Accessory dog: the handbag predator

Dog baskets, dog leads, dog bowls, dog toys – but also dog coats, dog jewellery, dog shampoo and dog accessories are available in a huge selection in the relevant shops. Everything the dog needs, and much more that it does not really need, can be bought – and sells like hot cakes! Especially for the small breeds, often also called lapdogs, the market offers all manner of accessories whose usefulness may be regarded as dubious. Far more concerning, however, is a development that precedes all this: the fact that small dogs are increasingly seen as a fashion accessory and not as living beings with needs.

The dog as an economic factor

The times when the dog was simply „just there“ on every farm, without the owners taking much care of it, are thankfully over. Over the past decades the dog has further consolidated its position as the Germans' favourite pet and has gone from a working animal to a pampered darling. Dog owners' willingness to spend money on their four-legged friend has grown accordingly: in Germany, keeping dogs generates an annual turnover of around 5 billion euros. Love for the dog moves almost unimaginable sums. It is no wonder, then, that clever marketing strategists discovered this field long ago.

For why sell only the urgently needed basic products, when loving dog owners will also willingly (and above all more deeply!) reach into their pockets for the luxury editions? It is really quite understandable, then, that there is now a whole industry surrounding the dog: whether carrier bags, glittery collars, little coats, Halloween costumes, nail polish, princess beds or whatever – there is nothing that does not exist.

Now, of course, one can smile and think „So what? If it makes them happy…“ – but unfortunately it is not quite that simple. Because with the rising supply of decorative consumer goods, the dog itself is increasingly degraded to an accessory. More and more people keep a dog primarily because it is „IN“, and in doing so forget that dogs also have species-typical needs.

From dog accessories to the accessory dog

Admittedly: the phenomenon of certain pedigree dogs becoming fashion dogs for a certain period has existed before. But with the rising supply of trendy dog accessories, this phenomenon is taking on entirely new dimensions. For now not only is the little dog chosen to match the current trend: no, the living accessory also gets a chic little coat, cute hair clips, painted claws, a glittering collar and so on.

Most dogs could still somehow live with all that. But unfortunately even that is not enough. For once the dog is so „chically“ kitted out, it can of course not possibly romp through woods and meadows – not only would the dog accessories get in the way during play, but many a trend-conscious owner also does not want to risk the fashionable items getting dirty or even damaged and, in the worst case, being lost. And so the life of such „accessory dogs“ is often limited to being carried through the shopping streets in a trendy carrier bag and trotting around the flat at home. This goes so far that some lapdogs are no longer even taken out onto the street to relieve themselves, but instead use a litter tray in the flat.

Even the smallest dog has a predator within

Indeed, it must be said that, particularly in the „mini breeds“ such as the mini Chihuahua, the Russkiy Toy or the Prague Ratter, many typical canine needs have now faded into the background through extreme breeding. Long walks, for example, are difficult to manage with their short little legs, and social contact between these frail creatures and normal-sized dogs is in some cases to be approached with caution. But ultimately, breeding changes nothing about the fact that even the smallest dogs are still predators.

Their needs include not only eating and drinking, as some lapdog owners evidently believe, but a great deal more. All dogs, whether large or small, have, alongside the purely physical necessities such as food and the like, other needs that must be met if they are to lead a species-appropriate life. These include, among others:

• Activity for body and mind
• A reliable environment with fixed rules and key caregivers
• Regular rest periods
• Affection and social contact

These needs still stem from the development of dogs: activity was always called for when prey had to be hunted, rest periods prepared them for the next hunt, and living together in the pack made fixed rules necessary and rewarded them with the needed social contact.

But it is precisely these age-old needs that are often left out of the picture when the dog is seen as an accessory. Dog owners simply „forget“ that even a lapdog can have a hunting or guarding instinct, and that at some point it is no longer cute, even in the smallest dog, when it growls and nips at visitors.

Often it already fails at toilet training and basic obedience, so that many small handbag dogs never learn the canine ABC that is so necessary for a fulfilled life. The unbalanced little dogs thereby quickly become „inconvenient“ for their owners. After all, a dog that is not house-trained, does not obey and instead yaps at everyone or perhaps even nips, cannot be used as a showpiece. As a result, such lapdogs, once they have become inconvenient, are often pushed off again as quickly and profitably as possible: as a classified advert they are, where possible, thrown back onto the market at „cost price“ to adorn another handbag – and whether they are allowed to stay there for long often remains to be seen.

Behavioural disorders pre-programmed

If a dog is kept in such a species-atypical way and, in the worst case, is also passed from hand to hand, behavioural disorders are almost pre-programmed. These can range from unwanted behaviour such as urinating in the home and yapping through to self-mutilation or aggressive behaviour.

To give these little dogs a normal, happy life again usually requires hard work: for successful resocialisation, the help of an expert is not infrequently needed. For while it would originally only have been about „a little“ training and keeping the dog in a manner appropriate to a dog, the entire worldview of an already adult, usually very insecure animal must now be turned for the better and its trust in people given back to it.

Yes to species-appropriate keeping, no to accessory dogs

That is why we come out clearly against the degradation of a dog to an accessory and would rather wish that even the tiniest dogs are treated as what they are: dogs! Of course, there is nothing wrong with carrying tiny dogs in particular over longer distances now and then. And of course there are certain dogs, such as some sighthounds, hairless dogs and similar breeds, that really do depend on protective clothing in extreme weather conditions. Nevertheless, a dog should always and in every case be allowed to remain a dog.