Kennel Club welcomes Labour Party Proposals

The UK’s largest organisation dedicated to dog health and welfare, the Kennel Club, has welcomed Labour’s draft policy document ‘Animal Welfare for the Many, Not the Few’, which includes some key policy proposals dedicated to improving dog welfare.

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, said: “We are pleased that the Labour party has expressed commitment to issues that the Kennel Club has long campaigned for and has launched this consultation. 

“We wholly support the prohibition of the third party sale of puppies and increased measures to tackle puppy smuggling, as it is crucial that puppies are only sold by their breeder directly, with the mother present, which cannot be ensured with pups sold by third parties or smuggled in from abroad.  Buying puppies from third parties such as pet shops or puppy dealers can result in a range of health and welfare issues for the dogs themselves and untold heartache for owners, so we are keen to see any policy highlighting the importance of going to a responsible breeder, such as a Kennel Club Assured Breeder. We are also pleased that the Government recently launched a consultation on this.

“Buying a puppy from an Assured Breeder is key to affordable vet care, which is another measure proposed by Labour which we support, with statistics from Agria Pet Insurance confirming that dogs bred by an Assured Breeder are 23 per cent less likely to need to visit a vet.

“The Scottish Government recently announced that they are to ban the use of electric shock collars on dogs and we welcome Labour’s support of a ban on both the sale and importation of these cruel devices, which operate by inflicting pain on a dog, across the UK.

“The Kennel Club will be responding to this consultation and we would encourage all dog owners and responsible breeders to have their say too, to ensure that any decisions made in this area are best for dogs.”

Read further information on the Kennel Club’s campaigns.

The Labour Animal Welfare plan can be read at https://labour.org.uk/issues/animal-welfare-plan/.