A Lincolnshire canine fanatic is supporting a brand new marketing campaign geared toward bettering canine welfare by encouraging individuals to not flip to social media platforms when shopping for a brand new puppy.
Honorary Secretary of the East Anglian Staffordshire Bull Terrier membership Lesley McFadyen is backing The Kennel Club’s Be Puppywise marketing campaign after latest reasearch has discovered that one in 4 puppies (25%) marketed on social media get sick or die earlier than their first birthday.
The Kennel Club, which is without doubt one of the largest canine welfare organisations, is hoping to warn individuals in regards to the risks of utilizing websites comparable to Instagram and TikTok to discover a canine as they might be falling sufferer to unscruplous breeders and puppy farms.
Statistics present 4 occasions the quantity of puppy patrons within the East of the UK are turning to social media websites to discover a pet in comparison with 5 years in the past – with some individuals spending lower than two hours researching their potential pet and ending up with an animal with behavioural issues they weren’t anticipating.
Lesley, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier breeder from Lincolnshire, stated: “These statistics paint a really worrying picture of how many puppy buyers are being taken advantage of, not to mention how damaging this is for the health and welfare of puppies.
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“New owners should be able to trust that their puppy’s breeder has given them the best possible start in life, and therefore it’s vital that they carry out thorough research when finding a puppy, and that they ask the breeder plenty of questions, and see the puppy with its mum and in its home environment.
“Any responsible breeder will also want to ensure their puppy is going to a good home so be prepared to be asked questions. Local breed clubs, such as the East Anglian Staffordshire Bull Terrier club, can also help puppy buyers in the region to help find a good breeder.”
The outcomes are based mostly on a survey of three,016 canine homeowners carried out as a part of The Kennel Club’s Be Puppywise marketing campaign, by Censuswide, in September.
Unsuspecting homeowners expertise problems when shopping for a puppy, with over half (55%) going through unexpectedly excessive monetary prices, greater than a fifth (17%) admitting their pup had behavioural points they weren’t anticipating, and one in 5 (20%) regretting the best way they bought their canine.
The analysis signifies that as a substitute of conducting thorough searches about their puppy’s background, would-be homeowners within the area are drawn in by ‘cute’ images:
– Two in 5 (40%) homeowners within the east purchased their puppy ‘because it was cute’.
– More than one in 4 (26%) admit it was the ‘cute puppy photo’ that the majority appealed of their pet’s advert
– An extra quarter (23%) worryingly spent lower than two hours doing their analysis, leaving them notably vulnerable to scams and unable to identify the indicators of puppy farms.
The Kennel Club is warning that duplicitous breeders are exploiting this lack of know-how – as a couple of in 5 puppies (22%) purchased within the east are suspected to have originated on a puppy farm, after homeowners are captivated by puppies marketed on websites like Instagram and TikTok and miss warning indicators.
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Three in 5 (58%) didn’t see the puppy interacting with their mum or their puppy’s breeding setting, and greater than two thirds (68%) didn’t see any vaccination data.
The analysis additionally highlights that, regardless of the worrying penalties of creating hasty and uninformed selections based mostly on what has been seen on-line, social media has an more and more highly effective affect.
More than half of puppy shopping for selections (51%) within the east of the UK are influenced by social media and almost one in 4 (23%) homeowners within the area stated that when shopping for their puppy, their major info supply was both social media, influencers or celebrities – over vets, canine welfare organisations and breed specialists.
“In today’s curated digital world, enticing photos are the lifeblood of social media and pictures of puppies grab attention – so there is an obvious appeal to buying and selling puppies using these platforms,” commented Mark Beazley, Chief Executive at The Kennel Club, which is urging accountable shopping for through its ‘Be Puppywise’ marketing campaign. “But if people forget that behind every cute photo on social media, there is a real puppy, and a real need to ensure that their health and welfare has been prioritised, then there can be truly devastating consequences.
“Platforms like Instagram and TikTok can give unscrupulous breeders easy access to a mass market, where they can sell pups with little scrutiny, so it’s down to the puppy buyer to make sure that they ask the right questions, see the puppy, with their mum and in their home environment, and step back if things don’t feel right. Failing to do so can lead to a world of heartache for puppy buyers and keeps rogue breeders in business, whilst puppies continue to suffer the consequences, as this research shows.”
Following this pressing warning, The Kennel Club is urging individuals to ‘Be Puppywise’, offering accountable puppy shopping for recommendation and practical sources on its web site: thekennelclub.org.uk/bepuppywise
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