Padding along the path, Sammy the long-haired dachshund took a few steps before stopping abruptly and plonking himself down on his silky rump. Refusing to move, he looked up with a doleful pair of brown eyes, pleading to be carried.
It was clear from the moment Sammy arrived at a rehoming centre early last year that he was a dog with problems. In fact, the poor thing didn’t really know how to be a dog at all. For the best part of two years, he had been carried around under his owner’s arm or in a handbag. The cute bundle of fur had become a prima donna on four miniature legs, with no understanding of simple things such as going for a walk or how to behave around other dogs. ‘I’ve never fallen so much in love with a dog,’ says Dogs Trust education officer Charlotte Peters.
‘He was absolutely gorgeous, he would give you those eyes that would make you melt but, oh, he was so badly behaved. His female owner had carried him around everywhere. She spoiled him rotten, treated him like a baby, so left him with a lot of problems — he’d snarl if you patted another dog in front of him. ‘He had to be the centre of attention. And if you tried to take him for a walk he would trot along for a couple of minutes, then stop, sit down and expect to be picked up.’
A sorry tale and, unfortunately, one that is increasingly being played out at animal rescue centres around the country. This week, the Dogs Trust — the country’s largest dog welfare charity — revealed the last year had seen more than 400 so-called handbag dogs being dumped at their doors, a 44 per cent increase.
Why? Largely because the dogs’ owners became bored with them, much as a child gets bored with a new toy. Inspired by stars who treat these tiny pets as just another fashion accessory, celebrity-obsessed members of the public have been buying the dogs on a whim, only to find they can’t cope with them or afford them. The dogs can cost upwards of £1,000, and that’s before any food, grooming or vet bills are taken into account.
The Dogs Trust is so concerned about the trend for teenagers to acquire handbag dogs simply to be ‘cool’ that it’s launching a dog-care education programme for schools.
For many, it is already too late. This is why hundreds of pint-sized pooches ranging from chihuahuas and dachshunds to shih tzus and pomeranians, once spoilt rotten as they peered out from their owners’ designer handbags, are having to adjust to life in the less than salubrious surroundings of rehoming centres.
The trend for these pampered pooches was fuelled by the likes of Paris Hilton, who is constantly seen tottering with her chihuahua Tinkerbelle under her arm — the poor pup usually dressed in outfits colour co-ordinated to match her own.
But she’s by no means the only culprit. The list of celebrities with handbag-sized dogs includes Madonna and Britney Spears, who have chihuahuas, Eva Longoria with her pug, and Coleen Rooney with Daisy the bichon frise.
But despite their diminutive size, little dogs can be very demanding. And it seems that in the real world, many owners can’t cope. In 2009, 285 toy dogs were handed in to the Dog Trust’s 17 rehoming centres; last year, 409 were given up. The vast majority of the animals were less than two years old. ‘People like to mimic the stars,’ says Clarissa Baldwin, chief executive of the Dogs Trust. ‘The problem is that when the new dog owner gets their pet home they realise that actually it’s not what they want after all.