‘When he turned two we had party hats and cake’: how dogs became the new babies

Bryan Bell remembers his miniature dachshund Patti collapsing and shaking uncontrollably when she was a year old; the vet later diagnosed epilepsy and now she is medicated and stable. Medical scares, behaviour issues and the cost of care mean pet ownership can feel very parental, yet as birthrates fall many couples are choosing dogs instead: one in three postcodes in England now has more dogs than children, and the estimated 13 million dogs in the UK is only two million fewer than the total number of children.

Some call this group Dinkwads—dual income, no kids, with a dog—and the trend has a strong online presence, with the #dinkwad hashtag picking up almost 135m views on TikTok, per pet insurer Everypaw. For owners such as Edinburgh content creator Mary Skinner, whose golden retriever Fergus had a birthday party complete with party hats and a dog-safe cake, a dog can provide companionship and routine that feels more achievable amid rising living costs, a point highlighted by Dr Bethan Greenwood at the Dogs Trust.

United Kingdom, England

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