My mother was delighted that there was a new animal welfare act that had been introduced, that would protect breeding dogs, I told her that I had not heard of such a thing and decided to look into it, so on my last visit to Wales I asked a few contacts to see if less licences for the puppy farms had been granted, and found the answer to be no (which does not surprise me at all), although there was an animal welfare act that had been passed.
Some years ago my mother thought she would open a boarding kennels. She asked the environmental health department (who do the licensing of all kennels) what she would need. We had big barns with electricity and running water near. She thought we’d put pens inside the barns and walk the dogs a few times a day.
She was told she must follow the rules have kennels of a certain size with indoor out door runs which would be covered. She would also need a dog kitchen, and all the runs must be able to be hosed down, and there could be no wood inside the kennels. She could not afford this. I was out raged as all the puppy farms I had visited had none of these things, yet many were licensed, so this got me thinking, how could there be a rule for boarding kennels, where dogs only spend days in kennels, and yet not the same rule for breeding where many are born and die living there whole lives.
1) So that's the first point some one should take under their belt, get politicians interested and maybe some petitions up, scream and shout, for these puppy farm dogs living a life much, much worse than animals in zoos in third world countries (which the British public all are out raged about), yet this goes on each day.
2) If the puppy farmers had to have kennels as good as boarding kennels are supposed to be then dogs would see daylight, the kennels could be properly cleaned out, and best of all the puppy farmers would not afford to get it done as it would not be cost affective. They would only be allowed to keep 3 dogs maximum to a kennel and they could not afford to carry on!!!
My next problem is that everybody knows everybody here.
The dogs were in total darkness in pig pens. Dirty saw dust on the floor and shredded wet paper in upturned dustbins for beds. From what I could see the dog’s eyes were green and full of slime. I went back to the car disheartened. I mentioned it to my mother when she came back; she said they had bred dogs for some time to pay for the grand children's holidays. She said they were worried their licence would be turned down this time as it was a new person issuing it and they had heard of new laws coming in. But since then she tells me all had passed well, and they were delighted as they were all going off with the grandchildren to
My mother doesn’t seem to understand the filth and cruelty these dogs are going through, and by her own admission, she has never seen any dogs there even!
So the rules MUST change!
Once I was old enough, I worked at a boarding kennels in my school holidays, they display a license issued by the council to permit them to trade.
- Surely if all licences were issued to the premises not to the owner, but also a secondary one to the owner this would help greatly? I have learnt that when a puppy farmer is prosecuted and banned to breed they carry on under a family members name even on the same premises, that would not be able to happen if the rules were changed!
- The license should be issued by a vet from a different area, maybe a DEFRA vet. This could be funded by the licenses being a realistic cost. The money for the license could be re-cooperated by upping the boarding fees or if in a breeders/puppy farmers case, by upping the price of pups sold. This way the licences would be issued by a professional who was un-bias and able to spot problems and also able to make accurate statements for prosecutions.
I hope that has given you all food for thought and that you will understand action speak louder than words, so join forces and go for it now. I would suggest you talk to each other on dog forums and make a plan. Its really up to you all, their lives are sort of in your hands. The sad thing is that unless I get my words to people who will fight till the bitter end for these dogs, all will be for nothing. This has been going on for years and in my
This is the current law on dog breeding etc.... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1999/19990011.htm
I will be adding to this on at least a monthly basis, if you are interested please tell as many people as possible, and pass on the web sites details, as the more people who know, the better chance we have to put a stop to it!
Together we can stop scenes like this.....
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