Survey of Prospective Puppy Owners in UK Unveils Poor Financial Planning

A survey by Tailwise, a new puppy-matching service in the UK connecting prospective new puppy owners with responsible breeders highlights major concerns about the ability of new puppy owners to care for their dogs in the long-term.

Key findings from the online survey of 1000 recent dog buyers in the UK include:

• Almost half (46 percent) of the 1000 UK respondents had not planned a monthly budget before they began looking for a dog.
• Of those who did plan a budget, the average amount planned was just £90 – around half of the average monthly cost of having a dog.
• 6 out of 10 (60 percent) respondents had not planned how they would care for their dog beyond the next 12 months and only 1 in 10 (13 percent) considered a timeframe beyond the next 1-2 years in planning how they would care for a dog.
• Whilst 40 percent have planned day care and companionship for their dog if their circumstances change, 58% had only a vague plan at best in place and hadn’t budgeted for this.

The figures are particularly worrying as a third of new dog owners found that owning a puppy was more expensive (36 percent) and more time consuming (46 percent) than they imagined it would be.

One in three (29 percent) currently considering buying a dog have never owned a dog before or had one in the family. Of those who have recently bought a dog one in four had never seriously considered it before COVID-19.

Organizations such as the Dogs Trust have already raised concerns about the number of dogs they expect to be abandoned and the Tailwise survey data suggests these fears may be well founded and the numbers may in fact be even higher.

Beverley Cuddy, animal welfare campaigner, who recently joined Tailwise said, “Being in lockdown or furloughed may seem a perfect time to train a puppy, but the cost of a dog is much more than the purchase price.  There is no NHS for dogs so you will need very good pet insurance or substantial savings for many years to come.”

Cudddy adds, “Even the most logical person can suffer ‘puppy brain’ when they lock eyes with a litter. Good breeders want to be sure new families are ready to commit, but unethical, profit-led breeders will pressure people to buy. Tailwise aims to provide a safe space where the love of dogs will always come before profit.

Prior to COVID-19, pet trafficking was one of the most profitable illegal trades after drugs and weapons and COVID restrictions make it even harder for buyers to check the legitimacy of breeders by making visits to see the puppies with their mother for instance.”

As Sam Worthy, CEO of Tailwise comments: “Buying a puppy was a murky business, open to exploitation before COVID and the current situation is making it so much worse. We believe the only way to really change this is to change the way the puppy buying works. By bringing more information and checks into the puppy buying process, we hope to help people to make informed choices and save dogs from rehoming and abandonment and to save people from the distress that causes.”

The survey was conducted between October 25 and November 3.