Who’s Keeping The Puppy Farms in Business?

written by Neil Burton. All rights reserved.

Rescue centres across the United Kingdom are invariably packed to capacity with dogs needing homes, so why do puppy farms do so much business?

Dogs that find themselves in rehoming centres are there for a plethora of reasons all of which are probably not their fault.  Dogs thrown out because they are not house trained, chew the furniture or bark because they are left at home all day are in rescue because their former owners may not have invested enough training time in them.

Some dogs may be at a centre due to a change of circumstances for their former owners but whatever the reason they are there, they are normal dogs that deserve a second chance.

Any  rescue centre worth it’s salt would ensure that a particular dog is suited to its new family before it is rehomed, so why would anybody go to a puppy farmer to buy a dog that may have health problems?

The recent prosecution of Johanna Price who kept 59 dogs in a two bedroom house in Bournemouth Dorset and sold them for up to 475   pounds each, moves her out of the ‘puppy farmer’ bracket into the realms of ‘puppy industrialist’.

If Ms Price had sold all 59 dogs @ 475 pounds each, then she would have made around 28,000 pounds! Okay not all the dogs would have been sold as there would have been stud dogs and breeding bitches but it just shows the potential money out there for those people unscrupulous enough to breed dogs in this way.

The dogs bred by Ms Price were ‘pedigree’ dogs but what would you get for your three figure sum?  A dog sitting in the local rescue centre would surely be a cheaper, healthier and responsible choice!

If people stopped buying from puppy farmers and gave consideration to visiting a rescue centre to give a home to one of the dogs it would surely have a positive effect on the numbers in rescue centres and a negative effect on puppy farming which in the circumstances would definitely be for the better.

Rescue centres might have to look at their rehoming criteria as it seems that some charities have procedures that are out of touch with modern life. One ‘urban legend’ has it that a certain animal charity will not rehome dogs to police officers because they work shifts.

Obstacles to adopting a dog such as this prohibition show why people excluded from the rehoming process turn to the internet or small ads.  They may buy a dog without realising it is from a puppy farmer, but it fuels demand as it is an easy way to simply buy a dog when you have been turned down by a rescue centre.

If your considering getting a dog why not spare a thought for the multitude of dogs currently in the UK’s many rescue centres, they come in all shapes and sizes.