The coronavirus lockdown seems to have provided the perfect excuse to adopt a pet, especially for those now working from home for the foreseeable future. The association for dog breeders in Germany has recently reported a great rise in demand for puppies.
Many people have recently found themselves with a lot of extra time on their hands - and so a puppy seems to have become the perfect solution. "There is endless demand," said Udo Kopernick, a spokesperson for the Association of German Dogs, the umbrella organisation for dog breeders in Germany.
Some breeders have reported to him that they have three-figure waiting lists for individual litters. Labradors and golden retrievers, in particular, are very popular. But demand is great even for breeds that are not usually that popular. In many cases, the puppies are reserved before they're even born.
Kopernick believes that, apart from dogs making good companions in times of social isolation, the rise in demand can be explained by the fact that many more people are now working from home. This means they are better able to keep up with the demands of taking care of a new puppy - toilet training, for instance, is much easier to manage at the home office than the regular one.
Furthermore, animal shelters have been forced by coronavirus to scale back their adoption programmes, while border restrictions have all but eliminated the illegal puppy trade from Eastern Europe.