Puppy Farms

Woof!

Hello, no story about me today, instead I'm having a nose about the growing concern of puppy farms. These are horrible places where poor mummy dogs are kept in disgusting conditions and forced to bear litter after litter of puppies to supply to people, and more worrying, a large majority of pet shops. The Welsh government has announced plans to revise the Breeding of Dogs Act of 1973 to ensure all breeders in Wales are responsible, and more importantly that the dogs and puppies in their care are treated fairly and humanely, this is fantastic news due to a large proportion of puppy farming taking place in Wales.

A puppy farm is one of the worse places a dog could be in, most are dirty, damp, and also provide no outside living space, some farms have even been found to keep the poor animals in complete darkness all day and night long. Due to living conditions in these vile places disease and infection is rife, puppies are forced to live in cramped conditions, normally in small concrete cells, they live, sleep, and eat around their own filth as they have nowhere to escape it, this of course causes illness and many pups may not even survive their time there. Sadly, many puppies do die whilst in these horrid conditions, and if that wasn't awful enough, the lonely little bodies are normally left in the cells, that's right, not only do other pups have to deal with the filth, but they also have to comprehend the lost of siblings and live with their dead bodies in the tiny cages.

The puppies born into a farm really do not have much chance of a happy life, if one is lucky enough not to die or get very poorly from the conditions it's more than likely they will have psychological issues. This could range from severe aggression to complete fearfulness because the puppies are not use to the real world and have trust issues with humans as they have been treated so badly. Many farmed puppies also have underlying genetic health problems as the importance to ensure healthy breeding from the parentage is lacked and many genetic problems occur due to this. Some farms have been found to have over 150 animals on the premises, and once a mummy dog can't have any more pups they are usually abandoned or even worse, killed by the breeders, and that is not always done by putting them to sleep, I'll let you imagine the worse the breeders could do to kill a dog they don't want any more.

The most tragic thing of puppy farming is that it is not illegal. Anyone can start one up, and with clever administration run one of these evil places. Hopefully the Welsh assembly will pass the new legislation that would govern all breeders in Wales to register, have their dogs microchipped and also to have no one person in charge of more than 20 dogs. These are only small steps of course, but it's a start. It should announced in the next few days if their plans are going ahead, and if successful will be in practice by March next year.

Hopefully this has explained a bit about the horrors of puppy farming, and one day I'd like to see it banned completely, no pup should live like that and it makes me feel very lucky to have the life I have. Things we can all do to help it along is to not buy from these breeders or pet shops, if you want a puppy find a small breeder or rescue centre, if buying from a breeder always see the mummy dog with her puppies, and if possible their daddy dog too, also check the Kennel Club to ensure that if you're buying a pedigree then that is what you are getting. I've added a link to this blog biscuit to the Puppy Love Campaign who are a charity fighting the puppy farms, it has a lot of information and news on the subject, it also includes leaflets and posters for you to pass around to others to spread the word of this heinous world of puppy farming. As their campaign motto says- We have a choice, they don't.

Puppy Love and Kisses

Dexy Do Dah Dog

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Puppy Love Campaign- http://www.puppylovecampaigns.org/

Please help in anyway you can, thank you :)