The pandemic caused a massive rise in the prices of dogs, in fact google searches for ‘buy a puppy have increased by over 115% (Dogs Trust, 2020). There are many reasons for this, such as: boredom, having the time to train a puppy or just wanting some company. This has also unfortunately seen rises in illegally imported puppies. The reason for the illegal imports is the vast amount of money that had been gained from selling puppies. It’s as simple as demand and supply, the higher the request and need for dogs, the higher the cost gets. A good example of this would be the cost for Chow Chows, which had risen from £1,119 in March 2020 to an outstanding £2,618 in October 2020 (Dogs Trust, 2020). This rise in costs has made purchasing a dog extremely difficult and challenging, as dogs are being sold at rapids rates (mainly puppies). Sadly, this also has increased the rates of dogs being sent to shelters too. Many people cannot look after their dogs and more than a third of dog owners (34%) don’t even do any research beforehand (Dogs Trust, 2020) (meaning their dogs could’ve come from puppy farms or an illegal background). If you are looking for a dog, it has become increasingly difficult to find the right one as it is hard to find real breeders and not illegal sellers or scam artists, hard to find the right cost for a dog and hard to find the right breed for you (from experience French Bulldogs are almost impossible to find). A few tips would be: make sure you investigate your breeder thoroughly as they could be a scam artist or an illegal breeder/seller and have patience! Sometimes you won’t find the right dog but as time goes on, you will eventually find the right one for you.