The dog in Europe

I was chatting to a researcher on Friday who was moaning about how few reliable meaningful statistics there are about dog ownership and I was agreeing with him.
Then this morning, I woke up with a burning ambition to try to pull together some of the statistics into one place. And I was wondering, many hands make light work, can I persuade some of you to help?
I would like to know more about what life is like for dogs in different countries in Europe and if there's anything we can learn about the way others do things. Are dogs having a better life in some countries than others?
I'd like to find out comparative figures for the numbers of dogs in each European country indexed to human population. The number of unwanted dogs destroyed each year. The number of dogs in rescue. The number of dog bites. The number of deaths caused by dog bites. What dog-related legislation that country has passed.
If we can work out who is getting the best results perhaps we can then look at why that is the case and hopefully learn from their experiences or pat ourselves on the back if we're actually doing okay!
It's a massive project and if someone has already done it or part of it, please point me in the right direction so we can all save ourselves a massive amount of time.
If you have any of the pieces of the jigsaw to hand please do email me or if you'd be interested in being part of a team of volunteers researching this please do email me!
beverley@dogstodaymagazine.co.uk

Comments

Cheryl Butchko, Pennsylvania, USA said…
Wish I lived in Europe so I could help you out. I am interested to know what you find out. At the moment, I am struggling to have a "no intact dogs" rule removed from a new dog park that has opened up nearby. All my dogs are intact and highly trained. The dog group who lobbied to form the park says that intact dogs (male or female) cause fights at dog parks. Right. Yah, sure. I was wondering what the norm is in European countries. Do intact dogs get the prejudice I am encountering here in the states?

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