Puppy farming and the journey to greener pastures.

'Puppy farms'. If you have a dog, have ever had a dog, know someone with a dog or you even know what a dog is, you've probably heard of 'Puppy Farms'. Lets face it, it's hard not to have. But have you ever bought a puppy farm pup? No! I hear you say. But the sad fact is, you could have and you may not even know it. For example, I have. My oldest girl is the product of one of these farms, albeit a small time one, as far as we know. Still a puppy farm, in all it's glory though. At the time it seemed a slightly clueless breeder, perhaps morally lacking, but in hindsight, (which is the clearest form of sight!) it's quite obvious what was going on.

When Buffy came to us, she was younger than her papers suggested, (which are real papers, but certainly not hers!), she was underweight, kept in dirty conditions, with 3 or 4 other breeds on location, she was filthy, poorly socialised, full of worms, eating incorrectly (they weren't weaned properly) and had never seen the outside world or a toy in her short life. In the short time you view a pup, things can be smoothed over.
Thankfully our story has happy ending, but thousands and thousands of people end up with a puppy farm dog and the consequences can be heartbreaking for the owner and fatal for the puppy. Due to the conditions and lack of care, many of these dogs carry life threatening diseases.

So you may be thinking you don't have to worry about puppy farms, you simply won't buy a popularly farmed breed, you'll make sure it has papers, you won't buy from any breeder in Wales, you'll make sure it comes from a nice family home, with a normal amount of dogs/puppies. Well you can forget those stereotypes right away, because puppy farmers are smart, despite the incredibly stupid and cruel things they do. Not all puppy farmers are Welsh (and not all Welsh breeders are puppy farmers!). Not all of them run via a huge 3 acre farm with 1,000 Beagles on it. Some appear to be nice, normal, family homes. There in lies the danger.

The Kennel Club is at the forefront of the battle against puppy farms and lists the following as red light indicators to walk away; What to do to ensure YOU don't buy a puppy farm pup!

So if you have a suspicion that the puppies you've gone to view are less than kosher? Walk away and call your local pet charity, the RSPCA is a good place to start. If the breeder is operating under the KC, or at least claiming to, it's worthwhile contacting them too. The temptation may be to 'rescue' that puppy, but all you're doing is allowing the breeder to continue producing more puppies and letting yourself in for some serious heartache. If you think you've already bought a puppy from a puppy farm, it's never too late. Have your puppy health checked and contact the RSPCA anyway, better late than never and have them check out the puppies location. It won't make your puppies start to life right, but it could save hundreds more the same cruelty and injustice.

There are things you can do to make sure the puppy/dog you get is from a good place; Check with the KC about their accredited breeder scheme, thoroughly research both your chosen breed and your chosen breeder and you can always consider a rescue dog, the Dogs Trust and Oldies Club are both amazing rehoming based charities, the RSPCA usually has many dogs and puppies available for rehoming and local shelters are normally brimming with puppies and dogs waiting for a second chance.

To learn more about the Kennel Club's campaign to end puppy farming, go here, you'll be able to find out more about the cause and learn how you can help :)

There isn't going to be an end to puppy farming overnight, it's a journey, a process that's been in action for years already and may take many more, but it's a fight worth being involved in and slowly but surely things will get better!

Good luck if you're on a journey to find your perfect pup, we hope you find them soon.

Love & licks as ever,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe and Lily.
xo