Trend Toward Smaller Dogs | Top 5 Ways It May Affect You
Through my long-time work as a journalist, I get access to stats and other information not always available to other dog folks. When I see something of interest (or that scares me), I’m going to start telling you about it. Here’s how the trend toward people preferring smaller dogs may affect you.
5 Ways Smaller Dogs are Going to Change Things (for Bigger Dog Lovers)
1. The price of pet food will increase — a lot.
“From the perspective of pet food, smaller dogs have helped enable price points per pound to spike upward — since this trend can be offset by the relatively smaller volume of pet food consumed … between 2011 and 2017 the average price per pound of pet food and treats in the pet specialty channel jumped by 46%.” (source: “Pet Industry Outlook: Veterinary Services and Pet Product Retailing,” May 2018)
2. Veterinarians will shift their focus to conditions more common in smaller dogs.
Rather than gearing up to handle things more common in bigger dogs such as arthritis, orthopedic issues, and bloat, veterinary hospitals will likely shift their focus to diabetes, dental disease, and dislocated kneecaps, which are more common in smaller dogs. (source: “Pet Industry Outlook: Veterinary Services and Pet Product Retailing,” May 2018)
3. Products for indoor pottying may become more common.
I get pitched products like this all the time. Frankly, I think it’s gross and not helpful to allow dogs of any size to potty inside unless they are having a medical issue that causes incontinence and such. But, I realize that I have sturdy dogs who go outside easily in all kinds of weather, and I realize that living in a rural area, with good fences, where I can simply let them outside to potty is a lot easier than having to leash them and take them for a walk for all potty trips — as people in urban areas or places without fences must do.
4. It might get harder to find harnesses, beds, and other pet products for bigger dogs in local stores.
Stores and online retailers are going to stock what sells the most, and with smaller dogs potentially dominating the pet product sales, then it might get harder to find your dog’s size. It’ll probably cost a lot more too.
5. Pet friendly hotels and other establishments will likely maintain low dog weight limits.
Pet friendly often means places like hotels are friendly, but only to smaller dogs, under 25 pounds. So, it may become even harder to find spots that welcome bigger dogs as this trend toward smaller dogs continues.
What Worries Me Most About the Trend Toward Smaller Dogs
#1 and #4 worry me most as someone with dogs who weigh more than 25 pounds. Bigger dogs already cost more to feed, more to treat with veterinary care, and more to use certain pet products, so the chance that it might get even more expensive or harder to find what I want is not great news.