It is a Puppy Farm or NOT?
Do you really understand what a puppy farm is?
From one report, it is estimated that ONLY around 70,000 puppies (900 breeders) out of an estimated ONE MILLION puppies born each year are from registered breeders. This makes less than 12% of the puppies in the market place, are born to licensed British breeder’s .
Yet licensed breeders, even professional breeders, like myself, are getting all the flack for the unwanted dogs in rescue and puppy farming.
However, the RSPCA received over 3,500 calls on suspected puppy farms in 2015, a 122% increase on five years ago
Some of the breeders reported are actually breeders of "one litter in a lifetime", or more likely "mistake litters" through ignorance and negligence.
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION of a REAL puppy farm?
A puppy farmer is defined as a "usually high volume" breeder BUT especially one
who breeds puppies with LITTLE OR NO REGARD for the health and welfare of the puppies or their parents or their owners to be.
A puppy farms MAIN intent is profit.
A professional dog breeder knows that welfare is key to continued success and we have been breeding for 30 years.
We are law abiding and therefore also licensed by our council.
They ignore guidelines even the LAW about the
- maximum frequency of litters, i.e. breed a bitch on consecutive seasons so that the bitch gives birth before 12 months after the birth of her last litter. (This is not allowed for Licensed Dog Breeders)
- Maximum number of litters produced in a lifetime (Six litters per bitch Maximum in a lifetime for Licensed Dog Breeders)
- puppies are separated from their mothers too early (8 weeks is generally recommended and is the law covering Licensed Dog Breeders),
- provide inadequate socialisation of puppies (we raise our puppies in the home using modern rearing techniques based on AVIDOG and PUPPY CULTURE programs)
- sell puppies through third parties i.e. away from the environment in which they are raised, (WE NEVER knowingly will do this as we have a very stringent Application Process and will not usually sell more than one puppy at a time to a household and only under very special circumstances.)
- keep puppies in poor husbandry conditions (we rear our puppies in the home and purpose built runs where they can see and hear the world. See our Youtube Channel with 100's of video showing the lifestyle of our puppies.)
- and fail to follow breed specific health schemes (we have led the way in border collie health testing and will do the same with the Collooldes)
- or to apply basic, routine health measures such as immunisation and worming (we vaccinate and worm everything and are one of the first to start a titre testing program Titre test pups at 7.5 weeks to assess their immunity to Parvo, Distemper and Infectious Hepatitis. This Titre level will offer a guide as to when the puppies will require their first vaccinations and will hopefully allow you to take your puppy out and about, with reduced risk, much sooner than normal.)
When ALL or ANY of the above points are neglected the result can be severe with puppies which are more likely to suffer from common, preventable, infectious diseases, painful or chronic inherited conditions, behavioral issues and shorter life spans.
It actually does not matter if you only breed just ONE litter, if you do not know what you are doing the puppies and their mothers are more at risk of any of the above happening.
Dog Breeding is a JOB just like any other
and should only be carried out by those with Guidance, TRAINING and EXPERIENCE in genetics and experience of animal welfare management practices which can only be obtained through educational courses COMBINED with actually being on the JOB.
Ultimately the more you breed any plant or animal, the more you will learn to understand how difficult breeding consistent quality can be let alone making improvements;
you will find out that NATURE will continually try to destroy all your efforts and so much is out of your direct control, but with experience and numbers, you will lean how to avoid the pitfalls and increase the chance you have for reducing or even hopefully preventing problems arising.
To protect YOU the public, we are continually learning and researching to improve what we do, but we are also inspected every six months by one of the most fastidious and stringent local Councils in the UK
We believe that in the UK, every BITCH, her puppies and their new owners, should also have this same high level of protection.
Therefore we lobby constantly for ONE LAW which covers ALL dog breeders.
How do you Identify a REAL Puppy Farm?
On appointment, even at short notice, we will show you our entire set up. Every room in the house, and building on the property. Our dogs are happy and healthy.
See our YouTube Video Channel.
You will NOT find dogs in the condition or situation seen on the following link.
Not only is keeping your animals like you see below it is against the LAW and certainly detrimental to the animals ability to provide you life enjoyment and income and staying in business for 30 years, therefore it is tantamount to professional suicide.
Current Legislation is not enough
Despite new regulations coming out the Government is still not doing enough.
Firstly, EDUCATION is essential, hence our detailed website.
We believe, that in the UK, every BITCH, her puppies and their new owners, should also have this same high level of protection that is forced on volume breeders and causes us to have a vastly incorrect stigma attached to our professionalism.
We also believe that everyone selling puppies should be subject to paying INCOME TAX on those puppy earnings however small.
Therefore we and many other breeders (hobby and licensed commercial) will continue to lobby constantly for ONE LAW which covers ALL dog breeders.
