Pet ownership trends during lockdown

Over the past year there have been positives and negatives arising from the behaviour changes necessitated by the lockdown and restrictions on our daily lives. One such factor is the rapid increase in pet ownership.

It is common knowledge that many people across the UK found lockdown the perfect opportunity to bring a new pet into their home. There was an exponential rise in the number of pets being bought and rescued, likely a result of the widely renowned mental and physical welfare benefits of pet ownership, people finding themselves with more time available to settle and socialise a new pet, as well as the desire to combat loneliness and boredom in isolation.

According to the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals' (PDSA) Animal Wellbeing Report 2020 (https://www.pdsa.org.uk/media/10540/pdsa-paw-report-2020.pdf), the first month of lockdown saw a 175% increase in Google searches for ‘getting a dog’, leading to concerns that people were impulse buying puppies with little regard for the potential consequences. In fact, an August 2020 report from the Kennel Club found that 2 in 5 new dog owners bought their dog as a ‘COVID-19 Companion’. The report also found that a staggering 1 in 4 admitted that they may have inadvertently bought their dog from a puppy farm without knowing, and 1 in 5 didn't know whether their newly acquired dog would suit their lifestyle after lockdown, citing worries about behaviour, time and cost (https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media-centre/2020/august/the-covid-19-puppy-boom-one-in-four-admit-impulse-buying-a-pandemic-puppy/).