A boredom epidemic is sweeping through Britain’s dog population – and global warming could be to blame. Across the country, there are reports of down-in-the-mouth mutts, and under-the-weather canines.
Quote.Leading pet behaviourists told The Independent that the number of depressed and unsettled dogs they have seen in recent months is unprecedented.
And they suggested that the spate of wet winters could be at the root of the problem, as owners cut down on the daily walks that are crucial to keeping dogs’ spirits up.
“I’ve been working with dogs for more than 20 years and I can’t remember a time when they’ve been this bored. I tend to see boredom in bursts but I’m seeing it chronically this winter,” said Carolyn Menteith, a dog behaviourist who was named Britain’s Instructor of the Year in 2015.
“They are just really, really, bored. People are quite happy to get their dogs out in frosty, hard weather but not when it’s muddy and horrible.”
“But we have over 200 breeds of dog in this country and an awful lot of them – especially family dogs like Labradors, retrievers and spaniels – were bred to do a job. So they are hardwired to work and need a lot of exercise.”
The lack of physical exercise – and mental stimulation that comes with it – is having noticeable consequences on the nation’s nine million dogs, she added.
Ms Menteith spends much of her time outside walking dogs and has noticed a significant change in the weather in the past five years or so – as cold, crisp winters gradually give way to “constant wet dreariness”.
She – like many scientists and meteorologists – puts this down to climate change and expects to see more bored dogs in the future as global warming unleashes increasingly frequent and intense bouts of winter rainfall.
December 2015 was the wettest month on record in the UK. Climate scientists predict that we can expect more and more mud-creating “extreme winter rainfall” in the coming decades as global warming changes weather patterns.End quote
Sarah Fisher, an animal behaviour counsellor with around two decades experience, has also noticed a level of canine unrest that is unprecedented in her career. Ms Fisher works with horses as well as dogs and has noticed that the boredom is not confined to household pets.
“I’ve never seen our dogs or horses this bored before in 20 years. Horses that have lived happily outside before are saying ‘I actually can’t cope with this mud and wet anymore’,” she said.
“We’re turning them out of their stables and they’re saying ‘Get me back in straight away’.
“They can’t settle, they look bored, but actually it’s to do with physical stress and mental boredom, they can’t go off quietly and graze because they keep sliding around the field,” Ms Fisher added. […]
Climate change can be a real bitch, when it gets you down like this. Clearly global warming is not at fault as there has been a paws in the temperature rise. The way that they keep hounding the population about climate change is a bit sniffy, really. Still, must stop muttering about it and go bark at a passing climate scientist or howl at the moon.
