Puppies have become the new must have toy over the COVID time, the must have accessory. Many of the COVID lockdown restrictions permitted walking a dog and thus there was a need for dogs. The simplest rule from economic theory is that if there is a demand beyond supply then prices rise and so puppies cost thousands of dollars. Similar upsurges in interest occurred with home gardening so there was a run on vegetable seeds, library borrowing went up and people returned to old hobbies and there were queues outside hobby shops.
But what will happen when life returns to normal?
The gardens will go to weeds, the jigsaws will be put away but what of all the now grown up dogs? They are too ‘valuable’ to give away, they can’t be returned easily, they cost money and walking them each day will get boring. There is just another, quite sad, example of how COVID has changed many people’s lives and not always for the better even if they were never affected by the Virus itself.
How long will it take before we can safely return to the old ways?
––Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
