Puppy Farms and Dealers
Puppy Farms and Dealers - An overview of a situation feeding off the misery of Dogs
Perhaps the most controversial subject within the doggy world and one which can capture your emotions as well as your interest.
We have all seen the photos, news reports, and publicity surrounding this subject so it needs no introduction when talked about. The reason I'm dedicating a page to this topic is to highlight the expansion of this trade which is currently affecting the UK in many areas of dog breeding.
A huge battle being fought by the likes of the RSPCA to find and locate the source of Chihuahua puppies entering the UK predominantly from Wales and Ireland which is regarded as Europe's capital of puppy farming. Not having the restrictions and control that we see here in the UK opens a door to unregulated dog breeding on a huge scale. A recent report showed 1 breeder had 700 breeding females and 300 Chihuahua puppies on their premises when they were visited by the authorities. You are probably thinking numbers which agreed are hugely excessive but the real concern here is animal welfare which is where the RSPCA come in but being a charity they rely on donations to keep running so this is one service we don't want to see cut in these testing times.
What also was discovered amongst these puppy farm investigations were the amount of pups coming to the UK via a dealer or directly to resellers. Pretty much like a shop buying from the manufacturer and then selling on to the public. What this equates to is Chihuahua puppies being offered to you the public by fake breeders and pet shops who have no idea who or what the pups parents are, no idea on their state of health or inherited illnesses or deformities, and no idea of the conditions they were kept in, especially as most of these never see day light or get any human interaction. Obviously this is not in the interest of the health of our dogs or any genuine breeders as the money and time we spend improving our breed is cancelled out by the amount of sub standard Chihuahua puppies circulating the UK which will obviously be bred from thus introducing any defects and illnesses back into bloodlines. This is why in earlier pages i say good pups ultimately come from good honest breeders, something my site criticizes so much as finding one is as hard and important as finding the right pup. We can all play a part in this fight especially here in the UK as those of you who are avid visitors to various breeders websites will notice yourselves if anything doesn't seem right. If the breeder has a website selling puppies then they are a business so you will undoubtedly see a regular change of puppies available which is expected, but if your instincts tell you that something just isn't right like patterns are becoming apparent, especially websites where the pups are always ready now. Dealers buy pups and then advertise them immediately as ready now on there websites, genuine breeders will advertise pups before they are ready to leave usually atleast 4-6 weeks before. Puppy Dealers as with Puppy Farms deal in multiple breeds of dogs so have no passion for one in particular but seek to profit from what is popular at that time. There are many genuine show breeders who show and breed multiple breeds so not all can be tarnished with the same brush.
If things don't seem right then make a call to their local Environmental Health and Animal Welfare Department to express your concerns. You are not causing any genuine breeders any trouble if you have got it wrong as they have nothing to fear but you may just have got it right so this will ultimately be a good thing. Most authorities haven't the time money or man power to do this so this is where everyone can help no matter how small in the fight against this trade.
If you feel or know that this is happening in your area then contacting any necessary authorities must be addressed.