Support the Kennel Club and responsible dog breeding

The Kennel Club wants to ensure that every dog’s life can be as happy and healthy as it can be, and to put an end to the unethical puppy farming trade. The best way to achieve this is by encouraging the responsible breeding of dogs and empowering potential puppy buyers to recognise which breeders are reputable and which ones they need to avoid.

The Kennel Club recognises that the vast majority of breeders care very deeply about the health and welfare of their animals. The Kennel Club wants to support these breeders – and to take action against those who are committed to less - in order to protect the health and welfare of all dogs in the UK.

We are taking action and we need you to do the same.

What we have done - the Kennel Club launched its Accredited Breeder Scheme in 2004 as a way of promoting responsible breeders to the public. There are now more than 4,000 Kennel Club Accredited Breeders across the country and the number is growing rapidly.

All Accredited Breeders must agree to follow a set of requirements which encourage the breeding of healthy, well-adjusted puppies. Breeders must make use of health screening schemes, relevant to their specific breed, on any dog being bred from.

They must observe Kennel Club policy on the number and frequency of litters which should be bred from a dog, as well as the minimum age of a dog used for breeding. Dogs to be bred from must also be permanently identified by a DNA profile, microchip or tattoo and all Accredited Breeders agree to allow an Accredited Breeder Advisor access to inspect their premises. This process has so far resulted in almost 500 people being removed from the Scheme or resigning from it, for being unable to continue complying with the standards that the other 7,000 Accredited Breeders uphold.

The Future - The Accredited Breeder Scheme is entirely voluntary and the Kennel Club cannot force people to raise their breeding standards, when required, without government support. This petition is asking government to make the principles and standards of the Accredited Breeder Scheme mandatory for every breeder - because we don’t believe good breeding practice should be a matter of choice. We are not asking people to join the Scheme – but to support the principles behind it.

If, with your assistance, we can gain government support for this proposal, it would mean that anyone breeding a dog would have to follow responsible standards in order to breed dogs. Anyone not following these standards would then fall outside of the law. This would be a vital step in the Kennel Club’s campaign to ensure that every dog’s life is as happy and healthy as it can be.