Where’s the protection for puppies and their owners?

I am not a dog lover myself but I have concerns for the welfare and humane treatment of all animals, as well as the protection of the buyers. It seems to me from casual observation that there has been an explosion of ‘amateur’ pet breeding for profit over the last few years and some of the methods and conditions involved must, at the very least, be questionable. It is also a trade where the customer is looking to get the favoured breed at the lowest cost and will buy from a convenient local breeder without making too many enquiries into the background. Equally some of the sellers might be trying to squeeze the maximum return out of a natural happening.

Legally there is a dividing line is between the commercial breeding of dogs in compliance with a local authority dog breeding licence and those who just happen to be selling off some unwanted puppies from a litter produced by their own pets in order to gain a little extra income [to put the most favourable interpretation on it] . A licence is required by anybody running a “breeding establishment for dogs” and the definition of that includes someone who keeps a b***h at any premises and the b***h gives birth to puppies at any time within a period of 12 months, and four or more other litters are born during the 12 month period to b*****s owned by the keeper whether at the same premises or not [and there are various other condition and qualifications]. So there is a lot of headroom for the breeding and sale of dogs [as well as some scope for a few artful dodges] before a dog breeding licence is required and the compliance regime is applied. I suspect an enormous amount of the buying of puppies happens within this unregulated, and probably undeclared, part of the trade. Professional dog breeding to pedigree standards with full Kennel Club recognition requires a considerable amount of capital investment and I don’t see much evidence of that so most of that business is probably already in the hands of well-established breeders at licensed premises with all necessary consents and full business compliance. I am not saying that everything at that end of the spectrum is all safe and above-board however.

I imagine that the recent growth in the trade in desirable dogs has been largely in domestic situations and that the majority of the people advertising puppies for sale within the licence-exempt sector are true dog lovers who have brought the puppies up well and and will want them to go to good homes. But are they up to coping with the demands of the Puppy Contract? It implies a fairly high level of comprehension and requires a considerable amount of clerical/administrative organisation, especially in record-keeping, to be able to satisfy the terms of the contract. Some conscientious sellers will manage it but I fear plenty of others will reject it and the buyers who need the most protection might not get it. Buying a puppy is an emotional and sensitive act with enduring consequences over the life of the pet, but money is involved and that changes everything. As ever, any form of regulation is in the price and will affect profit margins. Given that there appears to be an excess of dogs for sale It might be argued philosophically that no real dog lover would wish to bring into the world any dogs which might have an uncertain future, be uncared for later, or suffer illness or disability, so that therefore no-one who speculatively produces dogs for sale could possibly be a true dog lover.

Unfortunately there will also be a number of less-conscientious puppy-sellers who do not look after their animals well, have bred from too limited a gene pool, and for whom it is just a question of making some easy money, and they will not enter into a puppy contract. These people will carry on and it crossed my mind that if prospective buyers walk away from a purchase because the seller will not make a contract with them, and the puppy [or indeed a whole litter] develops a serious illness or disabling condition, what fate will befall those unsold puppies? Will they receive professional veterinary treatment? – Unlikely. Will they be dealt with in an inhumane way? – Possibly. Is allowing a trade in animals at all through unlicensed breeding and rearing acceptable in the 21st century? What does the RSPCA think?

I fully support the puppy contract and the whole puppy information pack regime and I hope they reach the right audiences, but I fear there will still be a lot of poor practice, and some suffering, in the private trade and a lot of disappointment among buyers as well as no let-up in the concerns over animal welfare.

I read today that the HMRC have recovered a total of £5,393,035 in unpaid taxes from 257 separate cases in pursuance of their investigations into unlawful puppy breeding and smuggling. This is good news as it will no doubt have also stopped some of the inhumane and unhealthy practices of numerous unlicensed breeders and the exploitation of many buyers of dogs through the black market. The various animal welfare charities and organisations participated in the investigations and have rescued many dogs from intensive and unsafe husbandry.