Puppy Awareness Week 2019 (PAW), running from 26th August until 1st September, is a Kennel Club-led initiative all about making owners aware of how to find a responsible breeder and a happy, healthy new four-legged friend.
Whilst lots of breeders are passionate about producing happy, healthy well-socialised puppies, sadly there are people out there who are more interested in making a profit than looking after the welfare of a mum and her pups. In these cases, the females may be kept in poor conditions, are often repeatedly bred and produce unhealthy puppies which may eventually need expensive veterinary treatment. Often the puppies will have been taken away from their mum distressingly early, and will travel a significant distance for sale, with some not surviving the move.
A Kennel Club Survey conducted earlier this month found that nearly 1 in 5 owners think they may have bought a puppy from a puppy farm, 1 in 3 owners couldn’t detect whether they had bought from a rogue trader and 18% who buy online without visiting puppy first, has a puppy that gets sick or dies in its first year.*
So how do you spot a responsible breeder? Here are a few of The Kennel Club’s top tips to avoid getting caught out:
The RSPCA have published some useful tips for spotting a puppy dealer’s online advert. These include:
- Googling the contact number on the advert to see if it appears in other puppy adverts
- Checking whether descriptions have been copied and pasted from one advert to another word-for-word
- Checking whether a photo of the puppies has been used in other adverts (right click on the photo, select ‘search Google for image’ and see if it has been used on other ads)
- If the puppy is advertised as having a passport, it has most probably been imported
- The RSPCA have seen dealers claim they are Kennel Club Registered to convey legitimacy. Always check for original documents and check with the kennel club before buying a puppy.
If you do see a suspicious advert, the RSPCA ask that you report it to them so they can investigate.
For lots more information on sourcing a responsible breeder, visit the Kennel Club’s website and the RSPCA’s ‘Puppies for sale in your area – don’t be caught out.’
Inadvertently buying from a rogue trader only helps to fuel the puppy trade, and can lead to heartache down the line.
**Figures based on survey of 2,256 dog owners carried out for the Kennel Club by Censuswide, in August 2019.