Having cleared a request to post about a campaign with the other mods... I want to mention the Battersea campaign launched this month against back street breeding, in case people might be interested in taking a look. http://www.endbackstreetbreeding.org.uk/#take-action It has the straightforward and simple aims of trying to get two things on the political agenda: 1) A ban on the sale of puppies under eight weeks’ old. 2) The introduction of a required breeding licence for any household producing two or more litters per year. While I'm not a fan of over regulating any industry, the sale of puppies in the UK has pretty much no specific legislation controlling these sales (apart from general consumer law). Given the heartache that can be caused to families who buy puppies that haven't had the best start, and the animal welfare considerations generally, I support these two aims. The devil (and avoiding unintended consequences and allowing for exceptional circumstances) would be in the detail of any legislation, of course, but that would come later. At this high level principle level, I'll be mentioning this to my MP. Thanks very much. Julie
Re: Ban back street breeding It's appalling that in the 21st Century that indiscriminate breeding for money still occurs. I know what I'd like to do these breeders! Hopefully lots of forum members will sin to lobby their MP.
Re: Ban back street breeding Though I don't have much faith with my MP - she always toes the party line and her letters say nothing!
Re: Ban back street breeding Signed and submitted. I know my local MP through the work I do with under privileged children and families. I will also speak to him about this when I meet with him next week
Re: Ban back street breeding I have signed and submitted. I will pass the link on to my kids to sign and I'm pretty sure they will also pass it on. Dogs are living creatures, not inanimate objects. Thanks for advertising this link.
Re: Ban back street breeding I did it on FB and the post took you to a form and it automatically selected your local counsellor presumably from your postcode. I assume this one is the same.
Re: Ban back street breeding [quote author=Kirriegirl link=topic=10098.msg147832#msg147832 date=1425663770] Hmm I wonder if this is a devolved issue - not sure who to contact :-\ [/quote] If this is an animal welfare issue, legislation is already devolved to Scotland. If a consumer protection issue, it will be devolved in the future. So either way, it's best to view it as devolved. Hopefully the form will suggest your Scottish MP if you choose to fill it in.
Re: Ban back street breeding I emailed my MP a couple of weeks ago asking for him to take an active interest in a dog rèlated issue and he didn't even bother to reply.
Re: Ban back street breeding Bah. He doesn't deserve your vote then. My MP always replies. I write to him a lot. Only sometimes using purple ink and capital letters. He doesn't seem to do much though. But I live in hope.
Re: Ban back street breeding Ok sorry hadn't checked the link from my phone. I assume it will go to my MSP as a welfare issue. I have emailed him before about things and always get an interesting dialogue going. Shame that this isn't the norm :
Re: Ban back street breeding I had emailed to highlight dog thefts and the low response a dog theft got. Just wait until he does door to door vote begging!!
Re: Ban back street breeding [quote author=Jane Martin link=topic=10098.msg147905#msg147905 date=1425678714] Just wait until he does door to door vote begging!! [/quote] ;D ;D ;D Oh yes. Our time will come.... ;D ;D ;D
Re: Ban back street breeding I very much support the sentiment, especially the sale of overly young puppies, though I have to say I did not think this was a huge problem here in the UK. But I am a bit confused about what the licensing part will achieve, though I guess that will depend on the terms of the license. And I'm not sure about the term backstreet breeding. How are we defining 'backstreet'? The blurb on the page with a bitch being bred from over and over refers presumably to puppy farms. But puppy farms already have to be licenced (I think it is five litters or more a year) with the local council, and that hasn't stopped them. I am not someone who thinks breeding should be left to so called breeders, as I am pretty skeptical about the path they have taken pedigree dogs down so far, and am not against families breeding from a pet if they have done their homework properly and had their dogs properly health checked. I personally feel that pedigree dogs would benefit more from the KC refusing to register puppies whose parents are not health tested with appropriate results, and through a more responsible approach to the monitoring of breed standards that allow dogs with disabilities to be bred from. Nor do I think it is particularly shocking for people to breed dogs for money, IF the dogs are loved and well cared for. I think we need to focus on the welfare of the dogs rather than second guessing the motives of the breeder. And by eliminating or putting off the smaller breeder (if that is what the terms of the licence will do), are we helping the gene pool? It is certainly an interesting topic, but I need to think a bit more before I sign, and to understand the terms of the proposed license
