There are now more dogs in Britain than ever before. And many new owners are not sure how to cope. Louise Glazebrook, the country’s foremost dog behaviourist and author of a brilliant new book, explains how to make the most of your furry four-legged friend
Walking to meet Louise Glazebrook, I see dogs everywhere, even in central London, even on a rainy weekday lunchtime. A Shiba Inu in a neatly belted mac trots past; a shaggy sphere on its owner’s lap in a café peers through a dense fringe at her pastry; a sleek sausage shimmies, belly grazing puddles.
There are more dogs than ever in Britain now – around 12.5m, following an unprecedented pandemic boom (the Dog’s Trust estimates around 1.5m extra dogs were acquired in the past 18 months) as we sought solace at a frightening, lonely time in man’s best friend. But for every wholesome dog and owner in matching onesies on Instagram, or adorably clever TikTok trick, there’s an ankle punctured by razor-sharp puppy teeth, a rug heading for the bin, a shoe concealing an unpleasant surprise or a neighbour grimly purchasing a value pack of earplugs. And it’s far worse than that: many lockdown dogs – some bred in appalling conditions and sold by criminally irresponsible dealers, seeding behavioural problems for the future – are being surrendered to shelters as their owners realise they were unprepared for dog ownership and unable to cope with their pet’s needs.