The Kennel Club is urging people "to ask the right questions" before buying.

A quarter of puppies acquired via social media become sick or die before their first birthday, new research by The Kennel Club has revealed, as more people turn to platforms such as Instagram and TikTok when buying a puppy.

The organisation is concerned that people are buying puppies through social media based on attractive photos, without adequately checking the health of the puppies or the conditions in which they were bred. This is allowing some breeders to sell unhealthy puppies from puppy farms.

According to the research, which surveyed more than 3,000 dog owners, one in two bought their puppy ‘because it was cute’.

Released as part of the organisation’s Be Puppywise campaign, the figures reveal the welfare implications of a growing trend; the number of people using social media sites to find a puppy has doubled in the last five years

With the focus on ‘cute’ pictures, 24 per cent spent of dog owners spent less than two hours doing research when purchasing a puppy. This includes research into the health and breeding of the puppy. Seventy-eight per cent did not see their puppy’s vaccination records and 64 per cent suspect they did not see their puppy’s breeding environment.

Instead, people are relying on information they see online, with 27 per cent saying that their main source of information was from social media, influencers or celebrities when buying a puppy, rather than from veterinary professionals or animal welfare organisations.

This is allowing what The Kennel Club calls “unscrupulous” breeders to thrive online, with the organisation suspecting that almost one in three puppies found via social media originated from a puppy farm.

Mark Beazley, chief executive of The Kennel Club, said: “Platforms like Instagram and TikTok can give unscrupulous breeders easy access to a mass market, where they are selling pups with little scrutiny, so it’s down to the puppy buyer to make sure that they ask the right questions, see the puppy with their mum and in their home environment, and step back if things don't feel right.

“Failing to do so can lead to a world of heartache for puppy buyers and keeps rogue breeders in business, whilst puppies continue to suffer the consequences, as this research shows.”

To help potential owners buy a puppy responsibly, The Kennel Club has provided resources on its website.

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