NZ Among Leaders in Dog Ownership

Michael from Trentham

If you read the local media or watch tv, you will have noticed a big increase in items regarding dogs. Seven Sharp on TV One is an example of this. And the reason has become obvious if still not obvious to many.

NZ is among those countries with the biggest number of dogs per human capita of in the world. And 35% of households in NZ own at least one companion dog. NZ is also one of those countries with more cats than dogs but dog ownership is catching up.

Stats show that NZ has 180 dogs per 1000 human population and of course most of these are pet owned. At the top in the world is the USA with 274 dogs per 1000 humans followed by Brazil 261, Romania 213, Hungary 211, Poland 203, Portugal 203 and Australia 201.

The most dogs in the world reside in China and the USA and both these countries have serious issues with dogs.
China (excluding HK) is estimated to be approaching 110 million dogs while USA has in excess of 95 million. Brazil comes in third with 55 million.

China has dog meat as part of higher-end meals at restaurants though the public generally do not eat dog meat for home cooking. The USA has many dogs unwanted and abandoned, dogs badly managed and cared for, dogs in shelter facilities, dogs euthanised.

Americans spend over 102 billion dollars annually on commercial dog and cat food. It is big business. What one gets from this stat is the over feeding of commercial dry food (kibble/biscuit) to dogs in the USA. This shortens the expected life span of dogs and their long term well being.

NZ currently has around 900,000 dogs with 15% unregistered. Forty percent of dogs here are pure breed and another 10% being "designer" breed.

While NZ is high in dog numbers per human capita, we are slow to progress in dog welfare and treatment. For instance, we still allow shock collars, "chaining" dogs for long periods, not making appropriate/recommended daily dog exercising compulsory for dog ownership, antiquated dog registration systems, chemicalised/fluoridated tap water given to dogs. Almost 4 years ago we did away with the docking of dog tails and ear cropping which was considerably behind many other countries.

Upper Hutt has the most dogs per human capita of any city or district within the Wellington region at around 6500 registered in 2022 with another 10-15% unregistered.