Large RVC study looks at how and why people bought pandemic pups

Owners of pandemic puppies were less likely to have sought credible breeders or see their new puppy in person before collection, according to findings of a major RVC study.

Researchers at the vet school have carried out the largest study to date into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic-inspired rise in puppy purchasing.

The findings unveil how high demand in the past 16 months has increased the risk to puppy health and welfare, with many sourced from poor environments, or bred or raised on puppy farms before being illegally imported.

Wide-ranging

The RVC’s national study gathered the views of 5,517 owners, and focused on the period of the first lockdowns – between 23 March and 31 December 2020.

It then compared their responses to responses of buyers in the same timeframe in 2019.

Key findings showed prospective owners were:

• less likely to seek out a breeder that performed health testing on their breeding dog(s) or was a member of the Kennel Club “Assured Breeders Scheme”
• more likely to be motivated to purchase a dog to improve their own/their family’s mental well-being
• more likely to pay a deposit without seeing the puppy, and pay more than £2,000 – an increase from average prices of £955 in 2019 to £1,550 in 2020

Impulse

When asked specific questions, 10% of respondents said they had not considered buying a puppy before the pandemic and 86% felt the decision had been influenced by it – particularly by having more time to care for a dog.

Around 40% said they had no experience of dog ownership, compared to 33% in 2019, and those behind the project acknowledge vets may need to play a greater role in helping reduce the impact of behavioural challenges in owners’ new puppies.

Rowena Packer – lecturer in companion animal behaviour and welfare science at the RVC, and lead author of the study – said the worry was many fell victim to “unscrupulous breeders and puppy dealers”. She said: “From our results, we are concerned that many well-meaning owners who were looking to add a puppy to their family to improve their mental health during the pandemic may have fallen into this trap, and inadvertently encouraged this deplorable industry.”

The study, funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation, will be followed by a second study this year documenting early life experiences of “pandemic puppies”.