So many dogs will be abandoned in a year's time

[OverTheRubicon]

With lockdown winter coming, the number of people around us getting dogs seems to have increased yet again, and prices of puppies are through the roof. Most of the people we know with new puppies have no dog owning experience, young children and two jobs that would normally work outside the home.

Dogs can be wonderful! But I'm really concerned that when many of these people need to work away from home at least a few days a week, or when they lose jobs and money, or when they realise a dog was irresponsibly bred and has health or behavioural issues, many of these dogs will be turned over to rescue, or neglected at home. Or am I missing a trick? No-one else I know seems worried.

The neglect and mistreatment of animals is everyone's problem imo.....
To the poster who needs to get some empathy pills.

I suspect that abandonment will decrease as people have more time now, and likely will have more time into the future, with WFH here to stay.

Much more time at home. No holidays. No big events / gatherings. Less to do generally.
It's a great time to put in the time and energy needed when taking on a pup or dog.

Hopefully they are adjusting their long term lifestyle too.

People are not only spending more time at home but also more time walking outdoors. They can finally offer a good home to the dog they always wanted.

It is almost impossible to get a dog from a rescue centre where I am at the moment. Hundreds of people falling over each other to get each dog that comes up and there are very few of those. There aren't enough dogs to go round at the moment. I don't think there will be an excess looking for homes any time soon.
It's not a great attitude to assume that people won't make good owners because they have made the responsible decision in the past to not have a dog because they were working away from home too much. That decision might make them more responsible than those who have had dogs all their lives whilst out working.

I don't think these dogs will be abandoned - as others have said, many people have always wanted a dog but it wasn't practical for lots of reasons.

I do worry a little that as life goes back to at least somewhat normal, these dogs will suddenly see their 24/7 humans disappearing and that this could be very difficult. And that the owners have not necessarily though this through. we've had our dog for 5 years and pre covid, would leave her at home alone regularly - usually only for a couple of hours, but now and again for 4 or 5 hours - without any problems.

Post initial lockdown, she definitely struggled a little the few times we left her at home for more than a very short time. And she was used to it. In fact, we leave her for much less time than her previous owners who were out of the house from at least 8:30-15:30 2 or 3 times a week. Dogs who have grown up with humans around pretty much constantly are going to need careful conditioning for a more "normal" existence, even if that's no longer being out of the house for 10+ hours a day.

I was pondering this the other day. Going to the park during the summer lockdown it was like a puppy party. But I would say that all of the people I met there loved and cared for them. So cannot see them dumping them.

Probably dog walkers/doggy daycare will cash in when people start to return to work.

Poodle mixes here don't even make it onto the local homing centre's website. They have a waiting list of prospective reowners. They told us it would be 2 to 3 years before we'd get a dog that way.