The Kennel Club has today (1 February) launched a survey and is asking all those involved in canine activities to share their views.
Since October 2022, The Kennel Club has been carrying out a research project with organisers and participants of all dog activities, including showing, agility and many other activities people can participate in with their dogs (including those that are not regulated by The Kennel Club).
So far, research has been taking place among two different groups who engage with dog activities: the people who take part in the activities (participants) and the person/people/local organisations who run the activities (organisers), including volunteers who support local events.
The research focuses on four key areas:
- To provide a high-level view of the UK participants in dog activities: type, location, demographics etc.
- To understand what participants and organisers need and want
- To understand how the pandemic, cost of living crisis etc. has changed the needs, expectations and priorities of participants and organisers
- To help The Kennel Club reach its external audiences with the relevant information, in the right way, at the right time
Said Mark Bermingham, Strategy and Implementation Executive: “Our brief was clear: 2022 was the first year with no Covid-19 related restrictions since 2019 and so now is the right time to understand how the needs and wants of participants and organisers have been affected by the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis so that we can adapt and respond in the right way.
“We have partnered with the research agency Basis, who have been carrying out one to one interviews with organisers and participants of dog activities to ensure we are asking the right questions when we go out to the wider community with the survey.
“The invitation to take part in the survey will come from The Kennel Club using our database and social channels this month and we would like to give anyone and everyone involved in dog activities the opportunity to provide their views and would like it to reach as many people as possible. We very much look forward to receiving the feedback of this survey which we hope will provide some important insight which will help map the future of our world of dogs.”
The survey has now gone live, please click here to take part. The survey will be open for two weeks and will close on the 15 February.