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Why British Dogs Are Getting Smaller
- 15/08/2016
The English are fat and getting fatter. The scales of the average adult clocked 77.5kg (171lb) in 2014, an increase since 1993 of 5.1kg. Over that period the share of adults classified as obese rose from 14.9% to 25.6%. But while humans bulge, their dogs appear to be shrinking. Each year the Kennel Club, a dog-lovers’ association, registers the details of about 250,000 pooches. An analysis by The Economist using data supplied by the club suggests that the weight of the average British pup has fallen by about 12% in the past decade. As smaller breeds become more popular, and bigger beasts become less so, the average size of a dog, as measured by the circumference of its neck, has also fallen. Why?
Squeezed living standards may be one culprit. In Britain inflation-adjusted hourly wages are lower now than they were before the crisis of 2008. Small wonder, then, that people are looking for cheaper dogs. It is much less costly to feed a dinky dog than a big beast. A pug needs about one-quarter of the daily calories required by a German shepherd. Vets’ bills also tend to be more affordable.
City living has also encouraged people to opt for littler dogs. As house prices have risen by half since 2001, the rate of overcrowding (as measured by the number of people per bedroom) in private rented households has increased by one-third. Smaller houses, with cramped rooms and gardens, need smaller pets. And for Britons not too keen on exercise, a small dog is particularly attractive: it is hardly necessary to walk the smallest dogs.
Evidence for a deliberate switch from large to small dogs can be found by digging down into the data. Britons who fancy a particular breed seem to be opting for smaller variations on a theme. For instance, the number of standard-sized dachshunds, otherwise known as “sausage dogs”, registered with the Kennel Club has fallen by 2.5%, while the number of cocktail-sausage-sized miniature dachshunds has risen by one-quarter. Registrations of giant and miniature schnauzers have diverged in a similar way. More of the same then, but in smaller portions.
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