Let’s imagine the situation. You are one of the million people in the UK that are buying a puppy every year. You’ve done your homework, read up on all the advice and are excitedly looking up licensed breeders (because you’d never buy from an unlicenced breeder and you will always adopt if you can…)

According to the law, licensed breeders must comply with rules - a recognised set of ongoing checks, inspections and scrutiny by local authority inspectors, to fulfil the central purpose of safeguarding animal welfare.  

 A local authority-issued dog breeding licence should provide buyers with the reassurance that their chosen puppy has had the best start in life. The majority of those who apply for a licence to breed dogs use it to demonstrate that their business operates within the law.   

But as our new report reveals, there’s a problem, and it has led to a postcode lottery of enforcement around dog breeding licences.  

While many good breeders are being licensed, the system is potentially allowing unscrupulous breeders to operate with unjustified and inadequately verified legitimacy, placing welfare at risk and weakening credibility of the entire licensing system.    

We’ve identified inadequate oversight by local authority inspectors around licence renewals, evidenced by low inspection efforts in comparison to high numbers of public complaints and a reticence to undertake enforcement actions that deter non-compliance. Passive administration and oversight have seemingly replaced active enforcement.   

Buyers expect that a licenced breeder holds a badge of good practice and high welfare standards, integral to providing reassurances about the right puppy-buying choices. But our new report shows this is not the case.   

There are, however, some local authorities going above and beyond to safeguard animal welfare through increased compliance checks and inspections, but many are doing the minimum necessary and some are not even doing that.    

If the system isn’t working, then there are consequences, affecting a much wider range of people. Dogs bred in facilities with an enforcement blind spot are more likely to be sick and have shorter lifespans, causing expense and heartache for the families that bring them into their homes and lifetime of suffering for the animals. 

We need an urgent review of the system; otherwise, potential puppy buyers will see it as less valuable and gravitate towards the unlicenced sector. The Bill to stop puppy smuggling progressing through Parliament will stop the current flood of animals being shipped into the UK. It’s a crucial measure to combat illegal puppy imports, but it will also create higher demand from UK breeders (both licensed and unlicensed) to address the shortfall in demand for puppies. Even more reason why the licensing system must be fixed urgently.    

Key to that is creating more joined-up enforcement, with strategically located pools of animal welfare expertise that can be drawn on by local authorities as and when needed, rather than having to service that need individually and locally.   

At present, and with some notable exceptions, it is not an overstatement to say that the dog breeding licencing system is being administered rather than enforced. Protecting animals from suffering should never be a matter of chance or postcode. The British public must have trust in the systems that are supposed to safeguard   animal welfare, and right now, they simply can’t.