The impact of Pets at Home

I visited nine stores in the Warwick area yesterday. You get the impression that the garden centres are doing well with dog food. They have the car parking and the space to stock. Plus it’s a pleasant day out for people. The town centre pet shops, by contrast, are finding it harder. One store I visited was closing: they couldn’t sell pet products any more. It’s not surprising with two Pets at Home stores close by, and garden centres selling more dog food.

Specialist pet shops have to work hard to keep their customers. Providing the customer with reasons to visit is essential. I have some ideas on this which I’ll talk about when my plans are further advanced.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Some town centre pet stores do very well, and you can feel the buzz when you arrive.

The weigh-in

Many people think you judge a dog’s weight by weighing it. Actually, that’s not so. Weighing a dog tells you very little. It merely provides a benchmark – so that when you weigh the dog a fortnight later you can see if the dog is gaining or losing weight.

Yesterday we were filming our local vet assessing five dogs for weight. This was for a DVD that shows owners how to judge whether their dog is overweight.

Now the only way to tell if a dog is overweight is by doing what vets call ‘condition scoring’. That means looking to see if:

1. He has a waist when viewed from above.

2. He has a ‘tuck when viewed from the side.

3. You can feel his ribs, but not see them.

If none of the three apply, your dog is overweight. Try it yourself. On your dog, I meant. It’s like humans. You know if you’re putting on weight by the presence of ‘love handles’, or if your belt is on an extra notch.

Dog owners won’t own up

I was trying to borrow some overweight dogs today. Why? For a DVD I’m making that will teach dog owners how to recognise if their dog is a bit porky.

But I’ve had great difficulty persuading dog owners to turn up. Admittedly, I didn’t go out into the streets and accost people. Though I might still do that if I don’t find enough dogs. No, a rescue shelter didn’t want to help in case the former owner recognised their dog. Huh? If they gave up their dog, and it was overweight, why would we worry about the remote possibility that they’d spot the dog on a DVD?

Then there was someone’s mother in law who started a rant about her dog not being overweight.

It seems people are shooting the messenger.

Even pet shop dogs are overweight

I popped into a pet shop on Saturday to talk to the owners. Lying in front of the counter was an overweight dog. It seems remarkable to me that even pet shop owners have obese dogs. How can we expect the general public to manage their dogs’ weight when even the trade’s animals are fat?

On the other hand, the pet shop has lovely people, and they adore their dog. So you can’t be too cross about it.