Should you buy a pandemic puppy?

From floppy-eared dachshunds spilling out the London commons, to the barking chihuahua next-door driving you mad, it feels like dogs are everywhere these days.

Puppy sales have soared in the pandemic with 2.2 million new dogs bought in the first lockdown and one third of UK households having dogs in 2021. The Dogs Trust charity has seen a 60% increase in enquires about buying a rescue dog in lockdown.

The growing demand has doubled the average price of a dog. The rise in dog sales has even impacted the car industry, as a survey on people buying dogs in the pandemic showed a third upsized their car to accommodate them. It’s been felt at community level as the Wandsworth council reports a four fold increase in complaints of dog fights in the pandemic and soaring dog barking and fouling complaints.

Whatever the costs, people are convinced that canines are the perfect companion to fill up their lonely lockdown days and new freed up time working from home, as 40% of people who bought a dog during the first lockdown had not considered getting a pet before.

However there is a much darker side to the puppy buying frenzy.

David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA said: ''We’ve seen the demand for dogs skyrocket during lockdown. This has led to a spike in the number of illicit breeders and dealers exploiting dogs and conning the public in order to cash in.''

Figures from the government department DEFRA show the number of dogs imported from the EU to the UK rose over lockdown by 52%, from 39,562 in 2019 to 60,190 in 2020. The number of imports just from Romania increased by 67% from 19,489 to 32,525 in that time and now account for more than half of all EU imports.

Bowles said: ''These figures don’t account for the vast numbers of dogs we suspect are being illegally trafficked into the country in addition to these.''

According to the RSPCA, criminal gangs are often responsible for these increasing illegal puppy imports, often from Ireland and Eastern European countries such as Romania. These dogs are likely without the necessary health checks, leading to deadly health problems, and taken from their mother before the 15-week minimum importation age. They are often sold through websites like Pets4Homes and Gumtree. If a fraudulent dog passport gets through the UK border, most often a UK second-hand seller who ordered the dogs is not liable for any crime.

This was what happened a few years ago, when a woman living in Wandsworth was making £5000 to £6000 a week from selling puppies on Gumtree she ordered from Lithuania.

She kept each weekly batch of dogs for just 48 hours, by having them delivered at the start of the weekend for her weekend bookings. They were imported with fake passports.

Mark Callis, animal welfare manager at Wandsworth Council said: ''People would come, view and fall in love. By Monday morning, all the dogs were gone.''

Often dog sellers insinuate to buyers their dogs come from a happy home.

The woman often didn’t even have the puppies when she advertised the litter on Gumtree.

''She was confident that anyone that saw the dogs would buy them,'' said Mr Callis.

Her only punishment was a fine, because she was not the person who used the fake passports.

However this month a law was passed increasing the maximum sentence for animal cruelty from six months to five years in England. 

Google searches for ‘buy a puppy’ increased by 115% after March 2020, and there has been a 51% increase in demand for dogs at Pets4Homes since the pandemic.

When Maddie Nursey, 28, from Surbiton, searched for dogs through a pet selling site in December, before buying her dog Raffy, three out of the five sellers she visited kept their dogs in inhumane or worrying conditions. They were all located in Staines-upon-Thames.

Maddie said: ''All of them apart from two were horrible to see. Some of the puppies we went to see clearly had just been taken out a van and were wet through with wee. They had no beds, no food and no water bowls on the floor.''

The seller told her the dogs were in the van because they had come from the vet.

But Maddie told us: ''I don’t know any vet who would see a dog like that and not be concerned. They were soaked through with wee and completely manic.''

Maddie also visited a seller with 16 puppies.

She said: ''These puppies were smaller than the palm of my hand. They were 100% not old enough to leave and the sellers were trying to get money in for Christmas.''

In the case of the third seller, the dogs ran away and hid when let out their pen.

''The puppies had really dull coats and there was dog mess on the floor. It was the kind of mess if dogs aren’t very well.''

As a previous dog owner Maddie knows the warning signs to spot dodgy breeders but worries about potential dog owners who might not be so clued up on this, especially because reputable breeders are experiencing such high demand. Every breeder she contacted outside the pet selling site had completely full waiting lists.

A study done by the Kennel Club in August 2020 said that 42% of ‘pandemic pup’ buyers had not looked at the puppy’s breeding environment before buying and 27% even paid without visiting the puppy. This increases the chance of buying underage, poorly-bred puppies with costly health problems, from dodgy breeders.

This is also worrying because Battersea Cats and Dogs Home say unexpected medical problems increase the likelihood of puppies being abandoned by their owners. Not being prepared for pets’ medical costs is one of the reasons 19% of owners regret their decision to buy a dog or cat. This is as well as not anticipating the animals’ behaviour and time demands.

They predict that over the next five years, as a result of the Covid-19 recession, there will be 25,500 more stray dogs than they had expected.

Mr Callis said the rising complaints of dog barking in lockdown were often made by owners who hadn’t anticipated how to deal with their own dog’s barking.

He criticised owners not trying to understand their animals' needs and behaviours and humanising them instead.

He said: ''Unfortunately, lots of first time dog owners and some established dog owners deal with dogs with human emotions and human rationale. That’s not always appropriate for dogs. The little dog that's cowering in the corner might be doing so because it has an illness or genetic defect. This behaviour becomes attractive to people and they buy it. A few years later it’s having medical problems and they don't know why.''

Another example of this ignorant or uneducated approach to dog ownership is owners and breeders cropping their dogs' ears to make them look aggressive. The RSPCA is inundated with complaints of bulldogs with this mutilation, an illegal practice in the UK that is on the rise.

People are buying Instagram puppies because they look cute fitting in a tea-cup, without realising the potential illegal or illicit breeding beyond the photo. It's safe to say we need to get more responsible about dog ownership, when these problematic attitudes towards animals are exploited for profit. Rescue centres all over the country are facing imminent closure and there are too many dogs to home. People must get educated on illegal dog selling practices, dog needs and demands, and be ready for the long-term commitment before buying.