Recently, there was a trend in which couples tested whether they wanted to have a child by adopting a dog to see how that went. It was a kind of training ground and a test for them to see where their sympathies really lay. It appears that that testing ground has moved on because many have decided that they would rather have a dog than a child. They appear not to be ready to have a child and perhaps they never will be.
I suspect the main reason is the terrible cost of raising a child to independence which I read can amount to £250,000!.
And The Times reports that some 34% of postcode areas in England have more dogs than children. There’s been a rise in a particular kind in demographic which is a dual income family with no kids but with a dog instead. This is among millennials and Gen Z individuals.
Since 2019 there appears to have been a surge in dog ownership with 13 million dogs in Britain from 9 million. It appears that the Covid pandemic was a major if not the major factor in this surge in dog ownership but it appears to have continued. And it also appears that the dachshund is the most popular dog in Britain judging by the high number of this dog breed that I see on my walks locally.
As mentioned there are 13 million dogs in Britain and about 15 million children. The place with the largest difference between dog ownership and child raising is Darlington which has 60,000 more dogs than children. You will find 51,000 more dogs than children in Shrewsbury and in Durham the difference is 43,000.
You will see many social media accounts presenting to the world their relationships with their dog and they are popular. Viewers can see couples celebrating their dogs’ birthdays with parties and dressing them up. This emulates what would have happened with their child.
Just today I was walking on Barnes Common and we bumped into a charming little dog and his caregivers. They had bought their dog a nice new coat for Christmas for the cold weather.
It appears that social media influencers are playing a role in the popularity of adopting dogs instead of raising a child.
It appears that the younger generation today in the UK are more likely to relate to their dog as a family member and companion compared with earlier generations who more often related to their dog as an animal ‘pet’ or perhaps an animal to provide a service.
The Dogs Trust says that “Almost one quarter of new puppy owners are aged 25 to 34”. Within this age bracket, two thirds of dog owners are more likely to see themselves as their dog’s parent, a higher proportion than any other age group.)
In addition to Dachshunds, extreme bred dog such as the French Bulldog are also extremely popular which is a shame because the French Bulldog is, as I understand it, is one of the most unhealthy dogs on the market because of the extreme breeding i.e. the extreme flattened nose which causes health problems.
Readers are latching onto the selection of a dog over having a child by being attracted to dogs’ baby faces hence making them more popular. This is what underpins the popularity of the bulldogs.
The baby-faced dog triggers the nurturing drive in parents. The Dogs Trust also found that the areas with more dogs and children were rural and sparsely populated. In the countryside the most popular breed is the Labrador identified as the top breed in 70% of postcodes.
Overall a 6% of dogs in the countryside were purebred and the top three breeds were (as mentioned) the Labrador representing 10% of all dogs and the cocker spaniel representing 7%. The Staffordshire bull terrier represents 5% of all dogs in the countryside.
Also, more than half of the dog population was small breeds while 29.2% are classified as large breeds.
More: cartoon dogs
There are almost certainly other reasons why young couples are favouring dogs over children. Perhaps they perceive the modern world as highly competitive and too troublesome. They simply don’t want to bring a child into this difficult world. The UK is going through a very difficult phase at present. It is often described as a broken country. I can testify to that feeling. Many of the services are indeed faltering and some are just plain broken.
Competition for jobs is tougher than was many years ago. It’s impossible almost to get on the housing ladder because of the high cost of housing in the country. Food prices are astronomical due to rapid inflation since Covid. And I suspect that the British public is being ripped off, often. Foreigners sometimes refer to Britain as “treasure Island”. Meaning it can be used and abused as a source of easy income. Society is too soft and flabby.
The health services in a dire state. The police are sitting on their hands and do next to nothing. The police are no longer trusted and rightly so. There have been many examples of extremely poor police behaviour including criminality and endemic lying
when they are defending themselves from complaints. There are many other areas of unsatisfactory services and parents are sensitive to this and don’t want at this stage to bring a child into the world. That’s what I think is worth mentioning as a possible cause of this trend towards owning a dog rather than bringing a child into the world.
