Breeding Bitches

[Scott Frodsham]

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A friend of mine breeds Rotties on very rare ocassions, he's two bitches that have had litters and was hoping to breed from a third. But he's been warned off by somebody who's told him that if you have three or more brood/breeding bitches at an address that you need to register and get a license from the council, and that failure to do so can result in a fine of upto £1000! :b Can anybody elaborate/advise?

Any assistance appreciated.

 

[JAX]

I think Im right in saying that only applies if he is a `licenced breeder ` ,and already licenced with the local council but if he dosnt regiister he should be ok /

You are then only allowed to keep 2 bitches of breeding age

I think :wacko:

 

[littleminx]

What would be the advantage of registering then?

 

[sighthoundlover]

It depends on the local council rules. Although not long ago it was said that you are allowed to have 4 litters a year. If you have over this amount you need a licence.

I would advise to have a word with the local council and see what they say.

 

[lalena]

i'm not sure with regards to local councils, but with k.c dogs, you can only have a maximum of 2 litters per year, without becoming an accredited breeder. any more than that does incurr penalties. if you become an a.b, your premises will be checked by the k.c. there arent any problems with the k.c with regards to owning several breeding age bitches. i imagine thats to do with the fact that bitches dont stop having seasons. the headaches enforcing a 2 or whatever maximum number would be enormous, lol! i can picture the panic and costs of checking every owner of every breed who've purchased more than one within 10yrs of each other!

 

[JAX]

i'm not sure with regards to local councils, but with k.c dogs, you can only have a maximum of 2 litters per year, without becoming an accredited breeder. any more than that does incurr penalties. if you become an a.b, your premises will be checked by the k.c. there arent any problems with the k.c with regards to owning several breeding age bitches. i imagine thats to do with the fact that bitches dont stop having seasons. the headaches enforcing a 2 or whatever maximum number would be enormous, lol! i can picture the panic and costs of checking every owner of every breed who've purchased more than one within 10yrs of each other!

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I dont think thats at all right , sorry . Nobody HAS as to become an Accredited Breeder , if fact ANY one can be an A B . Even if youve never had a dog before (w00t) From what Ive read it just another KC way to make money :rant: People think they are getting a better quality pup when they buy one from an AB , but NO checks are made , of person, dogs or premises :rant:

Youve only got to read the KC Gazette to see peps who have more than 2 litters a year . A bitch is only allowed 1 litter in a 12 month period ( quite right too ) which stops people breeding on consequtive seasons 8)

d

 

[*Lesley*]

Found this on the net :thumbsup:

Dog Breeding

Establishments used for the breeding of dogs are controlled by the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973.

No person may keep a breeding establishment without first obtaining a licence from their Local Authority.

A breeding establishment means any premises where more than two bitches are kept for the purposes of breeding for sale.

Licensing of Breeding Establishments

Applications for a licence must be made to the Local Authority, and a licence may be issued if the applicant is not disqualified under any of the following Acts.

a) The Breeding of Dogs Act 1973.

b) The Pet Animals Act 1951.

c) The Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1954.

d) The Protection of Animals (Cruelty to Dogs) (Scotland) Act 1934.

There is an application fee which must be paid at the time the application is made. Currently the fee is enter amount

Where a licence is granted, that licence and any subsequent licence will expire on the 31st December of the year to which the licence relates and must be renewed before that date if the premises are to continue as a dog breeding establishment.

Council's Duties

Before being granted a licence the applicant must be able to demonstrate to the Council's Licensing Inspector:

That the dogs will at all times be kept in accommodation that is suitable in respect of construction, size of quarters, number of occupants, exercising facilities, temperature, lighting, ventilation and cleanliness.

That the dogs will be adequately supplied with suitable food, drink and bedding material, adequately exercised, and (so far as is necessary) visited at suitable intervals.

That all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent and control the spread amongst the dogs of infectious or contagious diseases, including the provision of isolation facilities.

That appropriate steps will be taken for the protection of the dogs in case of fire or other emergency, including the provision of suitable and sufficient fire fighting equipment.

That all appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that the dogs will be provided with suitable food drink and bedding material and adequately exercised when being transported to or from the breeding establishment.

A licence may be refused or withheld on other grounds if those grounds are such that conditions are not suitable for the breeding of dogs.

Each licence is subject to standard conditions that are imposed on all dog breeding establishments licensed by the Council.

In addition to the standard conditions a licence may also contain special conditions that are only applicable to your premises.

Your Right of Appeal

Any person aggrieved by a refusal to be granted a licence or by any condition to which a licence is subject may appeal to the Magistrates Court and the Courts may give such directions regarding the licence or its conditions as it thinks proper.

Offences and Penalties

The following offences apply to the breeding of dogs.

Anybody found guilty of keeping a dog breeding establishment without a licence may be subject to a fine not exceeding £2,500.

Anybody found guilty of failing to comply with the conditions of their licence may be subject to a fine not exceeding £2,500.

Anybody found guilty of obstructing or delaying an Inspector or authorised Veterinary Surgeon or Veterinary Practitioner in the exercising of their powers may be fined up to a maximum of £1,000.

If found guilty under this Act, the defendants licence may be cancelled and they may be disqualified from keeping a dog breeding establishment for such length of time as the Court thinks fit.

Further Information

Copies of the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 and other legislation mentioned in this information leaflet can be purchased from Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

A copy of the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 can be viewed at the Council Offices where you may also obtain a copy of the Council's standard licence conditions, an application form and further help and advice.

Contacts

Responsible for the issuing of licences

Licensing Manager – Glyn Robinson

Queen’s Buildings,

Potter Street,

Worksop

Notts

S80 2AH

Email: glyn.robinson@bassetlaw.gov.uk

Tel: 01909 533247

Fax: 01909 501246

 

[lalena]

i'm not sure with regards to local councils, but with k.c dogs, you can only have a maximum of 2 litters per year, without becoming an accredited breeder. any more than that does incurr penalties. if you become an a.b, your premises will be checked by the k.c. there arent any problems with the k.c with regards to owning several breeding age bitches. i imagine thats to do with the fact that bitches dont stop having seasons. the headaches enforcing a 2 or whatever maximum number would be enormous, lol! i can picture the panic and costs of checking every owner of every breed who've purchased more than one within 10yrs of each other!

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I dont think thats at all right , sorry . Nobody HAS as to become an Accredited Breeder , if fact ANY one can be an A B . Even if youve never had a dog before (w00t) From what Ive read it just another KC way to make money :rant: People think they are getting a better quality pup when they buy one from an AB , but NO checks are made , of person, dogs or premises :rant:

Youve only got to read the KC Gazette to see peps who have more than 2 litters a year . A bitch is only allowed 1 litter in a 12 month period ( quite right too ) which stops people breeding on consequtive seasons 8)

d

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i've got a copy of the application form i printed off from their website:

8) policing the accredited breeder scheme...

random checks on accredited breeder compliance will be made.

it goes on that initial checks will be made by contacting buyers of the pups. if a complaint is made to the k.c directly concerning bad conditions, there is a set grievance proceedure.

all in all, as the scheme is still in its infancy, certain rules ARE a bit vague, and the k.c is requesting feed back in order to improve it.

i totally agree with you about breeding with regards to 12mth gap. on a website i stumbled accross, some demented american woman was banging on about the virtues of breeding bitches on 3 consecutive seasons :rant: imagine, up to 21 pups in the space of 18mths the resulting condition of the bitches doesnt bear thinking about!

 

[JAX]

I know of several peps who have joined and NONE have been checked , either their premises or any referances .

There was an article in Dog world where some one complained about a pup from a AB person and the KC wouldnt get involved

As for the Breeders Licence Lesley , I wouldnt class myself as a Breeding Establishment . I think that means where the dogs are kenneled 24hours a day and dont live as part of the family So, as far as I am concernd , I dont think it applies to me and people like me .

 

[*Lesley*]

I know of several peps who have joined and NONE have been checked , either their premises or any referances .
There was an article in Dog world where some one complained about a pup from a AB person and the KC wouldnt get involved 

As for the Breeders Licence Lesley , I wouldnt class myself as a Breeding Establishment . I think that means where the dogs are kenneled 24hours a day and dont live as part of the family    So, as far as I am concernd , I dont think it applies to me and people like me  .

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Just a guide line Jax thought it might be of interest, don't think it would be that much used anyway to be honest,as far as i'm concerned it's just another way for them to make money out of people :angry:

 

[Crystal]

I think I'm right in saying each Local Authority deals with applications and the fee for the license varies with each Local Authority. Also interpretation of the Act can be quite grey, and if seperate kennels (not part of your house) but seperate building/ premises these can then also be business rated by the Local Authority and Valuation Office and then an annual Business rate is charged. There are also rules for cat breeding again on the lines of how many breeding queens are kept.

 

[littleminx]

Gosh i know a few that would be in trouble if you are not allowed more than 2 :wacko: The KC does not have a rule about a bitch having a gap between litters, they recommend it but will still register a litter that has not had a gap, i know i rang and asked coz i was told this and thought it was crazy so checked it out :wacko: some one who had sined the gsd breeder chaterer was foung to have 4 conseutive litters and all pups i think were registered :rant:

 

[dolly]

i know of somone who is an acrredited breeder, who has never bred a litter in their life. How strange is that !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kris]

i hate to tell you this jax but it dont matter one iota if your dogs are pets,showdogs or have even never had a litter of pups.the law states any premisies where more than 2 bitches are kept for the purpose of breeding for sale. i had a court case 15 years ago with our local council so im quite an expert on this particular law.i was reported by a jealous fellow breeder who decided that in order to get me out of the dog show ring where his dogs couldnt beat mine he would report me to the local council for not having a breeding licence.as i had been to the council when i first bought my property and asked them for a breeding licence and theyd told me i didnt need one cos i wasnt breeding in order to sell only to keep a pup for showing and sell the surplus i thought this was a bit rich!anyway to cut a long story short my court case took 2 years to come to court.all the councils top men were sat in court,plus guys from the kennel club registration department,vets,enviromental health officers and uncle tom cobley and all.the case took 2 days to be heard and guess what?the council lost. it cost them in excesss of over 30 thousand pounds.the maximum fine then was 100 pounds!my solicitor was brilliant and we ran rings round them.i was disgusted that so much ratepayers money was wasted like this.the councils solicitor told my solicitor that they didnt want to pursue the case in the first place but the person who started the complaint was a fellow mason of the councils top men so they were pursuing it as a favour to him.if id have been found guilty id have been banned from breeding ,showing, judging and registering any dogs so i had to fight the case instead of just pleading guilty and paying a 25 pound fine.the stress and worry this case caused me is impossible to tell.the thought that i could possibly lose my dogs and never be allowed to show them again was like a death sentence to me.but as my solicitor said to me after the case,carry on showing your dogs and winning with them cos every time you beat his dogs you take a day off his life.but to be honest after all we went through i had lost all heart to show dogs ever again.i did carry on for a while but it didnt seem important to me any more and even when i won i didnt get any pleasure from it anymore so decided to pack it in.

 

[wild whippies]

Just want to say I admire my Mum for talking about this, it's took a lot of guts and we all went through a lot of heartache thanks to that malicous b@$t@rd. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger and we're pretty tough cookies!

Love you Mum :huggles:

 

[kris]

love you too sweetheart :huggles: :huggles: :huggles:

 

[JAX]

WOW !! Thanks for that Kris .

Sorry to hear about your bad experiance . How I hate bad losers :rant: , but surley with you winning the case meant you DONT need a licence :blink: or have I read it wrong :wacko: :huggles:

 

[BeeJay]

Kris that's dreadful. I'm so glad that you won. :thumbsup:

 

[Mark Roberts]

This is the upto date Goverment legislation for dog breeders & dog breeding Liscences.

The starting point to determine whether a licence is needed is the identification of a dog breeding business. Anyone carrying on a dog breeding business will normally be regarded as needing a licence, regardless of the number of litters involved.  

However, guidance has indicated that parliament did not intend that the legislation be used to require hobby breeders to be licensed, even if they sold puppies, and to this end a person is presumed to be carrying on a business if in a 12 month period any number of their bitches give birth in total (i.e. collectively) to 5 litters or more.

So as long as you dont breed more than 5 litters in any 12 month period you dont need a breeders liscence.

 

[kris]

we won allright.it cost the council a fortune in legal fees.we were awarded all costs. :thumbsup: the thing that really annoyed me was when the councils 2 enviromental health officers told lies in court on oath. (w00t) my solicitor asked on what grounds a warrant had been obtained to enter my premises.the two officers stated on oath that they had been requested by the rpspca to investigate.now that was a downright lie.i knew the 2 local rspca inspectors well so that night after the first days hearing i phoned them up and told them what the enviromental health officers had said on oath in court that day.so they inforemed their head office in london.they took it very seriously and sent the councils legal dept a strongly worded letter (i still have a copy of it) saying they werent impressed that they had been lied about and that the councils officers had lied on oath about the rspca inspectors.they said that at no time ever had any complaint been received by their officers and at no time ever had their officers made any complaint about me or my dogs.the councils chief executive had to write to the rspca apologising profusely.we were never given a copy of the warrant (which is illegal)and we were never told on what grounds it was issued.if i had my time over again id go to the papers with this story as it stinks to high heaven :angry: so yes we didnt need a licence.but tbh it was cos the magistrates were disgusted at what had gone on and how wed been treated.they told my solicitor later that the whole case stank like rotten fish.they knew there were witnesses telling lies on oath so even if they had found us guilty we would have won on appeal.one witness for the guy who instigated the case even admitted hed been paid to do what hed done!the looks the magistrates gave him told enough of what they thought of his evidence.what im saying is the law actually stated that where 2 or more bitches are kept that are CAPABLE of being bred from.they didnt have to have had a litter.they were all inspected by a vet who was there to tell the councils enviromental health officers if the bitches had been spayed or not.even the vet was disgusted at what went on,he knew us personally and apologised to us saying he had to come out as it was his job.