The History of ‘A Dog is for life, not just Christmas’

The History of ‘A Dog is for life, not just Christmas’

42 years ago The Dogs Trust created the slogan ‘A dog is for life, not just Christmas’ after an influx of animals being sold over the holiday period. With many going out and purchasing young puppies for family members who by the new year were returning to work, couldn’t look after them or just hadn’t considered how much work a pet really was. Surpassing the 40-year mark and after a year of similar activities where lockdown caused an increase in animal purchases and inevitably a strain on rescue shelter resources, we’re here to talk about what good this phrase has done, why it still gets applied every year and why we should be applying it all year round; lockdown or no lockdown.

The Dogs Trust was first known as the National Canine Defence League and the slogan was brought to the world by Clarissa Baldwin OBE in 1978, who was made the chief executive in 1986. When tasked with the need for a charity with no money to come up with a cheap way to quickly and effectively convey their message, Baldwin came up with this phrase. As we still see today, the slogan was pasted onto stickers and sent to thousands of motorists to put up in their car windows.

It’s incredible how this message is still regarded as so unfortunately important today. It’s unusual for such a phrase to hold so much relevance for so long, but it’s so clear why. Over the years it’s significance has landed it in the Oxford English Dictionary as well as having to be trademarked to stop organisations trying to use it to sell their products. Compared to the 90’s, dogs being put down from rescue shelters has decreased significantly. With the moto in place, people began thinking twice about what they were doing and how they were affecting a life. With its continued relevance, each new generation of dog owners is being educated to be even more responsible than the last.

It’s been said time and time before that this phrase relates not just to Christmas, but birthdays, valentines, anniversaries, weddings and all other holidays. March showed a dramatic increase in searches for ‘puppies’, ‘adopt a puppy’ and ‘puppies near me’. Whilst many charities tried to be on top of educating the public that although they felt they would have more time at home, the reality was they would be unlikely to be able to care for these animals in the future. There was an increase of animals sent to shelters when the lockdown was lifted.

Puppies are born all year round and rescue shelters are open too. If you’ve made a long term plan, considered all your options and know what responsibility your family is taking on, then adopt away! Unfortunately,  there were similarities between the lockdowns and the puppy slogan but the more we know and the more we educate ourselves on what we can do to help and not contribute to animals ending up in rescue homes, the happier and more joyful our world will be.