Mark Vette: Dog Zen founder and animal behaviourist on Kiwis spending $1.8 billion a year on their pets

Kiwis are now spending a reported $1.8 billion a year on their pets. 

Insurance, food, grooming, and daycare make up the bulk of the spending, with luxuries and niche businesses playing a part as well.  

Dog Zen founder and animal behaviourist Mark Vette told Mike Hosking over time the relationship between pets and their owners has become more like that of a surrogate parent-child relationship, which drives people to spend more.  

But he says there’s definitely been a push for those who have the money to spend it on “wants” instead of “needs”.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
At what cost of living crisis? How about our obsession

(00:02):
with pets. We're now spending one point eight billion a
year on them. That's insurance, food, grooming, daycare, and luxuries.
New niche businesses are booming from boutique pet stores are portraits, portraits, physiotherapy.
Mark Betty is a founder of Dogs In and is
with us Mark morning. Yeah, Mike don well, thank you.
Is this new issuer of we always been obsessed spent
big money?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
No, I think it comes down to the why. And
the why is that the bonding hormone oxidosin. You know,
we have the similar levels of oxytocin as we have
between kids and ourselves, and so of course that bonds us.
Of course, the juvenilized cats and dogs, so they've become
much more childlike, and so you know, it's really a

(00:44):
surrogate parent child relationship. And so that's what drives us
to spend you know, about one thousand and two thousand
for a dog and about a grand for a cad
a year, you know, so you're talking about you know
about and for a human it's more like fifteen to
twenty thousand per child. So it's probably somewhat relative yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's would most of that stuff be though, once you
take the food and the grooming and stuff out, which
is necessary, it would insurance be the killer. I mean,
there's a lot of that insurance because that's expensive.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, it can be expensive. Although you know when you
had a friend who had a crucial liqument operation for
ten grand the other day, so probably insurance isn't stupid,
so you know, in of course, the medical system in
the animal world is not subsidized like the human one,
so it costs probably more to do healthcare and animals.
But yeah, there's definitely a push, you know for those

(01:40):
who have the money to spend on what i'd call
wants rather than needs, and I'd like to see them
focus more on the needs and make sure they get
what they need.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
The luxuries, the luxuries that'd be a city thing. I mean,
you know, I spend part of my time in the
country and there are no luxuries and dogs in the country.
I mean, they're working animals, and you know they're normally treated.
As you get to the city, we all go nuts.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, I mean, and then it's also you
know in the other socioeconomic you know, look the figures
and you can see who's spending the money and those
who have got the money. And but at the end
of the day, you know, as I said, we do
see them as their children, particularly people who don't have children,
and they're there's Sarah good children there.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
It's quite easy, of course to want to spend and
and looking after and even spoil them. And that's okay
to a degree. But yeah, you folks on what folks
on the needs right good advice.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Exactly good advice. Mike nice to catch up Make Vitty,
founder of dogs in So the next question is do
you buy your dog Christmas gift? So that's the next question.
Isn't because it's stupid. It's no, it's stupid because the
dog doesn't know it's Christmas and it's not interested in
the Christmas gift.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
And certainly it's interested in the Christmas gift. Don't worry
about that if you if he's not interested, you even
bought the right gift, you know, I reckon.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
So you so obvious you've given yourself away with your
cockerdoodle do and so you buy it.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Also, yeah, I know, I completely disagree about It's on
the same level as your kids. I like my dog.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Way more than the kids.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, I agree, the whole different league.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, they fit in completely differently. So do you do.
You wish your dog a happy birthday? And we did
this the other day, wish our dog a happy birthday
and they just look at you the same way they
look at you. I could be going poos and they
look at you the same way as if you say
have a birthday, don't they there's no different. I Yet
you're doing that and then you buy them a Christmas
gift and you're surprised they don't want to unwrap it.

(03:31):
They'll sniff around it, and if it's something to eat,
they'll eat it, and if it's nothing to eat, they won't.
It's how dogs work.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
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