Lucy WalshMatt Baker, best known as the presenter of Blue Peter and Countryfile, opened up this week about an experience that millions of UK pet owners will recognise: the quiet but persistent feeling of disorientation that settles in when you find yourself without a dog for the first time. Speaking ahead of the launch of his new podcast Petcast — which held its first live sessions at Kew Gardens in July 2026 — Baker described his move to London as the first period in his adult life without an animal at home. "When I moved down to London," he said, "it was the first time in my life that I'd been without a dog and I felt quite lost."
The comment has resonated widely. But veterinary professionals say the experience Baker described is not just emotionally familiar — it is biologically measurable. The human-animal bond is not sentiment. It is a physiological reality, and disrupting it carries documented consequences for both the person and the pet left behind.
Why 11.1 Million Dogs in UK Homes Is Not a Coincidence
The numbers behind Baker's experience are striking. According to the PDSA PAW Report 2025, the UK is home to 11.1 million dogs — living in approximately 30% of all households. That same report found that 88% of UK pet owners say their pet has helped their mental health, while 96% of dog owners specifically credit their dog with a positive impact on their psychological wellbeing.
Most telling in the context of Baker's London relocation: 58% of UK pet owners say they feel less isolated because of their animal companion. This matters in a city where the Office for National Statistics has consistently recorded loneliness rates above the UK national average — and where the transition from countryside or suburban living to urban anonymity can be particularly abrupt.
The experience of relocating from a life with animals to a city without one is far from unique. An estimated 60,000 people move to London each year. For many, the question of what to do with a dog — board it temporarily, send it to family, rehome it, delay the move — is treated as a logistical afterthought until it becomes a source of real distress. Baker's willingness to name the feeling publicly is, for many, a permission slip to take that distress seriously.
What Vets Know About the Bond Baker Described
The British Veterinary Association formally recognises the human-animal bond as a core element of both animal welfare and human wellbeing — not a luxury but a biological relationship with measurable effects in both directions.
In humans, cortisol — the body's primary stress hormone — is measurably lower in individuals who have regular physical contact with a familiar animal. Oxytocin, the bonding hormone associated with trust and connection, increases specifically through interaction with dogs. These effects are documented in peer-reviewed research and increasingly reflected in clinical mental health guidance in the UK.
In dogs, the corollary is just as significant. Animals form primary attachment relationships with their caregivers in ways that parallel human parent-child bonding. Disruption of that attachment — through relocation, extended separation, or an abrupt change in living environment — manifests in measurable behavioural and physiological changes. Veterinary practices across the UK report rising numbers of cases involving separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, and appetite changes linked not to illness but to changes in the owner's living situation.
This is the gap that Baker's Petcast is, in part, exploring: the hidden complexity of life with animals, and the ways in which the decisions humans make about their own lives ripple directly into the lives of their pets — and back again. Veterinary professionals are increasingly well-placed to advise on this — not just the animal's physical health, but the transition planning that protects both species.
A London Move Without the Vet Conversation: What It Costs
Consider a scenario that maps closely onto Baker's own experience: a 40-year-old journalist relocating from rural Shropshire to London, leaving their three-year-old Border Collie with a sibling temporarily while they secure pet-friendly accommodation in the city.
The initial plan: a separation of four to six weeks while a suitable flat is found and a deposit paid.
What typically unfolds without prior veterinary consultation:
Border Collies are a high-energy working breed that require a minimum of two hours of vigorous, purposeful exercise per day. Without pre-move guidance from a vet, many owners only discover after signing a lease that "walking distance to a park" on a letting agent's description means a ten-minute walk to a fenced green space with a 30-minute maximum off-lead window — insufficient for a breed that was developed to run for hours across open terrain. The behavioural fallout within urban flats — excessive barking, destructive chewing, restlessness — often begins within 10 to 14 days of inadequate stimulation.
In London's 2026 rental market, pet-friendly listings carry a premium of £150 to £200 per month above equivalent pet-free properties, based on current Rightmove data. Over a standard 12-month tenancy, that is an additional £1,800 to £2,400 in rental costs before factoring in the pet deposit — which, while legally capped at five weeks' rent under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, is routinely applied at the maximum by landlords in competitive postcodes.
If the planned four-to-six-week separation extends to ten or twelve weeks — which is common in London's fast-moving but supply-constrained rental market — veterinary behavioural data indicates that dogs separated from their primary carer for more than eight weeks begin to show measurable increases in stress indicators: disrupted sleep patterns, appetite changes, and reduced responsiveness to familiar commands. Resolving these behaviours professionally requires input from a certified clinical animal behaviourist, at a cost of £80 to £150 per session, often across multiple appointments.
If the owner had consulted a vet before the move: the conversation would have covered breed-specific urban suitability, a structured separation protocol using familiar scents and recorded voices, London's most suitable green spaces for high-exercise breeds (including Hampstead Heath, Highbury Fields, and Richmond Park), and a realistic reintegration timeline. The cost of a pre-move veterinary consultation: £40 to £85 at most UK practices — or, where a long-term vet relationship exists, often handled as part of a standard check-up.
The maths is not complicated. Reactive intervention across three behavioural sessions runs to £240 to £450. Proactive planning costs a fraction of that.
This article addresses mental health and animal welfare. If you are experiencing significant distress connected to pet loss or separation, your GP or a registered counsellor can provide support. For concerns about your pet's welfare or behaviour, consult a registered veterinary professional.
What Matt Baker's Experience Tells Us About How We Plan
Baker's Petcast — with its honest exploration of what it means to build a life around animals, and what is lost when that is disrupted — reflects a broader shift in how UK pet owners are beginning to think. The 30% of UK households with a dog are not just dog owners. They are people whose daily rhythm, mental health, and emotional regulation is, to a measurable degree, organised around that animal's presence.
Planning for major life changes — relocation, career shifts, relationship transitions, retirement — has traditionally centred on finances, housing, and family logistics. The pet question is treated as something to resolve at the end, once the main decisions are made. Veterinary professionals increasingly argue that this is the wrong order.
A pre-change veterinary consultation for pet owners facing relocation should cover:
- Breed-specific suitability for the new environment, including space, exercise access, and noise levels
- A structured separation plan if a temporary gap is unavoidable — including the use of familiar objects, scent, and routine to reduce stress for the animal
- Registration with a veterinary practice at the new location before the move, not after settling in
- Microchip records updated to the new address, as required under UK law for all dogs since 2016
The RSPCA's guidance on managing dogs through changing conditions reflects the same principle: prevention is considerably less costly — in every sense — than intervention after the fact.
According to the PDSA PAW Report 2025, 88% of UK pet owners say their pet actively supports their mental health. That figure carries a responsibility: to treat the human-animal bond not as incidental to major life decisions but as something that deserves the same advance planning as the lease, the job offer, and the removal van. Matt Baker said he felt lost without a dog. Veterinary science is clear about why. What the UK's 11.1 million dog owners can do now is plan so that neither they, nor their animals, have to find out the hard way.
If your living situation or life circumstances are changing and you have a pet, an expert consultation — with a vet, an animal behaviourist, or a specialist adviser — is a practical first step. ExpertZoom connects UK pet owners with verified veterinary professionals and animal care specialists who can guide you through exactly this kind of transition, before it becomes a problem.
