More than just one man and his dog: The many impacts of puppy acquisition on the mental health of families including children in the UK

Abstract

Many puppies were acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic to boost families’ mental health. The aim of this study was to characterise the nature, benefits and challenges of dog-child interactions as perceived by UK adult caregivers and co-habiting children aged 8–17 years. In 2023, a three-part online survey was administered incorporating qualitative and quantitative questions. We included two respondent groups: households owning (a) a puppy acquired during 2019 and (b) a puppy acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021. Statistical analyses explored differences between ownership groups; free-text data was thematically analysed. Valid responses were collected from n=382 caregivers and n=216 children. Puppies’ primary adult caregivers were 95% female. Over one-third (37.3%) of caregivers found living with a puppy harder than expected; first-time owners were significantly more likely than experienced owners to find child-puppy interactions challenging. Almost all children were allowed to physically interact with their dog in ways previous studies have associated with an increased bite risk. Three themes were constructed from the free-text data, highlighting: (1) perceived positive aspects of dog ownership, particularly the importance to children and caregivers of close child-dog physical interactions; (2) challenges of managing a dog in a family home including negotiating responsibility for care between family members and establishing safe child-dog boundaries; (3) how one dog could differentially impact multiple household members, including that a single dog-person relationship could impact whole-household dynamics. These findings underscore the importance of involving all household members in human-dog research and highlight the unpredictability of whether acquisition motivations will align with outcomes. Resources are needed to help families safely and successfully integrate puppies into their homes, particularly in managing the evident associated maternal mental load.