may 2024
May Blog – Don’t be part of the Puppy trade
Puppy farms have been around for many years originating in the post-world war II era. Since the pandemic and the increase in dog ownership, there has been an explosion of puppy farms across the UK and Ireland. Unfortunately, until online selling of animals is regulated, we will continue to see the horrors of commercial and irresponsible breeding practices affecting the health and welfare of the dogs and puppies. All dogs deserve a good life and we need to fight back and educate others to help stamp out this cruel practice. When we think of puppy farms, it is hard to imagine them operating on our doorstep. One such puppy farm raid in Wales was highlighted in a BBC documentary just before the pandemic. The article can be found at the end of the blog, but please be warned of the distressing content.
What Happens to the Breeding Dogs?
Does anyone really think about the parent dogs that remain in those hellholes for the rest of their short lives? Then discarded when they can no longer produce litters of puppies? When buying from a puppy farmer or seller, it’s not about saving that puppy, only creating a space for more.
It is a well-known fact that dogs on puppy farms are severely neglected with infections, rotten teeth, matted coats and other painful conditions and diseases. The female dogs are bred from each time they come into season to maximise the profits. Some are bred from the age of 6 months. These poor dogs live in their own waste in cramped sheds and outbuildings. They are often killed inhumanely when no longer useful and replaced with more young dogs. The ‘lucky’ ones are usually abandoned with rescues picking up the pieces.
Many online adverts often show a different picture with photos of happy and healthy puppies running around. Sadly, it is so easy to upload photos from other sources so you cannot be certain they are genuine. Unless you visit the breeder, there is no way of knowing where the puppy has come from.
Lucy’s Law
The government has done very little to regulate online selling despite our hugely successful campaign. Unfortunately, until things change, dumping responsibility on the buyers will continue so please be vigilant and do your research. There is lots of advice on how to buy a puppy safely from the RSPCA, Dogs Trust and other organisations.
Remember the 10 golden rules on our FB page if you are thinking of buying a puppy – first, always visit to see the puppy in the place he or she was born. Lucy’s law came into force in 2020, which means banning third party puppy sales. Therefore, the purchase of a puppy must be direct from the breeder in the place they were born. However just a quick check on some of selling sites shows that there are many loopholes in this law allowing unscrupulous breeders to widely advertise.
Welsh Puppy Farm
So for everyone who thinks it is okay to buy a puppy from a puppy farmer, please think about what you are leaving behind.
To conclude this blog, this beautiful but sad verse written in 1996 still rings true today:
A Cry in The Dark
Not born to run through fields of gold, here to breed and puppies sold.
No room to turn inside this crate, wasted body, only here to mate.
No arms to hold my weakened head. A desolate barn, no permanent bed.
Never to run through woods of umber, puppies sired with countless number.
Tiny bodies with faults untold, sold for profit, from sordid fold.
My amber eyes are blind to light, my matted coat in dreadful plight.
No kind hand to caress my head, my babies are taken too soon instead.
No warm breeze upon my face. Help me to leave this cursed place.
My cry in the dark will not shield me from harm.
So turn and abhor the puppy farm.
Eileen Hersey 1996
https://www.peta.org.au/issues/exploit/puppy-farms-suffering/