Posts about puppy litters on the forum: Please read before posting Posting pictures and stories about a bitch and her litter of puppies is a natural part of any dog community. Like most pet forums we don't allow people to advertise puppies for sale, but we do currently allow forum members to post pictures of puppies that they have bred. This can create a dilemma for the forum management who care deeply about the welfare of our breed, because the interests of the two principles (posting pictures of puppies V no advertising) are in conflict with one another. This is a topic the moderation and admin team have been discussing for a while now. When a long standing member of a forum breeds from their dog, we are all keen to see how he or she gets on, to follow the story of the pregnancy and to watch the puppies grow and develop. It is in many ways a great privilege to do so. Our team are all agreed that we don’t wish to prevent forum members from doing this or to deprive members of the opportunity to watch the litter growing up. However, there is of course another side to the coin. Posting pictures of a beautiful litter of puppies on a busy forum filled with dog lovers, is an excellent form of advertising. Even if it is not intended as such. And we have to consider our responsibility to encourage healthy breeding practices both to protect forum members from potentially disastrous purchases of sick puppies, and to promote the long-term health of our breed. For this reason, we have decided to add this short advisory notice to the first post of any threads about puppy litters. This is what the notice will look like. We will try to add this notice to ALL puppy litter threads, as soon as they are brought to our attention.
Would it help if i stated "I PROMISE ON OATH THAT I WILL NOT SELL ANY OF MY PUPPIES TO ANYONE ON THIS FORUM"... I really hope this is now cleared up. Please inform me if there is something else i have forgotten!
Hi Tullimore, I appreciate that this may feel personal, but I assure you it is not. You are not the first person to make a mistake and you won't be the last. I am very sorry that you find yourself in this position. But we can't possibly ask all puppy litter posters to make promises.. we needed a solution for everyone. This is a policy for the long term,and although it was your post that raised this issue, we had to bear in mind that this situation will almost certainly arise again in the future. This notice will be posted on all future litter threads, not just yours. I think that you are in a very tough situation, but I have to think about all those reading puppy threads, and those who are perhaps looking for a puppy to join their family. Not just about those putting the threads up. We have members here, several of them, who have purchased puppies without health clearances and who now have dogs with permanent disabling health conditions. I myself was in the same situation many years ago with a spaniel who was crippled before her first birthday. So you see this is a topic very close to my heart. I genuinely do not want to upset anyone, but I don't think anyone should ever buy a Labrador puppy without basic health clearances, and I would be most uncomfortable to think someone had obtained such a puppy through this forum. On balance, we think this is probably the best option for dealing with this issue. The only alternative is to ban puppy litter threads altogether. Testing is not a guarantee of a healthy puppy but it greatly swings the odds in your favour. My personal view is that the Kennel Club should stop registering puppies without health clearances, rather than passing responsibility on to puppy buyers and those who support them. But that is a whole other story. I do wish you and your puppies all the best, and I am sorry that you are upset. Pippa
Hi, I am trying to find the correct place/site to find help with either adopting or buying a lab pup. Can you please guide me to a correct one please?
Hi Ilya, welcome to the forum! Why not start by taking a look at the puppy area on our main site, it has lots of useful resources and information about finding a Labrador, written by Pippa and the team Good luck with your search - let us know when you're successful!
