Kennel Club calls for greater welfare regulation

The Kennel Club (KC) Chairman has called for tougher action on puppy farmers during an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Oral evidence session.

Chairman Professor Steve Dean, urged the committee to look at allocating more resources to local authorities so that they can give greater and more effective regulation over puppy farmers.

His recommendations were backed by both Professor Sheila Crispin, Chair of the Advisory Council on the Welfare Issues of Dog Breeding, and Professor Patrick Bateson, author of the Independent Inquiry into Dog Breeding.

The three also gave evidence to the committee of MPs.

"Around 60 percent of breeders do not register with the Kennel Club and amongst that number are puppy farmers who breed purely for profit and who represent a significant risk to the health and welfare of dogs in this country," said Professor Dean at the session. "Local authorities need to be given the resources to stop these people from trading, otherwise all of the good work that the Kennel Club and its breeders are doing to improve dog health will be put in jeopardy."

He added: "We would like to see Codes of Practice introduced under the Animal Welfare Act that require breeders to take care of the welfare of their puppies and breeding bitches in the same way as we currently do under the Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme. These might include, for example, health testing and compulsory microchipping as a means of identifying dogs.”