Study reveals 1 in 4 British dogs are unhappy
A new report studying dog welfare and happiness has claimed that 1 in 4 dogs are unhappy. The Healthy Happy Hound Report, commissioned by Butcher's Pet Care studied 2,000 UK dog owners, assessing aspects of care such as socialisation, exercise and diet.
Dogs require regular stimulation, exercise and play, yet the results of the report indicate that 50 per cent of dogs get less than half an hour of exercise each day. Further to this 44 per cent of dogs only get 'on the lead' exercise, and 2 per cent of owners admitted to never taking their dogs to open spaces such as the park, beach or countryside. Clare Scallon at Butcher's Pet Care commented: "The pressures of modern life mean it's difficult to exercise and play with our dogs…but the reality is that they need this energetic and active time to run free."
The report also revealed that 25 per cent of dogs have never eaten a bone, and 32 per cent of owners do not know how much their dog weighs. A further 37 per cent did not know how much they should weigh. Unsurprisingly only 3 per cent of the owners thought that their dog was overweight, in contrast to national statistics from the PDSA stating that in reality 35 per cent of dogs are overweight.
Scallon says: "One of the biggest threats to the health and happiness of our dogs is obesity. When a dog is overweight and unhealthy it impacts on every part of its life. We believe at the very heart of the problem is a significant knowledge gap; once addressed the number of overweight dogs in the UK will start to decrease."
As well as the quantity that dogs are being fed, the report highlighted that only 14 per cent of dogs are being given a solus meaty dog food diet, despite the fact that twice as many owners felt their dog would prefer this type of diet. As Scallon asserts: "dogs naturally need meat as part of a balanced diet."
Another key finding of the report regards canine socialisation; it was found that one in ten dogs never socialise with other dogs. Naturally pack animals, the report suggests that dogs now consider their pack to be made up of their human owners. 22 per cent were reported to sleep in their owner's bed or bedroom, and 14 per cent are taken to work with them.
Finally, 24 per cent of owners actually classified their pets as unhappy, with a further 1 per cent reporting that their dog appeared depressed. Scallon concluded: "We wanted to understand how far we have moved from a dog's natural behaviour, but more importantly what we can do now to maintain a healthy balance between out modern lives and their natural instincts."
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
