More than 1800 people have contacted Dog’s trust to rehome unwanted lockdown puppies

[AlternativePerspective]

And 1 in 4 people admitted they had impulse purchased a pet during lockdown.

how the fuck do we get the message home that a puppy isn’t a toy and that people should think twice three, ten times before rushing out and buying one.

And obviously the increased prices aren’t a deterrent, although those are about greed anyway, because these people are buying them for £££ and then selling them on for the same prices.

www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/pets/a35115185/hundreds-puppies-resold-abandoned/

[quote Plussizejumpsuit]@vanillandhoney
Ok there 66. 6 million people in the uk a quarter is roughly 16 million. So you think there at 16 million dogs bought this year?

I'm not disputing this is awful. Puppies are a huge commitment and take load sof work so shouldn't be bought on impulse. I just don't think 16 million have been bought on impulse. Who's is what that stat says. 1 in 4 people impulse bought a pet[/quote]
If you read the article, it says 1 in 4 people who bought a pet, did so impulsively.

Not that 1 in 4 people bought a pet.

There should be some sort of system that prevents arseholes like this from ever owning a pet again.

Me and DD would love to get a dog, but I havent got the money or the time to invest into what owning a dog means.

People think they are cute little companions that they can shove on insta.

We did get a pet during lockdown though. It was a Hamster. We love the furry nutter.

i am not convinced by these stories

[quote OliverBabish]@lockeddownandcrazy I mayyy have one of these that we rescued early last year I’d never heard of them before.[/quote]
Then you know they are amazing, but not suitable for the average family pet:-)

@Plussizejumpsuit

So a quarter of the population has a new dog? Eh no? I'm not saying this isn't sad. But don't share nonsense statistics *@AlternativePerspective*

I read it as 1 in 4 of the 1800 people that rang the DT, not 1 in 4 of the population.

This makes me so angry. Lockdown is obviously a terrible time to get a puppy, not able to socialise it at all.

We would love a puppy but would not pay the crazy prices. Having a puppy is like having a newborn, if anything it’s slightly worse as you can’t take them everywhere with you. I don’t think people realise how much hard work they are, you would have thought spending that much money they would have done some research first.

@lockeddownandcrazy not for the faint hearted but interestingly, easier to train/raise than our pug a really magnificent dog

I'm surprised the level of regret isn't higher, I think this is perhaps just the start though.

I'd love to rehome a dog. I WFH permanently and have done for years, so the dog would nearly always have company. But we have a 2 year old, so most rescues won't consider us.

I wouldn't buy a puppy or rehome privately round here. The ads on social media/Gumtree always look so dodgy, and I'm not about to pay £2k for the privilege of rehoming a dog because some idiot wants to recoup their money.

@Skipsurvey

i am not convinced by these stories

Same. Most of the rescues here are full of dog imported from China or Romania. My parents have been looking for a rescue dog and can’t find anything suitable at any of the local rescues. I keep my eye out on most of them and have not seen many hand ins at all.

We lost our old rescue lab December 2017 and miss her terribly. We decided in 2019 we were ready for a puppy. I don’t feel guilty about that. I’ve had 4 rescue dogs all rescued through my work. I’ve worked for a vets for over 20 years. With small children I decided a puppy would suit us better this time around. Rescue dogs are amazing but rehoming one with young kids is tricky.

So we had contacted a breeder in 2019 having absolutely no clue about the pandemic! Puppy’s were £1200 which we had saved.

The breeder contacted us in April to say pups were available. They price had gone from £1200 - £2.5k!!! Even though we had been on a waiting list pre pandemic! I told him i didn’t feel right about buying a pandemic puppy and certainly not filing his greedy pockets with that amount of money.
Me and my husband thought about having a puppy for 2 years! Making sure we picked the right breed and saving up the money.

I’m very cross about the situation and the stupid people out there with more money than sense! I personally think breeders should have stopped breeding while we were in this pandemic. They should have put the welfare of those puppies first over the £££

I work in a vets - a client bred her lab which had 8 pups! Sold for 3k each. 24k!! (Then has the cheek to moan about the cost of micro chipping the pups at £15 each)

It doesn't seem to be reflected on local pet sale and private adoption pages here. This is the second time I've read about it and failed to see any evidence of it.

@Skipsurvey

i am not convinced by these stories

Why not?

So many people I know have got a puppy within the last twelve months, I am not convinced they were all long thought out purchases.

Same. Most of the rescues here are full of dog imported from China or Romania. My parents have been looking for a rescue dog and can’t find anything suitable at any of the local rescues. I keep my eye out on most of them and have not seen many hand ins at all.

Most dogs never make into rescue websites because the demand is simply far too high. Sometimes you need to ring and ring every single day and one day you might get lucky that the right dog for you was handed in at the right time.

All our local ones have basically said "don't bother to get in touch unless we've already approved you for adoption".

and does anyone know anyone personally who gave back their puppy during lockdown?

i think it is backdoor advertising for the rescue places

The article said that 1 in 4 people who bought a puppy did less than 2 hours research.

Experienced owners wouldn't necessarily need to do research, so that isn't necessarily a worry.

However, it also says that 'One in five new owners who bought a puppy during the pandemic admit they hadn’t fully considered the long-term commitment or responsibility that comes with having a dog'

which very definitely is.

Yes- my sil and my next door neighbor
I work in a vets - I had a couple say to me while they handed their pup through the door to have its vaccines ‘ we’ve got know idea what we are going to do when we’ve got to go back to work ha ha ha ha ha’

Surely the rescues only advertise the hard to place animals, not every single one that comes through the doors.

I have just briefly looked at pets4homes, there are over 1000 adverts covering my area, this is where the dogs are being traded.

I am no dog lover (sorry) but even I can see what an absolute shambles this is.

Literally every household in our village has got a puppy since March. Many of those people who had a dog already went and got another one. Listening to friends I cannot believe the reasons some of them give for buying a dog either: 'because my sister recently bought one and we thought the dogs can play together when we visit each other'; 'because I used to be out at work all day before lockdown, but now I am at home 24/7', 'because my child is the only one in their class without a dog'. Going for a walk on the fields around our village is like walking over a minefield of 💩 and you can be certain that at least one of these mutts is going to jump on you with its muddy paws while the owner smiles and claims: 'What a monkey!' You can tell I'm a cat person 😁.

Hmm I'm not too convinced either.

I do know a fair few people that have got puppies/dogs in the last year, us included. Lockdown has been shit in many ways but one thing it has given lots of families is TIME. That along with patience is bloody essential when getting a pup. Vets have always been open for vaccinations where I am and my pup has been plenty socialised despite restrictions. He is turning into a fine young thing and I'm glad we've had some much time to devote to him.

Loads on here have seemed so gleeful at the prospect of scooping up lockdown puppies for months. I just can't see it happening on any massive scale, although of course it's always been the case that dogs are surrendered.

I hope I'm right anyway!

@Missfelipe

We adopted from dogs trust right at the start of lockdown 1 so they are still rehoming dogs, with most of it being done remotely. They vetted our house with a video/photos of the house and garden. The support we had from them was great and we’ve now a very happy dog who has really settled in. Hopefully because a lot of these dogs are young the problems aren’t too set in. We are looking for another but just need the right fit for our girl.

We adopted from them too recently. They were brilliant.