The Independent Inquiry into dog breeding has been broadly welcomed by the Kennel Club which commissioned and funded the report, in conjunction with Dogs Trust.

The Kennel Club believes that good breeders have nothing to fear from the report. Professor Bateson recognises that ‘many breeders exercise the highest standards of welfare, are passionate about caring for their dogs properly and take great trouble to ensure that their puppies go to good homes.’ (Executive Summary) He congratulates these breeders and emphasises that they should be ‘rewarded in the market place and in the show ring’.

The report focuses on those breeders whose actions bring the rest of the responsible dog community into disrepute and this is an emphasis that the Kennel Club welcomes on behalf of all of those good breeders that it represents. It also focuses on both pedigree and cross breed dogs and how to therefore protect the health and welfare of all dogs.

The Kennel Club and Dogs Trust, as the two leading organisations devoted solely to dog welfare, have announced that they will now arrange a meeting with all relevant parties to discuss the detail of Professor Bateson’s report along with the issues raised in the APGAW and RSPCA reports into dog breeding and the practical aspects of the way forward.

Kennel Club comments on specific recommendations in the report: 

Advisory Council 

The Kennel Club is keen to harness as much knowledge as possible for the benefit of dogs so we welcome the principle of an advisory council whose members will work with the Kennel Club to advise on decisions about breeding and health.

A structure already exists in the form of the Kennel Club’s Dog Health Group, which recently replaced the former KC Breed Health and Welfare Strategy Group.  It now has a broader remit and additional independent experts. This group includes canine and human geneticists, veterinary surgeons and an epidemiologist.

The group, in its former guise, had already carried out a great deal of valuable work, not least in reviewing all breed standards and revising them where necessary with the agreement of the veterinary profession, liaising with breed clubs, proposing changes to the requirements of the Accredited Breeder Scheme and advising and directing the Kennel Club on various scientific and technical issues such as health screening and genetics policies.

The Kennel Club will use this group, in its new form, to move forward and individuals outside of the Kennel Club with appropriate expertise will be invited to sit on the group. Using the existing group will ensure continuity of progress and avoid unnecessary additional expense.

Lay members of the Kennel Club General Committee

We are very open to harnessing all expertise and opinions and the General Committee already has in its number a wide range of experienced dog experts such as breeders, veterinary surgeons, dog trainers, animal welfare charity trustees, educationalists, legal experts etc. However, it is the Kennel Club Dog Health Group, helped by its various Sub Groups, that directly and almost exclusively deals with the health and welfare concerns detailed in the Bateson report . The Kennel Club has already made it clear that it is happy to extend and welcome further outside involvement in that group, which is the appropriate forum for such representation, rather than the General Committee. 

Accredited Breeder Scheme 

We are glad that the report specifically recognises that the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme is the closest model to the kind of scheme that Professor Bateson believes to be ideal.  He also indicates that it has made a good start in its efforts to unite responsible breeders within the scheme, for the benefit of puppies and puppy buyers. We strongly believe that this is the model for moving forward and would like to see all responsible breeders becoming part of the scheme.

There are a number of minimum requirements that Professor Bateson identifies as being essential for an accredited breeder scheme and many of these the Kennel Club’s own scheme already fulfils. In particular, the Kennel Club is currently working towards independent UKAS accreditation, as suggested in the report.

There are some other recommendations for the scheme with which the Kennel Club is very happy to move forward and has already made progress in this direction. These recommendations are:

• All pre-mating tests for inherited diseases appropriate to the breed or breeds are undertaken on both parents – This is already central to the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme and all members must organise the required tests for their particular breed/breeds.
• No mating takes place if the tests indicate that it would be inadvisable in the sense that it is likely to produce welfare problems in the offspring and/or is inadvisable in the context of a relevant breeding strategy – Most members already are unequivocal about this and voluntarily apply the results that they receive from health tests in a positive way. However, we recognise that there is potential within the scheme for breeders not to be as judicious about this as they should be and we have now formulated a number of new proposed approaches to the issue which are currently under consideration and will be referred to the Dog Health Group for advice and hopefully early implementation.
• Any prospective purchaser is able to see the puppies with its mother – This is advice that the Kennel Club and all leading canine welfare organisations have been advocating for many years. It is highly unlikely that the mother of any puppies bred by an Accredited Breeder will not be available, however in order to ensure that there is no doubt whatsoever we will stress this point further in the Scheme Rules.
•  Every puppy is identified by microchip prior to sale – We completely agree with compulsory microchipping in principle and recognise the many beneficial effects that come from such a requirement. It is in recognition of the benefits of microchipping that we require that the breeding stock of all Accredited Breeders has to be microchipped or otherwise identified. We also accept that logistically the identification of puppies by microchip before sale, makes eminent sense. However we wish to consider the welfare perspective as it affects individual puppies. Before accepting that young puppies of all breeds should be microchipped before sale by Accredited Breeders, we first wish to have the collective support of the veterinary profession on the issue.  We believe that there are varying views within the profession on the welfare aspects of the ideal time for microchipping  If the veterinary profession collectively agrees that this makes welfare sense, then of course the Kennel Club will incorporate such a requirement into its scheme.
• All pre-sale tests on the puppy which are appropriate to the breed have been carried out – The Kennel Club will work with the veterinary profession to agree a standard set of checks for use by Members of our Accredited Breeder Scheme. Currently, there is no formally agreed standard about what tests are necessary even though it is very common for breeders to have puppies checked by a veterinary surgeon prior to sale. The Kennel Club will add recommended additional tests to certain breeds as appropriate and available.
• The scheme establishes clear written standards of management with regard to the housing, health, exercising, and socialising of all dogs on the premises managed by the existing breeder including establishing minimum staffing levels appropriate to the numbers of dogs involved - The Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme already applies such standards but recognises that the needs of puppies may vary substantially from one breed to another. (e.g. the staffing levels required for Saint Bernards are likely to be different to the staffing levels required for Chihuahuas.) We have been working with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and will formalise such standards which will form part of the formal accreditation which we are seeking over the coming months.
•  All relevant documentation connected with the puppy including inter alia advice on feeding and care, registration documents details of vaccinations etc are handed over to the purchaser at the time of sale. When an appropriate contract is available this should be signed by both parties –  Kennel Club Accredited Breeders are already required to fulfil this requirement. We recognise the difficulties in producing a contract of sale that is simple for both breeders and puppy buyers to understand and have produced an outline guide to this which has been used successfully for a number of years.
•  All assured breeders are inspected by duly appointed inspectors against the written standard either before or shortly after registration with the assurance scheme and regularly thereafter –All Kennel Club Accredited Breeders agree to routine inspection and we currently inspect the premises of all applicants that have bred on a constant or routine basis prior to their application being accepted. We believe that we already make more inspections than any other agency and that our policy of inspection and puppy buyer questionnaires is extremely rigorous. However we will take further advice from UKAS as regards the frequency of inspection required to gain UKAS accreditation
• Non compliance with the standard of the scheme results in deregistration – Our Accredited Breeder Scheme has a robust mechanism for dealing with those who do not comply with our standards and already more than 300 breeders have either been suspended or have left the scheme as they have been unable to fulfil our requirements
• If accolades are awarded to any breeder under an accredited Breeder Scheme they should apply clearly and solely to the provision of higher welfare standards – High welfare standards are the very foundations upon which the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme is built and every member must apply high welfare standards in order to remain part of the scheme. We do not believe that it would be sensible to give further accolades for welfare – membership of the scheme itself is accolade enough on that count. Our accolade system provides important indicators to puppy buyers who want to choose a breeder that meets their additional aspirations and expectations and is an additional tool to providing assistance in making these most important choices.

Local Authorities and Puppy Farming

The Kennel Club welcomes the view that Local Authorities should be given additional resources and training in order to ensure that they can effectively fulfil their obligation to give and revoke breeding licences in accord with welfare standards. The Kennel Club agrees that there is a great variation in the ability of Local Authorities effectively to fulfil this role and thinks that this is enabling many puppy farmers to continue their immoral trade unchecked.

The Kennel Club does feel that the report could have gone further in terms of dealing with those irresponsible breeders who fall outside of any control because they are not part of the KC Accredited Breeder Scheme and because they breed less than five litters per year, so are consequently outside of Local Authority control. The Kennel Club would have liked to have seen some form  of statutory control introduced over  these breeders which is why it recently handed a 15,000 strong petition into Downing Street, asking that welfare principles, similar to those used by Kennel Club Accredited Breeders, be made a statutory requirement for all breeders.

It is clearly hoped that legislation can be brought in over time that will help to address these breeders, but in the meantime it is clear that the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme is seen as the best way to ensure higher welfare standards. The Kennel Club welcomes Professor Bateson’s idea that those who are part of the scheme may be subject to ‘reduced levels of Local Authority control’ as an incentive for responsible breeders to join the scheme. We are also pleased that Professor Bateson states that licensing ‘enforcement authorities should be able to take account of accredited status under an appropriately enforced and audited accreditation scheme’.  We believe that augurs well for the future of the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme.

Inbreeding

The Kennel Club has long recognised that genetic diversity plays a crucial role in safeguarding the health of dogs and the report recognises that the Kennel Club has already banned very close matings. However, the Kennel Club thinks that the report was right only to suggest Professor Bateson’s broad guidelines on matings and that decisions should be based upon scientific knowledge and be made on a breed by breed basis. We also believe it was right not to suggest that the Kennel Club should introduce any further blanket rules across all breeds.

The Kennel Club’s primary consideration is that healthy dogs are mated and the healthy genes are passed down through the gene pool. Our new Mate Select programme which is now being developed will help breeders to find suitable mating pairs, which are most likely to produce healthy offspring.  It is hoped that in the longer term this will also be able to be used on an advisory basis to achieve a slowing up of any gene pool attrition.

Dog Showing

The report highlights the importance of public education in order to combat the worst excesses of poor breeding practice. The Kennel Club believes that the show ring is the best forum for this and is glad that the report recognises that ‘dog showing and judging are a powerful lever for change’. The Kennel Club is dedicated to ensuring that only the healthiest dogs are rewarded at shows and is particularly pleased that DFS Crufts 2010 will be televised on More4 so as to demonstrate the valuable contribution that dog shows play in improving the health and welfare of dogs. It is –pleasing to note that Professor Bateson, on being questioned on this at the launch of his report, confirmed his view that such a broadcast can be sensibly used to educate the puppy buying public.

The Kennel Club is also pleased that the report recognised the ‘considerable effort that the Kennel Club has made in the education and training of judges’. The Kennel Club is already working on Professor Bateson’s recommendation that judges are given continual professional development and runs judges education programmes in order to ensure that they judge to the highest welfare standards.

Prevalence data on dog diseases

The Kennel Club agrees that in order to move forward and to continue improving dog health much more comprehensive data is required about canine health. Current data are sadly lacking in providing statistically valid prevalence information. The Kennel Club welcomes any initiatives that will improve this. However it feels that the collection of ‘anonymised’ data by veterinary surgeons will be only of limited value and that the report could have gone further by suggesting that this data should be attributable to individual dogs. The knowledge that (say) 15% of a given breed suffers from a given problem is a start but it is much more important in solving the problem to know which 15% of the breed is affected.

The Kennel Club, which conducted the world’s largest survey into pure bred dog health in 2004, is already well on the way to developing a new database which will revolutionise the way that we record dog health data.

This data will be attributable to individual dogs and will give us a better picture of the health of pedigrees and crossbreeds. Such knowledge is critical and will enable us to provide information to breeders, vets, geneticists and ultimately the puppy buyer. 

Dangerous Dogs 

The Kennel Club warmly welcomes Professor Bateson’s recommendation that changes should be made to the current Dangerous Dogs legislation and this is something that it has been campaigning for over many years. We are in complete agreement that focus should be directed towards those dogs that display dangerous behaviour rather than on specified breeds. 

Education

We absolutely agree that public education is vital in order to ensure that only responsible breeders thrive in the market place. The Kennel Club is committed to working with all other relevant welfare organisations and professions in order to ensure that puppy buyers have access to all of the information that they need.

The Kennel Club already runs Discover Dogs and this is the perfect platform for educating prospective and existing puppy buyers about how to choose, buy and care for a dog.

Furthermore, events such as DFS Crufts which is this year being televised by More4, will enable us to engage and further educate puppy buyers.

The effort however needs to be a sustained one, with all organisations working together throughout the whole year.

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