Battery Farmed Dogs (aka Puppy Farming): where has your dog come from?

You might have already seen TV and radio reports about our Battery Farmed Dogs campaign, launched today. This is the next stage of the years of campaigning we have done against puppy farming, designed to inform the public and press for better licensing control and enforcement.

You can find out more about the campaign online, but to summarise, here's what you can do to help support us:

Be aware when you're buying a dog

We have a detailed guide for anyone wanting to buy a 'cruelty-free' dog who doesn't know what to look out for. You'll find it right here.

Write to your Local Authority about suspicious pet vendors

If there’s a pet shop, garden centre or other pet vending premises in your area where you feel the standard of care for the animals is inadequate we recommend that you contact your Local Authority. Local Authorities are responsible for the licensing of pet vending premises and should inspect any that they receive complaints about.

Below is a download of a draft letter that can be finished off and sent to your Local Authority to highlight your concerns. This should be addressed to the Chief Environmental Officer.

A list of Local Authorities can be found at: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/org/la-data.do

• Download the draft letter

Tell us about your experiences

Did you buy your dog from an advert on the internet or in a newspaper, from a pet shop, garden centre or superstore? Many of these are supplied by battery farms and you might have found that your puppy has had health or behavioural problems as a result of being bred in this way.

Contact details and what to include in your email are on this page (we might need to get back in touch, so please use the email address on the page linked to rather than commenting here!).

Dogs Trust Statement: Channel 5 puppy farming report

The following statement is in response to the first part of the ongoing Channel 5 report into puppy farming.

Dogs Trust was really disturbed by the special report about puppy farming on Channel Five last night, but sadly not shocked. We believe a more accurate term for this type of ‘business’ is battery farmed dogs – something that is completely unacceptable in 2009.

The charity is actively campaigning in a number of ways to help to prevent dogs being bred for profit with no regard for their welfare:

• Dogs Trust is focused on making members of the public aware of where they should and shouldn’t buy a puppy from. Through our ‘Stop Puppy Harming’ literature we explain the issues of buying a dog from a pet store or a classified advert. Unfortunately some dog lovers still feel they are ‘rescuing a puppy’ by buying it from a puppy farm or a squalid pet store – we are working hard on explaining that they are only fuelling demand for further puppy farmed dogs
• We apply pressure on licensing councils to explain their inspection and licensing processes and advise them appropriately
• We are lobbying MPs and AMs to change the existing pet vending legislation which allows puppies to be sold in pet stores
• We are in regular dialogue with MPs and the Animal Welfare minster about the compulsory microchipping of all dogs which would allow puppies bred on puppy farms to be traced to their source. As many of these puppies suffer from infectious disease or inherited defects, the tracing of such puppies is essential to enable Trading Standard officers to act under the Sale of Goods Act
• We work with other welfare organisations such as the RSPCA and support prosecutions of any puppy farm found to be acting illegally
• Dogs Trust is a member of the Pet Advertising Advisory Group which is promoting the responsible sale of pets through classified advertising both online and in print