PAW aims to make sure that puppies live healthy, happy lives with suitable owners by spreading the ‘be puppy aware’ message.
Being puppy aware involves making sure you know which dog and breed is right for your lifestyle so that you can care for it for life, and making sure you can separate responsible breeders from puppy farmers. Every year the Kennel Club holds a Puppy Awareness Week (PAW) to spread this message.
STOP puppy farming
The cost of sickly puppies soars when puppies are bought from disreputable sources. Puppies from puppy farms are bred with no regard for their health and well-being and are kept in appalling, unsanitary conditions.
Research carried out by the Kennel Club shows that a shocking:
- 1 in 10 people bought a ‘mail order pup’ from the internet online or from a newspaper advert, without seeing it first.*
- Almost half of dog owners are spending more on vets’ fees than they had accounted for – more than one in four people (27 percent) say that they suspect that their puppy came from a cruel puppy farm.*
- 1 in 5 pups bought online without the pup being seen first end up with gastro-intestinal problems and 15 percent with the potentially deadly parvovirus.*
- Many people are unknowingly sold pups smuggled into the UK from puppy farms abroad.*
Make sure that you don’t buy from a puppy farmer, or from an ill-informed and unknowledgeable breeder, who has not taken all of the steps to give your puppy the best chance in life. The Kennel Club recommends that ‘ABS is Best’ and always advises people to go to a Kennel Club Assured Breeder. The Kennel Club has United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) accreditation to certify breeders on the scheme and it is the only one in the UK that sets standards for and inspects dog breeders. You can find out more about Kennel Club Assured Breeders here.
Watch the video below for advice on buying a puppy or read our list of the Do’s and Don’ts of puppy buying. You can also find out more about the cruel puppy farming trade here.
Do’s and don’ts of buying a puppy
Kennel Club research has shown a shocking number of people still buying puppies from disreputable sources: one in three revealed their puppies were sourced on internet sites, through social media, in pet shops and newspapers advertisements – all sources popularly used by puppy farmers.
Finding the right breed
There are 217 breeds of dog, and many crossbreeds, that have very different needs. Pedigree dogs are bred to have predictable traits and characteristics and by doing research people can easily find the dog that is the best fit for them.
Take a look in our Breed Information Centre to find out which breed is best suited to you, or visit the Eukanuba Discover Dogs event held at ExCeL London on 22-23rd October 2016.
Click here to find a puppy, and remember to look out for the purple Assured Breeder logo.
What to expect when buying a puppy
TV Vet Marc Abraham reveals some of the many health and welfare problems that you could be confronted with if buying a puppy from a source often used by puppy farmers. He meets Irish terrier breeder, Candace Bugden, to find out what to expect when buying a puppy from a responsible breeder, and why getting a puppy from a Kennel Club Assured Breeder is always the best option.