Are Europeans really sharing secrets with their dogs

Shaggy doggy tales are legion so it comes as no surprise that a recent poll of pet owners across Europe purports to have uncovered fresh insights into Franco-German relationships as far as shared doggy secrets go.

Yes a survey of 6000 EU pet owners suggests the French, at just 29% are the least likely to share a secret with their dog but that 42% of their German neighbours indulge in some very dogged confessions indeed. No details were provided of what these dark secrets might be.

The poll also confirms a sharp division in Anglo-French behaviour – nothing new there then – in that while a staggering 24% of British dog owners admit they send greetings card on behalf of their long-eared mutts, French dogs (rather like French kids) are far less indulged with only 3% of owners confessing to any such daft canine doggerel.

The French compared with their European neighbours, are also more pragmatic about their dog devotions and the least likely to celebrate a dog’s birthday for instance. (The figure compared to the rest of those surveyed was just 46%). The Italians and the Brits are however the most likely to mark the day – at 65% and 64% respectively.

But more than 90% of European dog owners did say they would include their dog in the family photograph.

With all the world and its dog now owners of mobile phones it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that two in five Italian owners admits to the soppy penchant of  chatting up their dogs on the phone — 32% do so Europe-wide apparently — while 34% of Brits and French confess to a mobile burble now and again with their dogs. More stoically the Germans decline to get anywhere so personal — only 25% admitting to taking or making a doggy call.

Sixty per cent of pet owners say they feed their dogs from the table, a practice far more common in the UK (64%) than in Germany at 51%. The French, for whom food and wine of course rank supreme in cultural importance, are nevertheless fairly generous with feeding from the table and 63% admit to sharing with their dogs.

While on this subject a quarter of owners shockingly admit they do not always wash their hands before preparing food after playing with their pooch. Worst offenders are dog owners in the Benelux countries – time to get sniffy about those Belgian frites? — where those polled admitted that 37% of the time they sometimes or never washed their hands. They were closely followed by the Germans at 34%. The French admitted to a 26% failure rate, the Brits to 24% and the Spanish to 16%. The pasta gods of  Italy  – good for them — washed the most, forgetting only 13% of the time.

As for sharing beds with their dogs 38% of owners across Western Europe admit to doing so with Germans topping the list at 45%; followed by 44% of Brits and just 38% of the French.

Finally nine out of 10 respondents say their dog brings their family closer together, a finding that is true across all regions.

So there you have it where do you rank in this doggy affection parade? Tell us in the comments.

About the survey:
Elanco Companion Animal Health surveyed 6,000 dog owners: 1,000 each in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy and 500 each in Belgium and Netherlands. All data was collected from 8-19 February 2012.

Related articles

• Satellite Tracks Toulouse Dog Poop
• ‘Crottoirs’ or Fertiliser Factories?
• Why don’t we have doggy bag dispensers in our parks? (southleedslife.com)
• Haute Off the Press: Is Canine Primping a Doggy Do or a Doggy Don’t? (makeup.com)
• Doggy Bag – How to say “doggy bag” in French? + Happy Anniversary! (french-word-a-day.typepad.com)
• Jerusalem doggie DNA database to trace poo offenders… (ca.news.yahoo.com)