At Last! Puppy Farmers are Unmasked (Thanks to the Bateson Report)

Ryan O'Meara on February 10, 2010

Well, the dust has settled on the hotly anticipated Bateson report in to dog breeding.

Regular readers may have noticed, I’ve been pretty quiet since its
publication – the reason? Well, it seemed logical to me to take the
time to digest both it and the responses to it from the people who are
in position to actually do something on the back of its findings.
Whilst I don’t want to use this column to speak about the Bateson
report in general detail, I do want to focus on an element that I
believe has gone largely unnoticed, and certainly received little
attention – Professor Bateson, finally, gave us all a definition of
what, precisely, a puppy farmer is in terms we can all
understand.Hidden away in the definitions section of the Bateson report
is a little, as yet unlit, stick of dynamite.

For years now, this magazine has asked ‘What exactly IS a puppy farmer?’

Is there a magic number at which point someone goes from being ‘responsible breeder’ to ‘puppy farmer’?

Well, it would seem there is!

The Kennel Club has been vocal in criticising puppy farming. Rightly
so. Puppy farms are a disgrace and the very fact that they appear to
show no signs of decline suggests we have much work to do in terms of
ending their vile existence.

As we’ve pointed out before, the Kennel Club, whilst vocally opposing
puppy farming, actually takes money from the very people who profit
from this sick trade.

It points to its Accredited Breeder Scheme as the ‘best’ place for people to go if they want to avoid the puppy farmers.

So, it may come with a sting to have learned – if anyone actually
noticed – that the good Professor, the man the Kennel Club (and Dogs
Trust) empowered to conduct the report in to dog breeding has actually
given us that magical number that now enables us to label a breeder as
a stone cold puppy farmer.

By now, you’re probably wondering what the figure is?

How many litters – per year – do you need to be breeding before you tip the scale from ‘responsible’ to ‘dog farmer’.

And here it is. Written in to the definitions of the Bateson report:

Dog farm: Any establishment breeding dogs which, by virtue of the
numbers of bitches/ litters involved, falls under the licensing
provisions of the Breeding of Dogs Act.

Ahhh. So, not quite got that EXACT number yet.

Not to worry…

Under the Breeding of Dogs Act, a person falls under the licensing provisions if:

(3) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, where—

(a) a person keeps a bitch at any premises at any time during any period of twelve months; and

(b) the bitch gives birth to a litter of puppies at any time during that period,

he shall be treated as carrying on a business of breeding dogs for
sale at the premises throughout the period if a total of four or more
other litters is born during the period to bitches falling within
subsection (4) of this section.

(4) The bitches falling within this subsection are—

(a) the bitch mentioned in subsection (3)(a) and (b) of this
section and any other bitches kept by the person at the premises at any
time during the period;

(b) any bitches kept by any relative of his at the premises at any such time;

(c) any bitches kept by him elsewhere at any such time; and

(d) any bitches kept (anywhere) by any person at any such time under a breeding arrangement made with him.

So there we have it. Black on white.

According to the Bateson report, the definition of a’dog farm’ / puppy
farm is any breeder who produces four or more litters per year.

Let’s put that in big letters – for clarity:

[center]Any breeder who produces four (or more) litters per year is defined as a dog farm / a puppy farmer.