I love dogs. Duh, of course I do, who doesn’t? It’s like saying you enjoy sitting up in front of a roaring fire or laughter with friends: somewhat basic. They are precision-evolved to delight us and it works: there are about 12m pet pooches in the UK, which means a whole, diverse swathe of the population has decided life is better with a dog curled up at the heart of it, monopolising our affections, sofas and camera rolls.
Over the past year that increased hugely (3.2m pets were bought in lockdown in the UK). The downsides of soaring pandemic dog ownership are well documented: unscrupulous puppy-farming sellers, clueless owners and dog-nappings (the Nottingham police force even has a dog theft tsar); dogs with behavioural problems and separation anxiety triggered by the transition from everyone home all the time to something resembling normal life. Kennel Club research highlighted new owners’ worries about long-term dog ownership, with many admitting they were not prepared for the responsibility.
Continue reading...from Lifestyle | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TkcXKT