Ban on Pet Shop Puppy Sales & Other Regulations - Good or Bad?

[arealhuman]

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Good morning!

I've just read this article over at the BBC. What are your thoughts? Will you be contributing to the consultation? Hopefully it will end the ruthless puppy farming 'industry'.

 

[JudyN]

If it reduces the number of puppy farms and badly bred and raised puppies, I'm all for it. I do have a slight concern about how a breeder would be licensed though. Raising puppies well, including all the socialisation that should take place before 8 weeks, is very labour intensive and (I was told this by a lurcher owner/breeder and lurchers typically sell for a lot less than pedigrees) unlikely to be profitable. So someone who is licensed and breeds as a business may not have the welfare of the pups as their no. 1 priority. OTOH, someone who breeds from their loved family pet, for love far more than money, has researched the health of the parents and whether they can find great homes for all the pups, and has the lifetime welfare of the pups as their no. 1 priority however much work it is could be a much better source of happy healthy pups.

One thing the lurcher breeder mentioned was that when licensing was first proposed, breeders would be expected to have things like a washable yard where mess could be drained away. This would rule out a lot of people who could otherwise produce excellent pups. 'Puppy farm' will always be a dirty term, but 'backyard breeder' could be a mixed bag of the great and the terrible.

Then of course there's accidental litters - what if your family pet gets pregnant accidentally? Not everyone thinks it's right to neuter a pet if it's not necessary, and accidents happen however careful you are.

It would be good to insist on a basic knowledge of the birth process and how to spot problems, vaccination & worming schedules, early socialisation and so on.

 

[Josie]

Great find - thanks @arealhuman (sorry for the delay, just had chance to properly read it!)

I think bringing in this new legislation would be good but how will they realistically enforce it? I think if they're going to do it they need to invest time and training. They also need to follow it up with unannounced 'house calls' so they can make sure the breeders are keeping to the standards expected.

 

[JoanneF]

I agree with all of the above. And anything is a step in the right direction but I think the puppy farmers are so unscrupulous and they find ways round, for example they create convincing facades. It used to be that buyers were advised to see the mum so the farmers set up fake family homes with a lovely bitch and pups (complete with family photos all round and a lovely couple with sweet children) but the real bitch is probably in a cage in a barn about to be mated again. I think that educating the public about how these scams work would help a lot. Maybe if people knew that they should see photos like the ones @excuseme has been posting - pregnant, new borns, then weekly updates. I also think it would be sad if restrictions caused the cost of a puppy to be so much that the average family couldn't have one.

 

[arealhuman]

Good to read the opinions here - it might be worth individually replying to the consultation, especially the comment about cost. The consultation is linked to in the BBC article.

 

[Violet Turner]

Yeah they should illegalise puppy farms! because the amount of dogs that die from being breed and breed ect... its so cruel! I was looking for a friend some places that sells dogs near by and I found this link: Dogs4Us Puppies for Sale | UK Pedigree Puppies and the campaign Boycott Dogs4Us I have recommended to her to go on the kennel club website or go to the Dogs Trust/RSPCA centres instead of buying into scams! I feel strongly on this topic because it just isn't fair on vulnerable animals!

 

[Biker John]

My worry is that the puppy farmers will simply call themselves a rescue and in that way can still sell their pups. Also without a doubt their will be some local councils that take a slack view of registering breeders and the farmers will simply move to those areas. That said, anything that improves matters is a good thing.