In this three-minute read, we look at fears the UK is heading for an animal welfare crisis this winter.
Demand for puppies skyrocketed during lockdown, but with furlough ending later this month and the economy struggling, is the reality of pet ownership about to bite? 
Earlier this year, demand for puppies skyrocketed, with Google searches for โPuppies near meโ increasing more than six times (by 650%) between January and July.
As a result, the price of popular breeds such Dachshunds, English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Pugs and Chow Chows shot up.
The asking price for a Dachshund, for example, increased from ยฃ973 in March to ยฃ1,838 in June (figures from The Dogs Trust).
But what happens when the novelty of owning a puppy wears off?
They fear a surge in the number of dogs dumped or abandoned as people struggle to pay for pet food and vet bills or exercise their pooch every day.
The Kennel Clubโs Head of Health and Welfare Bill Lambert says: โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต-๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐บ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค โ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ โ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญโ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ.โ
Due to this growing concern, the RSPCA has renamed October โAdoptoberโ (see what they did there?). The campaign urges people who are determined to get a dog to adopt, instead of buy.
By adopting a rescue dog, you will be giving an animal in need a loving home. You will also be able to rest easy in the knowledge that you havenโt fuelled the activities of overseas puppy farmers, who illegally smuggle dogs into the UK and sell them on the internet.
These dogs often have serious health and emotional problems as they are often kept in unhygienic conditions, are in poor health and are removed from their mothers too soon.
Dog welfare expert Dr Samantha Gaines says: โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ: ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ.โ
And if adoption isnโt for you, there are, of course, other ways you can do your bit for the canine community. Many animal charities are looking for people to foster dogs, providing pooches with a temporary residence until they find their โforever homeโ. 
Or you could consider volunteering your services as a dog walker to various charities around the country. Check out the work of the Cinnamon Trust (https://cinnamon.org.uk/home/) and The Underdog (https://www.theunderdog.org/)
Weโd love to see your dog, whether itโs a rescue, fostered, owned, or adopted, so feel free to share photos of your four-legged companion with us here at Castledene. 
