Breeding and selling
We want to improve standards in dog breeding and selling.
What’s the issue with breeding and selling?
The UK has around 12.6 million dogs, with roughly 1 million dogs being brought into people’s homes each year. However, we can’t fully trace the dogs that are bred and sold here.
Confusing licensing rules and inconsistent enforcement mean only some breeders or dealers are inspected, opening the door to puppy farming and dogs being bred in poor conditions. Local authorities do inspect licensed breeders, but the checks aren’t frequent or thorough due to limited resources. Many breeders avoid regulation entirely by pretending to be small-scale, as there’s a threshold for who needs a license.
Regulations of online pet selling are also limited. As a result, we’ve seen many cases where people have unknowingly bought poorly dogs, or dogs that don’t actually exist.
Finally, there is a lack of public awareness of the health issues that can develop as a result of breeding in order to exaggerate features, known as extreme conformations.
What we’re doing to improve standards
We want to improve standards in dog breeding and selling.
We’ve long been calling for a strong registration and licensing system to trace every dog back to their breeder or seller, with the aim of protecting both animal welfare and buyers. We chair the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG). Through PAAG, we:
- offer advice to pet selling websites. We’ve developed a set of standards to make sure pets advertised for sale online are done so legally and ethically. Our standards are voluntary, so websites don’t have to follow them
- call for better regulation of online pet sales. All sellers should have to include basic details about the dog on an advert. And every advert should be verifiable via a registration or licence number.
We are also working to stop the suffering of dogs caused by extreme conformations and other breed specific health conditions.
As a Pawlitical Champion, you can make sure dogs’ voices are heard by politicians, building pressure for change. Together, we can make the world a better, safer place for our faithful friends.
When you sign up to be a champion, we’ll send you regular updates about the progress of our campaigns. You’ll hear about our products, services and other ways to support us. We’ll also contact you about ways you can actively champion new campaigns, from sharing messages on social media to writing to your local MP or the Prime Minister.
Your support is vital to make the world a better place for our dogs.
Sign up to campaign on behalf of dogs
As a Pawlitical Champion, you can make sure dogs’ voices are heard by politicians, building pressure for change. Together, we can make the world a better, safer place for our faithful friends.
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