Third Party Puppy Sales
Where you get a puppy from – and how they are born and raised, has a huge impact on their future health, happiness and quality of life.
We support the proposed ban on third party puppy sales (sales by pet shops and traders who have not bred the puppy). By itself, however, a ban cannot tackle all the complex problems associated with puppy trading. To ensure better pet welfare, effective regulations, enforcement and guidance must be also in place at the same time to avoid legal loopholes in areas such as licensing all breeders, rescue and rehoming centres and the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS). We also wish to see improved public information about choosing and buying pets, along with minimum advertising standards to increase demand for animals that are properly bred and well-reared, at the expense of irresponsible traders.
Issues affecting puppy sales
Third party sales largely refer to puppies sold by pet shops and other traders who have not bred the puppy. While sales in this way can seriously affect the welfare of the puppy, there are multiple issues with the UK puppy trade currently. However, simply banning third party sales without considering and acting on these other issues could at best not solve the problem, and at worst create additional welfare issues.
Issues affecting purchasing puppies and kittens include:
Puppies and kittens being bred in unsuitable conditions leading to health and welfare issues for pets and people.
Data from our PAW Report 2017 worryingly showed:
- 14% of dog owners would consider getting a puppy from a puppy farm
- 58% of dog owners and 66% of cat owners would consider getting a pet from a pet shop.
Puppies raised in a puppy farming environment have been shown to have significantly more behavioural issues. This impacts their overall long-term welfare, poses a public health risk (e.g. from increased risk of dog bites) and makes them less suitable as family pets.
Adult dogs used for breeding (both males and females) have been shown to have more health and behavioural issues following time spent in a puppy farming environment. There is also an increase in behavioural and emotional problems in adulthood, particularly aggression and fear, towards other dogs and people.
Transporting puppies and kittens to the place of sale can lead to stress and health issues.
The Dogs Trust’s report, ‘Puppy Smuggling – A Trade Ignored’, demonstrated through undercover investigations that puppies are being brought into the UK from as far away as eastern European countries such as Lithuania and Poland, enduring journeys of over 1,000 miles.
Prospective owners are unable to review the seller.
There are no regulations about what information should be shared with prospective owners via adverts for puppies and kittens so it is not possible to clearly understand where a pet has been bred. Efforts are made to educate owners to view puppies with their mother but there have been examples of disreputable sellers using dogs unrelated to the puppies, to mislead purchasers into believing a puppy has been bred at the site of sale.
Increase in puppies imported illegally from abroad.
Several reports have demonstrated the increase in illegal imports from outside of the UK (RSPCA’s ‘Pushing at an open door’, Dogs Trust’s ‘Puppy Smuggling – a Tragedy Ignored’ and ‘The Puppy Smuggling Scandal’) resulting in animal welfare issues.
Our PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report data has shown that:
- 79% of veterinary professionals reported they had seen an increase in pets imported from abroad in the last two years
- 27% of dog owners and 26% of cat owners said they would consider getting a pet who was imported from outside of the UK
Increase in ‘click and collect’ purchase of puppies online
Reports such as the Blue Cross and EU Dog and Cat Alliance’s ‘Online pet sales in the EU – What’s the cost?’ demonstrate an increase in pets bought online and discuss the issues associated with this. Issues include lack of regulation and minimum standards, prospective owners not thinking carefully about what type of pet is suitable for their lifestyle or not visiting the animal before purchasing.
Our PAW Report has shown that:
- 89% of veterinary professionals have seen an increase in pets sourced from internet adverts.
- 98% of veterinary professionals agreed online advertising of pets for sale should be regulated
- 38% of dog owners and 39% of cat owners would consider getting a pet from social media - e.g. Facebook, Twitter
- 51% of dog owners and 48% of cat owners said they would consider getting a pet from an online advert of a classified website - e.g. Gumtree, Preloved, Pets4Homes
Prospective owners unaware of how to purchase responsibly.
It is clear that a large proportion of prospective owners are still unaware of how to buy pets responsibly.
Our PAW reports have shown:
- Only 43% of dog owners would check that a puppy met the conditions in the Puppy Contract if they were to buy a puppy in the future
- 27% of dog owners would not choose to see the puppy in their home environment with their mother on more than one occasion
- 36% would not confirm that the premises or breeder were licensed
Research showed there was an association between not viewing a puppy with their mother and referral for canine behavioural issues later in life.
What else needs to be done?
As well as implementing a third party ban, we feel it is extremely important to also review and improve the following areas at the same time to fully deal with the above issues:
- Breeder licensing - All breeders to be licensed or have a licence number, even if the breeder has only had one litter. Without this clause, disreputable breeders would be able to operate below the threshold and local authorities would not be aware of their activities or be able to inspect them.
Regulation is required to license and inspect rescue and rehoming centres. These are currently unregulated and could be an outlet for disreputable breeders and sellers who could set up a bogus rescue or rehoming centre to ‘rehome’ puppies and kittens they have bred in exchange for a fee. A lack of regulation would enable them to effectively continue trading without being inspected or licensed.
Further regulation of breeding and genetic issues to prevent serious diseases such as extreme features such as flat-faces (brachycephaly) or inability to give birth naturally (dystocia) impacting pet welfare as a result of selective breeding. This could be greatly improved by regulating to protect the welfare of offspring when selecting potential parent animals to breed from. - Enforcement - There remain many issues with the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) including significant lack of enforcement of current regulations at points of entry into the UK. Puppies and kittens are being smuggled into the UK, using false paperwork. One major issue here is the age at which puppies and kittens are allowed to enter the UK. In 2012 the waiting period before entering the UK following rabies vaccination was reduced from six months to 21 days for dogs and cats, leading to an increase in puppies and kittens entering the UK. If the waiting period following rabies vaccination was increased to 8-12 weeks then the overall age of pets entering the UK would increase. The Dogs Trust reports (Puppy Smuggling – A Tragedy Ignored, and The Puppy Smuggling Scandal) contain much more information and evidence on these PETS issues.
- Advertising standards - Changes are needed to ensure minimum standards are put in place and adhered to (e.g. the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) minimum standards) and all adverts include the breeder’s licence number even if the breeder has only produced one litter.
- Many more efforts are required to work collaboratively to help educate prospective owners and create awareness with the general public, on how to responsibly purchase a pet – and the other options available such as rehoming. Ultimately giving potential owners the best chance of making the right decision when taking on a new pet.