Our Aim
A 2022 survey carried out on our behalf, discovered 49% of households in Ireland have a dog*. This is much higher than our closest neighbours in the UK, where dog ownership only stands at 34%**. But despite this, the UK - along with many more countries across Europe - provide significantly more Dog Friendly services and venues, allowing people to include their furry four-legged friends in their daily lives. We wants this to change. We want to help make Ireland the best country in the world for dogs and the people who love them, and that is why we are running our Dog Friendly Ireland campaign. This campaign highlights the small but effective changes that can be made in many different aspects of public life, in an effort to make Ireland more accessible to dogs.
In 2022, we re-homed 664 dogs. We firmly believe this figure could significantly increase if Ireland were to become more Dog Friendly, as responsible dog owners would be in a position to involve them more in their daily routines. At the moment, restrictions in workplaces, hotels, social venues, rental accommodation and on public transport do very little to encourage potential adopters to welcome a furry friend into their life.
Dogs Trust looks forward to the day when dogs are an accepted passenger on public transport, a welcome visitor in the workplace, a wanted tenant in rental accommodation and a regular customer in most food-serving establishments across the country.
Source List
* Amárach Research 2022
** Dog Population 2022 – UK Pet Food Research 2022
- Park, K.; Wilson, M.G.; Lee, M.S. Effects of social support at work on depression and organizational productivity. Am. J. Health Behav. 2004, 28, 444–455. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Niven, D., 2007. 100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy. 1st ed. United States of America: HarperOne.
- Physiological Responses by College Students to a Dog and a Cat: Implications for Pet Therapy -John W. Somervill, Yana A. Kruglikova, Renee Robertson, Leta M. Hanson, Otto H. MacLin
- 50% of employees considering a PAW scheme would see it as a benefit. 40% of people with PAW say it enhances work-life balance. The research for Purina was carried out by Engage Research as a Pets at Work Benchmark Study, Omnibus and Qualitative Research, in May 2016
- Headey, B. (1999), "Health benefits and health cost savings due to pets: Preliminary estimates from an Australian national survey", Social Indicators Research, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp. 233-243.
- CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention)
- CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Friedmann, E. and Thomas, S. A. (1995), "Pet ownership, social support, and one-year survival after acute myocardial infarction in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST)", American Journal of Cardiology, Vol. 76 No. 17, pp. 1213-7.