some of my friends have dogs that never get walked! Either because the owners don't have time or the dogs haven't been socialised properly so the owners are too nervous to take them out.

I volunteer doing admin for a local animal rescue, and see how many dogs are being given up. Many were bought as lockdown puppies and some are dogs that people have rescued from abroad and are now trying to hand in to a UK rescue!

It's a situation that is only getting worse.

My friend has just imported a dog from Romania.

Essentially because she couldn't afford to buy a puppy and a rescue would never allow her to adopt because of her living situation.

She makes out like she's doing an amazing charitable thing.

I think it's selfish

This is a direct result of lockdown dog ownership. People got dogs and didn’t train them. “Puppy school is a waste of time,” they cried. And there was no puppy/dog school going on anyway when lockdown was on.
“I’ll watch YouTube videos on how to train my dog.” Not the same as engaging with a dog trainer who is right in front of you training YOU the dog owner on how to train your dog.
I know so many lovely friends who should never own any pet and did become lockdown dog owners. All of them have completely neurotic, reactive, untrained dogs. All of them treat them like trophies or the perfect little children that their human ones aren’t. All of these dogs live in households where the children have developed jealousy over the dog who is a victim of the owner’s ongoing ‘new baby syndrome’. The children end up poking the bear. The dog ends up reactive, understandably. The owners are overly besotted with their dog to the point where they’re afraid to socialise their perfect little darlings with other dogs.
And now those besotted owners are back working FT outside the home and this dog, who has known nothing but lying/walking by their owner’s side 24/7, is a mess and has found itself with a dog walker as its alpha.
I’ve seen SO much of this. I can tell a lockdown dog a mile off! Disclaimer: Yes, I’m generalising and perhaps being a bit unkind. But I’m not entirely wrong.

There's definitely more dogs now, I love them but there are so many where I live now with crap owners that it pisses me off.