‘Pandemic puppies’ returned to shelters

After the early days of the pandemic saw a huge increase in the number of pets being adopted, now it seems ‘pandemic puppies’ are being returned in record numbers.Previously, around 50 dogs a month were handed into RSPCA Victoria. That number has increased to 150 dogs per month since Christmas. There has also been a drop in the number of people going to reclaim lost dogs that have been handed in.It isn’t just big dogs which are being surrendered. The animal welfare organisation has noticed a rising trend of small dogs being taken to shelters.RSPCA Victoria animal care manager Nadia Peiris told Nine News that it is something “which almost never happens”.She said the main driver of the rising number of surrendered pets is behavioural problems, and it’s something she said can be traced back to the lengthy lockdowns Victorians endured during the height of the Covid pandemic.“Covid had a huge impact,” Ms Peiris said, adding that while Victoria was worst hit by severe lockdowns, other areas of Australia were likely experiencing similar problems.“I would expect that quite a few of your biggest states are seeing capacity issues for sure,” she said.German Shepherd Rescue Victoria (GSRV) has seen a similar trend. It has gone from one request to surrender a german shepherd each two days to around three requests every day. It has meant the charity has had to make the “heartbreaking decision” to stop accepting any more dogs until after Easter.“It’s not something we’ve experienced before,” president Hayley Finch told Nine.In a Facebook post, the centre wrote that the decision “breaks our heart” but that “we cannot cope with the number of dogs that need our help”.“We are being inundated with surrender requests again; we knew this year would be busier than ever, but this is just too much.“GSRV has received almost 40 requests for help since the beginning of March alone, our foster homes are full … we just can’t keep up and are working through a huge backlog of dogs needing our help.”Second thoughts on ‘pandemic’ puppiesIn the early days of the pandemic, there was an uptick in the number of pets being adopted by people stuck at home and longing for companionship.Indeed as it stands, 19 per cent of all pet dogs currently in Australia were procured during the pandemic, according to a report from Animal Medicines Australia.That equates to more than one million more dogs in Australian households since 2019.The top reason given for wanting a dog was companionship. But lockdowns weren’t just tough on people; pets suffered too.“People weren’t getting their dogs out enough in lockdown,” Ms Finch said.Ms Peiris also said that many dogs bought as puppies didn’t have the opportunity to properly learn their social development at a young age, leaving the dogs coming into shelters showing signs they weren’t comfortable around other dogs or people. This makes it harder to rehome anxious dogs.Ms Finch agreed.“Behaviour issues are getting worse every year due to the lack of socialisation,” she said.Shelters desperate for help from volunteersNow, animal shelters are desperate for foster carers for the influx of pets.GSRV said in its Facebook post that finding foster carers was a huge task, especially given many of the dogs being surrendered “have complex behavioural issues that require experienced foster carers and adopters”.“Nearly every surrendering owner we have spoken to over the last week tell us that their dog needs to be gone by Easter as they are going away,” the post said. “Potential adopters also go away at this time of year, as do our amazing foster carers and volunteers, kennels are also completely booked out.”RSPCA Victoria is also putting a call-out for help.“I can’t even stress enough how desperate we are for volunteers,” Ms Peiris said.“They do some super amazing and important work for the animals in the shelter.”She said RSPCA Victoria also needs people willing to come into shelters to interact and play with dogs, for much-needed socialisation of the animals. Those interested can register on the RSPCA website. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au