The Prince and Princess of Wales have apparently committed a heinous crime by allowing their beloved cocker spaniel to have puppies.
The royal couple have been decried as “staggeringly out of touch” – by animal activists Peta, who else? – for the audacity of letting the family dog Orla “churn out a litter”, at a time when animal shelters are overrun with dogs needing forever homes.
Orla was gifted to them by the princess’s brother James Middleton in 2020 – and a sweet photograph of Prince William, taken by the princess, was this week posted on social media, showing him surrounded by cute puppies, to mark his 43rd birthday.
In a statement, Elisa Allen, Peta’s vice-president of programmes, said: “If William is going to lead, he might well take a lesson from King Charles and Queen Camilla, who have chosen to adopt from a shelter rather than contribute to the problem.” The Queen adopted Jack Russell Moley from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home earlier this year – her third Jack Russell rescue dog after Beth in 2011 and Bluebell in 2012.
Prince Harry and Meghan also have two rescue dogs: Pula, a black lab, and a beagle called Mamma Mia.
While I understand a lot of dogs need rehoming, it’s a personal choice to have a pure breed. It’s not as if the Waleses are running a puppy farm, so what is the problem?
I’m a dog-lover, but adopting a rescue pup is a complete no-no for me. I bought Muggles, our fluffy white pedigree golden retriever, from a licensed Kennel Club breeder in Essex, because I knew it was a safe bet.
These breeds are famously good around children. Like the Waleses’ pup, Muggles came from a good pedigree family lineage. His mum was called Jacunda Dancing Girl of Rozansam, and his stud-dog dad was Trebettyn Teryrnin To Tanadice. I love them for that – although Muggles’s ancestral name, Rozansan Gobi Forth, sounded a bit too Game of Thrones to be used for recall in my local park.
I’d looked into rescue dogs, but I had to stop scrolling the “Meet some of our dogs in our care” section of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home because it broke my heart, and brought out that rescue mentality in me that also gets me into hot water with men.
There’s a reason people love pure breeds. They don’t attack other pets or dogs, chew your furniture in their adult years – or have such chronic behaviourial issues that require warnings on shelter websites, such as “no kids”, “ideal location away from inner city” and “problematic behaviours towards his owners in all of his previous homes”.
I’m a single mum with two small children, and the last thing I need in my life is a dog suffering from past trauma. I didn’t want to hire a costly behavioural therapist so I could relax in my own home or when out with him in public, to be constantly wiping up nervous puddles, or to find myself tip-toeing around a sensitive dog hoping not to trigger a full-on episode.
I don’t mean to put anybody off getting a rescue dog; it is truly an admirable thing to do and there are tons of gentle ones. I just wish I was in a position to give them all the happy endings they deserve. But I’ve had a couple of hideous near-misses with them.
Muggles has been bitten by a rescue who would not let go, as though it had lockjaw. Then there was the time I nearly collapsed with exhaustion trying to catch a friend’s rescue dog on Wormwood Scrubs in west London after it was startled. When a neighbour pleaded to get me to adopt her maltipoo because it didn’t like men, I declined.
Of course, any dog can have behavioural problems, not just rescue dogs who’ve had a tough upbringing. Muggles is no angel – he rips open black bags for food, and once devoured my daughter’s Peppa Pig birthday cake when it was left on a low shelf (lesson learned). But despite a family member banging on about how he’d be jealous when my kids were born and would maul them to death, I knew I could trust him around them.
My greatest regret is that Muggles never had puppies; he would have made a great dad. Thanks to William and Kate, I’m now obsessed with getting a new golden retriever puppy, who my children want to call Bubbles.
The only thing that is stopping me is the cost of adding the puppy to my Pet Plan policy. With an elderly dog – Muggles is 11 – it’s gone through the roof. But one thing is for sure, it won’t be a rescue mutt.
